Apocolypes Wow......

Our post for the week has to be on your opinion of Apocalypse now. Whether it''s a close, loose, or immediate adaptation and why. And also have to explain the discourse of the novel vs. the movie. The discourse of the movie was the death of the man from the spear, and the discourse of the novel was the natives and their territorial defense.

The film Apocalypse Now is a Intermediate Adaptation to me for a number of reasons. First off I have not read the book Heart of Darkness, I can only compare to what excepts I have read from.It cant be a close adaptation because it does not attempt to follow the source material as closely as possible. It isn't a lose adaptation to me, because the film does not stray so far from the source that it is hardly recognized being related to the original such as films like Wanted and The Dark Knight which draw characters, situations and themes from the graphic novella they are inspired by, but are mostly original works created by Hollywood. Therefore the film Apocalypse Now is an intermediate adaptation, Like Die Hard 2, which draw the majority of its structure from the book 58 Minutes, but makes some key changes to plot and setting, such as swapping daughter for wife and New York to Washington DC. the overall main plot and themes are very much alike from source material and film. Apocalypse Now swaps an African expedition for a Vietnam one. there is still a level of racism towards native people in both the film and the book. many of the films themes in scenes are kept the same Even though Marlow and Willard are technically  the same character, Willard is not the captain of the boat but does act as a figure of authority and the film is told from his perspective, keeping him in a captain like role. In the book the discourse of natives desperate means of defending their homes against oppressive opposition using light blunt tipped arrows against a machine gun fire. One native throws a spear that impales one of the men that quietly dies. The film that same act still happens, desperate natives fire mostly harmless, the spear is still thrown that impales one of the black men on board. however similarities stop there. the last words of the helmsman in the film is " a spear...." these last words echo the irony of the film in relation to black men in Vietnam. He doesn't even get a normal death, in a place ripe with bullets, rpg's and bombs, a spear finds him. and instead of going quietly he tries to kill Willard with him by stabbing him with the spear sticking out of his chest, anger that so much has been put at risk for one mans mission. I think the reasoning behind this change of discourse has to do with the nature of the Vietnam wars its self and how the minority outlook was of the conflict, as well as in that time film making often had black men either die first in the most brutal way possible, or die in impractical ways that don't seem to fit in the films overall thematic structure. who threw a spear among arrows? with the softness of the arrow fire were does one get the strength to throw a spear with such force that it can travel a distance to impale a man from behind. even the look of the spear its self wasnt even sharp and pointed, but curved like a spoon. was Copolla trying to show how frail, and unlucky black men were in Vietnam? One can only wonder.....