MovieChat Forums > China Beach (1988) Discussion > A Red-Headed Anglo-American Prostitute?

A Red-Headed Anglo-American Prostitute?

posted 10 years ago by richard.fuller1
6 replies | jump to latest

I never watched this show, but do I understand it correctly that Helgenberger was an American prostitute on the show?
In viet Nam?

[–] sarah-103 10 years ago

Yes. It's been awhile since I saw the show, but if memory serves correct, she started off as a general's secretary, and then became a prostitute.

"Forget reality, give me a picture"-Remington Steele

[–] richard.fuller1 10 years ago

That was the way I understood it, she went over with another job then changed careers.

How likely was that?

As well as it put any potential Viet Nam actress or Asian actress out of work who might have been up for the role of a prostitute on China Beach.

"Well, that would have been offensive and demeaning," or more likely, "it'll be construed as offensive and demeaning," but a anglo actress can win an Emmy in the role.

[–] zaphod08 10 years ago

I'm not sure what you're getting out. KC was more than just a prostitute; she was a business woman as well. What does the fact she was a redhead have to do with anything.

In the kingdom of the blind, you're the village idiot.

[–] richard.fuller1 10 years ago

zaphod08: "I'm not sure what you're getting out. KC was more than just a prostitute; she was a business woman as well. What does the fact she was a redhead have to do with anything."
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On average, in Viet Nam, how many red-headed prostitutes, i.e., WHITE, do you think there were running about?

For that matter, AMERICAN white prostitutes?

In an likelihood that there was a white prostitute in Viet Nam during the war, she was probably European if anything.

But for an American woman, redhead or not, to go to Viet Nam, and pursue anything remotely related to prostitution, . . . "as well as listening to soldiers (or whatever it was)" . . . . . and even be taken seriously in the 1960s, is unbelievably fantasy-affiliated.

[–] mysticwit 10 years ago

Why is it so surprising? Camp followers have been around since wars began, and grey and black market activity has always been around military sites. Soldiers and their money are often easily parted, and while it's a long way from "home" it wasn't implausible for a white American woman to make her way to Asia at that time, or find herself having to get resourceful, like K.C.

K.C.'s back story is that she came over as a secretary to a General, but it was strongly insinuated that her job title was a euphemism. And at some point she was a prostitute for some sort of a crime lord type (who had an anglicized name, but a French accent). I'm sure there were a few white French women there, too, with an "entrepreneurial" spirit.

It's less likely she'd be living as well as operating on the base, which she was doing before her entrepreneurial endeavors expanded to include a beauty parlor.

[–] richard.fuller1 10 years ago

mysticwit: "Why is it so surprising? Camp followers have been around since wars began, and grey and black market activity has always been around military sites. Soldiers and their money are often easily parted, and while it's a long way from "home" it wasn't implausible for a white American woman to make her way to Asia at that time, or find herself having to get resourceful, like K.C.

K.C.'s back story is that she came over as a secretary to a General, but it was strongly insinuated that her job title was a euphemism. And at some point she was a prostitute for some sort of a crime lord type (who had an anglicized name, but a French accent). I'm sure there were a few white French women there, too, with an "entrepreneurial" spirit.

It's less likely she'd be living as well as operating on the base, which she was doing before her entrepreneurial endeavors expanded to include a beauty parlor."
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Thanks, friend.

You enabled me to access IMDB without having to click here and see who the ridiculous Academy award winners were last night. thanks again.