Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision is a portrait of the Chinese American artist and architect who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the age of 20 while still an undergraduate at Yale University. The film tells the story of the controversial Vietnam Veterans Memorial with opponents arrayed against Lin as too young, a woman, and an Asian American, who was clearly not patriotic enough. The film tells how she designed the memorial, how it came to be built, and then follows her career over the next fourteen years as she matured and created other extraordinary designs, including the Civil Rights Memorial, the Yale Women’s Table, and the Juniata Peace Chapel. Although the film delves very little into Lin’s personal life (she is the daughter of academics at Oberlin College and grew up in a town where she and her family were the only nonwhites), it is nonetheless excellent for use in courses in women’s studies, Vietnam-era history, civil rights and African American studies, Asian American studies, art and architecture, ecology, gender and race, and ethnic studies.

Academy Award, 1995, Best Feature Documentary

Ebert, Roger. “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision.” Chicago Sun-Times. March 29, 1996.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19960329/REVIEWS/603290303/1023

Goldberger, Paul. “Maya Lin’s Power of the Serene.” New York Times. October 29, 1995.

Maslin, Janet. “Film Review; Paying Tribute to History in a Personal Way.” New York Times. November 3, 1995.

Weeks, Linton. “Maya Lin’s ‘Clear Vision.’” Washington Post. October 10, 1995.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/mayalinastrongclearvision.htm

Howe, Robert F. “Monumental achievement.” Smithsonian. November 2002.

Discusses Lin’s architectural career and her designs.

Warshall, Peter. “Thinking with her hands.” Whole Earth. Winter 2000.

An interview with Maya Lin.