Apocalypse now, Vietnam and the rhetoric of influence

Readings of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) often confront the difficulty of having to privilege either its aesthetic context (considering, for instance, its relation to Conrad's Heart of Darkness [1899] or to the history of cinema) or its value as a representation of the Viet...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jeffrey Childs
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra 2014-03-01
Series:MatLit
Subjects:
Online Access:http://iduc.uc.pt/index.php/matlit/article/view/1663
Description
Summary:Readings of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) often confront the difficulty of having to privilege either its aesthetic context (considering, for instance, its relation to Conrad's Heart of Darkness [1899] or to the history of cinema) or its value as a representation of the Vietnam War. In this paper, I will argue that viewing the film as a meditation on the nature and rhetoric of influence allows us to bridge this gap and provides us with valuable insights into both the film's aesthetic precursors and the circumstances of its historical setting.
ISSN:2182-8830
2182-8830