Revealing the Heart of Darkness in Apocalypse Now Essay

Revealing the Heart of Darkness in Apocalypse Now Often a novel filmed as a movie departs from the original story, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. However, many great works of literature have inspired movies, and served as the basis for a great film, even though the film may approach the literature in a different way. Such is the case with Francis Ford Coppolas Apocalypse Now, which was inspired by Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. Coppola and the screenwriter, John Mileus, took a story written nearly eighty years earlier and used its basic theme of the inner darkness of man and the idea of the journey up a river into the unknown to tell a story about one of the darkest, most confusing chapters of American history:†¦show more content†¦Heart of Darkness deals with colonialism in Africa, and the main characters journey up the Congo River to meet a man named Kurtz, an employee of the company who is worshipped by the tribes. As the main character, Marlow, goes farther up the river, he goes further into the uncivilized world, further into a primitive world that he does not fully understand but that has consumed Kurtz. Coppola found in this story a parallel with Vietnam, a descent into a primitive world where American ideas did not always apply and the reason for being there was not always what it seemed. Seymour Chatman, in his article Two and a Half Film Versions of Heart of Darkness, comments that Cop pola saw in Conrads novella a text open enough to convey the dangers to civic society posed by a brutal, far-off war fought for the crassest economic interests (215). In Heart of Darkness, the English were in Africa to exploit the ivory and other raw materials they could acquire, but they also said they were there to civilize the natives. In Apocalypse Now, the Americans soldiers are not quite sure why they are there and they simply want to get home. Of course, the United States government said America was defending democracy in Vietnam, but the real reasons for our participation there are vague at best, and certainly had more to do with Cold War politics than saving a democracy. If greed was theShow MoreRelated Heart of Darkness Versus Apocalypse Now: The Death of Kurtz Essay816 Words   |  4 PagesHeart of Darkness Versus Apocalypse Now: The Death of Kurtz Joseph Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness to disguise his disapproval of European imperialism in the Congo. He describes the chaos and savagery found in the Congo to convince Europeans that they should stay out of Africa. Francis Ford Coppola made Apocalypse Now to disguise his disapproval of American involvement in Vietnam. 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