Lisa, it appears great minds think alike!
For some reason the blog will not let me link the video, so here is the url:
In AP Literature, during our Heart of Darkness unit, my teacher showed us the movie “Apocalypse Now.” The movie, which takes place during the Vietnam War, mimics the plot of Conrad’s novella, which takes place in the Congo. Both in the Vietnam War and in Conrad’s novella, the intensity of the foreign setting and the disillusionment with the cause inspire “othering” — discriminating and distinguishing between “us” and “them,” or “Americans” and “gooks.”
The introduction of the movie highlights the contradictions and frustrations of the War. The movie is introduced by a song called “The End,” the visuals are violent and a soldier is lying expressionless in bed. The camera shows his head upside down.
Was Vietnam our Congo? Did we as Americans lose not only lives and money and pride, but our morality? Kurtz, the ivory collector’s last words were, “The horror! The horror!” As far as Vietnam was concerned, what were America’s last words?
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