Conrad versus Coppola

The first thing would notice as a similarity between Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Coppola's Apocalypse Now is the characters. The main character in Darkness, Marlowe, takes a job in that takes him deep into the jungles of Africa, a dark place that was relatively unknown. In Apocalypse, Willard takes a mission that sends him into the deep, dark jungles of Vietnam/Cambodia, a place that was quite unknown. Both characters engage on this mission by heading up a river that carves through the mysterious jungles, stopping at points of 'civilization'. The missions that both men embark on is oddly similar. Both men must enter the dark jungles to find a man named Kurtz. Oddly enough, the main characters become entranced in the legend of Kurtz, and completly enthralled by the enigma the man creates. Kurtz in both story is man of great education, success, and legend. But as the main characters approach the coming the character of Kurtz becomes more and more clear. The Kurtz characters both seem to have become completely insane, having become a hero among the native people and denying the former culture from whence they came. Another similarity is that throughout either story, Marlowe and Willard commentate the events that happen and give their own social and cultural commentaries.

One thing that amused me was that in Apocalypse Now you can hear the men on Willard's boat call the Vietnamese "savage" but the only time Willard uses the word "savage" he is referring to the other American soldiers. Also, just as Marlowe uses the ship's horn to scare away natives, the Chef uses the ship's siren to scare away the Cambodians. And of course, when Willard kills Kurtz he then whispers, "The Horror! The Horror!"