Examples Of Imperialism In Hypocalypse Now

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Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Apocalypse Now” is an appropriation of Joseph Conrad’s text “Heart of Darkness” whose pages explore the United States interventionist imperialism rather than British colonial imperialism while remaining faithful to the original text in terms of the universal truths presented, including the hypocrisy of imperialism and the idea that if left unchecked, the natural world of darkness warps and twists man to the point where the darkness within their heart comes to the fore, as explored within Scene 2. In conjunction with the slow ebbing away of sanity, Willard begins to understand the hypocrisy and moral ambiguity of the interventional imperialism of the US from Kurtz upon their meeting in Scene 4. The desire to colonise…show more content…
Humans are fallible, vain, ambitious, and have capacity for both good and evil. The universal truth of Imperialism's hypocrisy is explored in the novel by the men of the Company, describing their profession as a "trade" and their treatment of the natives as part of their benevolent and helpful project of civilizing them. The hypocrisy is clear from their blatant and unrestricted acts of torture and slavery pressed unto the natives in a warped and twisted vision of a civilizing mission, drawing themselves into a paradise where they believe they are doing good in this strange unfamiliar continent. Their vanity, ambition and moral ambiguity all culminate in a hypocritical analysis of their work, feeling it to be justified. Opening with a pathetic fallacy of overcast rain seeming to illustrate the hazy overcast nature of Willard's mind, this hypocrisy is explained by Kurtz in Scene 4, his words resonating with Willard, 'They train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't let them write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it is obscene." illustrating the hypocrisy of the American military, further accentuating the moral ambiguity and warped sense of right and wrong. Kurtz seems to believe he has overcome this hypocrisy by removing himself from civilization, but is rejected in the ideas that the damp, dark meeting place he shares an

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