The Creation of God in Apocalypse Now in Relation to Frazer's The Golden Bough
Very rarely do filmmakers intend to create cinematic masterpieces which integrate and draw upon lush literary qualities and leave the viewer with a deeper feeling of life and death than he or she had before viewing the film. Even if some filmmakers do attempt to create a masterpiece, symbolic and complex, many fall short. However, when Francis Coppola created Apocalypse Now, he succeeded in creating a masterpiece, drawing upon the complicated story within Conrad's Heart of Darkness and the savage observations within Frazer's The Golden Bough. The character of Colonel Kurtz in both Conrad's and Coppola's works, is one of a complicated, volatile renaissance
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Kurtz, as a savage icon, is capable of greatness and is brutally malicious at the same time. Where Coppola strays from Conrad, he does so to show Kurtz's deliberate choice to become a god-like figure and be destroyed in the tradition of the savages. Through the savage beliefs of tabooed head and hair, the slaying of the divine king, and sympathetic magic, Coppola creates a more savagely realistic character in Kurtz.
Perhaps one of Col. KurtzÕs most prominent physical features in Apocalypse Now is his shaven head. Frazer explains that, to the savages, the head and hair of their divine king is tabooed, and "to touch the top of the head, or anything which had been on his head was sacrilege" (Frazer 812). To the savages, their king ranks above everyone and
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In Apocalypse Now . Kurtz knows that his health may be failing, but rather than slowly wilting away, he chooses a quick, prestigious death. His slaying mirrors FrazerÕs observations of ritual killings of the savages' divine kings. According to Frazer "man has created gods in his own likeness and being himself mortal, he has naturally supposed his creature to be in the same sad predicament" (Frazer 308). This view is perhaps surprising and is directly opposite of the western culture's, which believes that God created man in his own image, rather than man creating his gods. Coppola's Kurtz, being placed as far as possible from western civilization, puts himself in a position of a god amongst the people in Cambodia, and, since he still believes in his own mortality, does not fear or attempt to kill Willard; he almost seems to somewhat welcome him. Frazer even specifically sites customs in Cambodia, and he states that "the mystic kings...are not allowed to die a natural death" (310). To the savages, dying a natural, or illness-induced death, has no glory; it merely shows that a once great king or man-god can dissipate slowly into nothing. Kurtz, who has become a savage, and the other savages who worship him believe that "the man-god must be killed as soon as he shows symptoms that his powers
Kurtz in both works is surprising very similar; in Apocalypse Now Walt Kurtz is a Colonel in the United States Army. Kurtz is a highly recognized and admired military officer, "Walt Kurtz was one of the most outstanding officers this country has ever produced. He was a brilliant and outstanding in every way…” and has a very successful career in the army (Coppola 1979). The Kurtz in Heart of Darkness is a successful business man, politician, and explorer. This Kurtz wears the mask of many faces but all the characters that mention Kurtz treat him like a god. It’s these traits that cultivate curiosity within Marlow and Captain Willard. Ma...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is about a young boy who helps a slave escape from his master by floating down the Mississippi River on a raft. The story starts with Huck's abusive, alcoholic father, "Pap," kidnapping him from the nice widow, Mr. Watson, whom Huck was living with. Huck manages to escape and meets up with Jim, a slave of Mrs. Watson's, who ran away. As Huck and Jim float to freedom from slavery and other evils of society, they meet a variety of characters from different sides of humanity, including conmen and two families in a deadly feud. On their journey, Jim and Huck grow emotionally closer and Jim becomes somewhat of a father figure to Huck. This is beneficial to Huck because his real father is hardly
The movie “Apocalypse Now”, directed by Francis Coppola, is based on Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness. The movie has to do with survival, obsession, and finding ones self. The inclination of this paper is to let the reader get a better understanding of how Captain Willard (the main character) goes through survival, obsession, and courage while trying to hunt down Kurtz.
“Fag burns.” “DIE.” These slurs were scrawled outside the GLBT office at N.C. State last October. Should the instigator be indicted for hate speech in addition to vandalism? Was this expression an act of hate speech? Or was it free speech? Is the message he conveyed protected under the First Amendment? Two and a half centuries ago, the nation’s forefathers drafted the Constitution of the United States. The aim of the Constitution is to protect the values that this nation was built upon. This document, arguably one of the nation’s most important, encompasses values such as democracy, equality, religious tolerance, as well as the freedom of speech.
After being kidnapped by his own father ‘Pap’ only to gain Hucks wealth, this situation kick starts Hucks hard spiral in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
While there are differences between Francis Ford Coppola’s film, Apocalypse Now!, and Joseph Conrad novel, The Heart of Darkness, Kurtz and his influence on the main character remain very similar. Both the movie and novel depict a protagonist’s struggle to travel upstream in a ship in search of a man named Kurtz. While doing so, Marlow (The Heart of Darkness)/Willard (Apocalypse Now!) become progressively fascinated with Kurtz. Kurtz is claimed to have a profound influence on his followers and is becoming a huge influence on Marlow/Willard as well.
Some people don’t find anything wrong with verbally abusing another human. Some world leaders have participated in hate speech, hate crimes, or genocide. Hitler is known for his merciless killing of minorities, mostly Jews, in Eastern Europe. The founder of the United States, Christopher Columbus, killed many Indians because he felt he was superior to them. Hate speech obviously leads to hate crimes and keeps humans separated. Also when following the laws correctly, hate speech is not allowed. These are all reasons why I am against hate speech.
Kurtz was an English man who traveled to the Congo in search of excitement, money and experience. To many people back home, he was known to be a loving intelligent young man. In Congo he was also known as being very intelligent, but also as being insane. The question is what happened to Kurtz how and why he let his self go insane. In a way you can say that he found the “heart” of his “darkness,” embraced it and could not escape it.
Kurtz was not always the power hungry man portrayed in Conrad’s book. According to his Intended, Kurtz was an admired man who had a “generous heart” and a “noble mind” (Conrad, 70). However, after his expedition into Africa, he became a changed man; an “insoluble problem” (Conrad, 50). The new Kurtz “[kicks] the very earth to pieces” (Conrad, 61). “Let us say – nerves, [go] wrong, and [causes] him to preside at certain midnight dances ending with unspeakable rites” (Conrad, 45). He has dropped all sense and morality and continues to live on according to his various lusts.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig; G. E. M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte (eds. and trans.). Philosophical Investigations. 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Pap says this during their first meeting in the book. He cannot believe that Huck is becoming an educated person and having a normal life. Pap is already angry because of Huck's money, and now he is just irate.
First when Huck runs away from his abusive father, Pap, who kidnapped him, is when Huck happens to run into the slave Jim, who has also run away from his owner after he overheard that his owner was planning to sell him. Huck asks Jim how he came to be there upon the island, Jim confesses that he has run away. Huck is shocked that someone could do such an immoral thing. Jim asks him not to tattle, and Huck says: “I said I wouldn’t, and I’ll sti...
As social media has become more relevant in my generation, I have begun to see just how hate speech has evolved over time. Recently, a video from a campaign movement was posted on our class canvas page that expressed different stand points on why hate speech should be stopped. I gained a stronger opinion on banning hate speech, especially now that people are finding ways to use fighting words anonymously and not within a political view. In this video one of the interviewee’s mentioned how people online have the mindset that they do not have to take responsibility for the crud words they say over the internet because it is anonymous and they are not saying it directly to someone’s face they cannot be punished. Things that are viewed and said over social media can come off as very offensive. I think a common thing that is misunderstood by many is that there are different forms of hate speech and using social media to hide your identity is just one of them. We need to address all forms of hate speech and not just the cases seen in public
While Pap acts as an anchor on Huck's heel, Jim opens up a new world for Huck, and becomes his companion and a resource of knowledge.
The main character in Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, isKurtz. Kurtz no longer obeys the authority of his superiors who believe that he has become too extreme and has come to employ "unsound methods" (Coppola, 1979; Longman, 2000). Marlow is sent to retrieve Kurtz from the evil influences in the Congo, and a wild journey on a tainted river ensues. Along the way, Marlow learns about the real Kurtz and finds himself identifying with and becoming dangerously fond of the man.