By giving a visual portrayal of the degeneration of the mind in a combat zone, the world of “the other,” Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now gives a modern representation of colonization. This visit into Vietnam is both stirring and graphic, however, it also illustrates a pseudo-colonization of the other by an oppressive force. Through this view, the film works to set itself apart from the earlier romanticized depictions of European colonization, as seen in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. This romanticized view of colonization is prevalent throughout Conrad’s novella as “the other” is encountered in the eyes of the journeyman, Marlow. Within both representations, the atrocious acts against the other occur primarily without any sign
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This question of intent is centered on how Marlow interprets the events of the narrative, primarily the mistreatment of the native people. Marlow is first introduced to this mistreatment of the other with the chain gang at the Outer Station, in his observation of, “black shadows of disease and starvation” (31), left to die in the “greenish gloom” (31). While Marlow happens to hold a general understanding of the atrocious behaviors of the colonists, he doesn’t act upon them. Instead, Conrad offers a depiction of the complete disconnect with the character, Kurtz. Brantlinger says that Kurtz is a manifestation of “going native” (311), in his full disconnection and digression from civilization. The warping of Kurtz’s mind, and ultimately that of Marlow’s as he journeys further into the darkness, is a product of their unconscious actions at work, and Kurtz’s inability to refrain from being fully engulfed by his new found …show more content…
As she says, “three significant scenes from the film … can be understood to represent increasingly deeper levels of the unconscious” (343). The three scenes are in chronological order and continue to build and evoke deeper levels of the unconscious to the conscious within Willard. To Willard, these events are seen as a visual representation of the terror of the Vietnamese darkness. In reality, these scenes are actually a timeline of Willard’s growth in understanding. The power of the unconscious appears in the culminating events of both stories with the uttering of the words, “the horror! The horror!” (85). It is at this moment in both stories that the main characters are faced directly with what their unconscious has been trying to produce. They have a physical representation of their unconscious directly in front of them. In Conrad’s novella, this is sometimes referred to as Marlow crossing into void, where in reality it is Marlow coming into contact with his unconscious. The same can then be said about
This question of intent is centered on how Marlow interprets the events of the narrative, primarily the mistreatment of the native people. Marlow is first introduced to this mistreatment of the other with the chain gang at the Outer Station, in his observation of, “black shadows of disease and starvation” (31), left to die in the “greenish gloom” (31). While Marlow happens to hold a general understanding of the atrocious behaviors of the colonists, he doesn’t act upon them. Instead, Conrad offers a depiction of the complete disconnect with the character, Kurtz. Brantlinger says that Kurtz is a manifestation of “going native” (311), in his full disconnection and digression from civilization. The warping of Kurtz’s mind, and ultimately that of Marlow’s as he journeys further into the darkness, is a product of their unconscious actions at work, and Kurtz’s inability to refrain from being fully engulfed by his new found …show more content…
As she says, “three significant scenes from the film … can be understood to represent increasingly deeper levels of the unconscious” (343). The three scenes are in chronological order and continue to build and evoke deeper levels of the unconscious to the conscious within Willard. To Willard, these events are seen as a visual representation of the terror of the Vietnamese darkness. In reality, these scenes are actually a timeline of Willard’s growth in understanding. The power of the unconscious appears in the culminating events of both stories with the uttering of the words, “the horror! The horror!” (85). It is at this moment in both stories that the main characters are faced directly with what their unconscious has been trying to produce. They have a physical representation of their unconscious directly in front of them. In Conrad’s novella, this is sometimes referred to as Marlow crossing into void, where in reality it is Marlow coming into contact with his unconscious. The same can then be said about