I Love the Smell of Nepalm in the Morning, a Critical look at Apocalypse Now
The human race is believed to be at the pinacle of developement. We have reahed the top of the mountain of success and evolution; we have surely surpassed the wild animal. We have evolved past the primal use of insticts to the utilization of reason and intelect. There are times in the course of a human's life however, in war for instance, where all reason and intelect is compromised and men revert back to instinct, back to animal. War presents a man with more hardship, physical and emotional stress, than any human being should ever have to endure. It is in times of stress, fear, and horror that men will adopt the insticts that have not been forgotten only stored in the receses of the brain. I suggest the 4 "F's" of human instict: Food, Fornication, Fight, Fun. It is these four simple actions that show up throughout the majority of Copolas Apocolypse Now, and these instincts that dominate the actions of the soldiers. Have you ever laughed in the face of danger, snickered at somones missfortune, or go to a party when you're feeling down? This is a psycological block to bar you against emotional discomort, we do it all the time. It may not be totaly healthy but it certainly won't make us go crazy. In war time on the othe
Willard's jeourney is actualy very symbolic. It's the jeorney from sanity to insanity, from rational to irrational. The boat itself is symbolic too. It sybolizes the system, sanity and reason. "Never get off the boat - absolutely God-damn right. Unless you plan to go all the way. Kurtz go off the boat; he split from the whole fucking program." Willard contemplated this after a close encounter with a tiger in the jungle, while hunting for mangos off the boat. The whole trip up the river is a long conditioning period for Willard. The more he learns about Kurtz the less he wants to kill him. Willard deelopes an emotional tie to him. He sees him as a man, and thus can not kill him. Each incident along the river brings Willard closer to stepping off the boat though, to killing Kurtz. r hand, when the four F's are in full swing is another story. Willard is being sent up the river to "terminate" Colonel Kurtz' command because he has been charged with murder. "Charging a man with murder in this place is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indie 500." Killgore kills and is not charged. The diference between Kurtz and Killgore, as far as Capt. Willard can see, is that Kurtz is beyond the control of the army, he acting without orders and has gone mad. Is Killgore any less mad? Willard is the irony of the movie. While the whole lot of them are going crazy, killing, and acting on complete autopilot, Willard is awake. He is aware. It is true that when presented with extreme hardship most men will shut down and revert back to animal instinct, but there are a few among us who can look danger in the face and "...[see] clearly what there is to be done and [do] it - directly, quickly, awake, looking at it." Willard is the maintains human reason, he utilizes his intelect. Willard overcomes the animal instinct. There are plenty of examples in Apocalypse Now. Capt. KillGore is a fine example, feeding his soldiers steaks and beer the night before a killing rampage, then actually surfing during the raid. This is crazy you might say, but the men have fun, and that keeps them from breaking down. Part of being able to survive a war is loss of emotion. Once you can act on instict you can kill without looking back, without remorse. Killg
Some common words found in the essay are:
Willard Killgore, Kurtz Killing, Lance Johnson, , Capt KillGore, Apocalyps Kurtz, God-damn Unless, Copolas Apocolypse, Willard Kurtz, Colonel Kurtz', directly quickly awake, willard awake, awake looking willard, killing kurtz, awake looking, smell nepalm, rational irrational, looking willard, quickly awake, fun kill, quickly awake looking, kill fun kill, able survive, kill fun,
Approximate Word count = 1527
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
