Blog 8 SN

An allegory, is a way to take a literal meaning and use symbolism through characters and theme's to drive home an underlying issue that is at hand. Many times, lessons can be learned through allegory although they are not prevalent. In the film Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier (Redux) Francis Cappola is able to use the characters and the events in the film to symbolize many powerful ideas highlighted in the Vietnam War. Some of these are innocence and youth, destruction, corruption, and the idea of hell.

When Willard is first aboard the boat that will take him down the river, he meets clean, who is a sailor of the navy and a part of the boat. He looks very young, and come to find out he is only seventeen. When under fire, he shows his fear when he warns the commander of the ship as though to have the commander give a sense of security. Also, when they are fired upon entering Cambodia, Clean is killed. It shows his innocence because he is closely listening to tape of his mom telling him to stay safe as though he is going to play in the yard. The death shows the loss of youth in the war and how war has no discrepancy on age. Also, when they search the boat and kill the people, it is over a dog. There was no need for the death of the people, just a misunderstanding by a young kid with a gun.

Secondly, there was massive destruction in Vietnam. Some examples are when Willard is with Kilgore's unit. They napalm the forest, burn all the houses, and shoot civilians. There was no need for them to do this, but Kilgore just wanted to surf with Lance, who is famous for surfing. This destruction is unnecessary in the main idea of the war, but they do it anyway. Kilgore mentions how he loves the smell of napalm and he prides himself on the fact that when napalm is used, no one survives, and they all burn. Napalm just destroys the earth, and all Kilgore cares about it killing and surfing.

Third, there is the corruption throughout the war. A perfect example is right at the beginning of the film when Willard is given the assignment. He is not given a concrete answer for why Kurts should be killed, but he accepts the mission anyway because that is his job as a soldier. Also, they mention that the mission never happen and was never assigned because it is a corrupt mission. Even though Willard knows this, he still accepts the mission because as he says, what else was he supposed to do.

Lastly, there is the idea that Vietnam is hell, and that people are only trying to survive out there. A perfect example of this is when they are just about to cross the bridge into Cambodia, and another officer is there to give Willard and update on his assignment. When the officer leaves, he says that this place is the asshole of the world. There is destruction all around the bridge, and they mention how the bridge is rebuilt everyday to say that it works, just to be blown up every night. That, plus the possibility of gunfire at any point is an exact synopsis of hell from my perspective.

This is such a complex film that there are so many more ideas that are portrayed that it would take a full length paper just to write about all of them. Within each idea there is hundreds of examples as well. The great part of this film is how all the themes tie into each other like the destruction and the sense of hell, along with the innocent deaths and corruption. This is a very unique film and gives great insight on some of the problems and themes associated with the Vietnam War.