Blog 8 FY

An allegory is usually a story or narrative told in such a way that symobism is used to express some greater meaning. In Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now allegory is used extensively to send a message to the viewer about the Vietnam war.

The general theme in the movie is the growing insanity and animal nature of the war as it progressed. I think Colonel Kurtz is a perfect representation of this notion. At first he was a rising star in the military; he did extraordinary things at an early age which made him a great military asset. He was so great that Captain Willard even said that, had he wanted to, Kurtz could have risen to the rank of army general. Kurtz is, however, a very troubled soul we soon find out. He deserts the army and accuses some soldiers on the Americans side of the War as being double agents. He said he and his team gathered information on them for months and the army ignored it and labeled him a murderer after he took matters into his own hand and killed them. This action brings up the question: Is there such a thing as murder in a war? How can someone be charged with murder when everyone else around them is also killing without restraint. In war are there still laws or is it lawless? I think that war does have some laws despite the popular saying "All's fair in love and war". After all it would not be okay to go around shooting your allies in a war just because everyone else is also killing people. Which is what we are informed Kurtz basically did. When Willard reaches Kurtz its clear that he has gone insane. He lives in a grand structure almost like a palace with the Cambodian natives around him worshiping him like a god. There are dead bodies scattered all over the grounds of the area and many human heads laying about. He preaches nonsensical rhetoric to those around him. I think this is a symbol of the war and how it just got out of hand and became a crazy, almost lawless affair where people's morals were so skewed that they could justify the killing of women, children, and helpless villages. Although, like Kurtz, the war did not start out as crazy, the environment got a hold on everyone's minds to the point where they could never adjust back to normal life.

More specifically I think Kurtz can be likened to America. He started off being a good military man but soon was changed by the war and by Vietnam. Like the Americans he took the war too far and started killing without discrimination, which is shown by his shooting of the soldiers he believed to be traitors. His saying reminds me of the American propaganda that Kurtz even shows Captain Willard. It did not make any sense and was just used to justify the actions of the Americans and gain support for the war. In the same way Kurtz's teachings made little sense and yet he received massive support from the natives who could not even understand him and a strange journalist. Willard represents all the double crossing the US participated in during the war. Despite the fact that a war was going on and resources could be spent in a much better way the government wanted Willard and his crew to track down and kill someone who was essentially on our side. This action brings up questions of whether or not the US could have utilized its soldiers in a more effective way. As one of the character said instead of blowing up a bridge or one of the strategic outposts of the enemy the army wanted to kill someone of little importance to the outcome of the war from our own side. In the end of the film its also clear that Willard has embraced his animal nature and in a way been tainted by the insanity of Kurtz. When he is finally able to assassinate the colonel he does so fully painted in camouflage and moves expertly around the area like he was one with the jungle. This falls in line with what the French women said about Willard, he had one part of him that was there to love and another half that was completely animal instincts. It seems when he needed to kill Kurtz he finally fully embraced his animal nature.

Another theme that is present in the movie is the soldiers loss of innocence. I think this is most seen with the former surfer from California Sam Bottoms. At first Sam seems like he is completely inexperienced in warfare and has never fired a gun before. He just seems like a young surfer kid that was out of place in the war. However, eventually he starts taking large amounts of drugs and is completely unfazed by his environment. There is a particular scene where takes some acid and just stares out in awe at his environment uncaring about all the death and explosions around him, that could have just as easily been fatal for him. Then by the end of the movie he is a completely changed person. He is no longer even recognizable. He seemed to idolise Kurtz almost as much as the journalists and was dancing along with the natives with dead bodies all around them. By the end of the movie he reminded me of Jim Morrison, whose music was used in this movie, because they looked very similar and acted in similarly crazy ways. Also I thought Lt. Kilgore showed how badly the soldiers wanted to go back home, yet home would never be the same. Lt. Kilgore had outdoor grills with beer set up for his soldiers to enjoy at night almost as if they were back in the US. Also he was a huge fan of surfing and in an act of lunacy attacked an entire enemy compound almost solely because it was near a beach with great waves for surfing. The scene where he makes his soldiers surf while bombs are falling around them show how crazy he was and how badly he wanted to be at home. I think the only reason he had his soldiers surf in these deadly conditions was to be reminded of home and ignore the brutality around him. He could look over and imagine he was at a beach at home in the US. Yet the bombs dropping and killing set up all around this scene show how they were not back home and "home" would never be the same again after all the horrors these soldiers experienced in Vietnam.