LITR 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Film Highlight 2008

Apocalypse Now (1979), directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Years in the making, with numerous disasters associated with the production, followed by mixed reviews at the opening. Many critics still don't admire it as a film, but no question that it made a profound impression and remains memorable.

Course Objective 6. To register and evaluate the persistence of millennial or apocalyptic narratives, images, and themes as a means of comprehending or symbolizing the colonial-postcolonial encounter.

The title goes without saying.

In the opening and river scenes, what are the apocalyptic images or associations?

Apocalyptic passages in Heart of Darkness?

2nd scene: mission discussion, ID of Kurtz

Notice the "Eurasian" man at the meeting--what to do with the figure of the Eurasian? Why is he so silent, and why are we so inclined to remain silent about him?

River battle scenes--3 analogues in Heart of Darkness:

1. firing into the jungle (p. 12)

2. death of the helmsman

3. photojournalist (Dennis Hopper) as Russian character

What gained or learned by these identifications?