Blog 7 EP

Allegory is a figurative way of represnting a central them through symbolic images, figures of speech and song. Allegory is a form of metaphor. Most often allegory is not spoken and is presented in a visual manner. Apocalypse Now uses many images and settings to symbolize the situation and psycholigical effects of the Vietnam War. The often chaotic scenes present throughout the movie are symbolic of the entire situation of the war. Coppola is trying to show that the war was total chaos. In the scene when Captain Willardis asking for the commanding officer of the bridgeside base Copola is showing his view of the inneficiencies of the American government in running the war. The head of the country changed so many times during the war, each with their own objectives, that it was as if there was no leader. With each new president the direction of the war changed. Their was no commanding officer of the war. In the same scene one soldier responds to Willard's question by telling him to look for the officer in the safe, cement bunker on the hill. This is allegorical to the way that the poor were sent to the front lines to fight for rich here were sitting back safely in their homes in America. At the USO show the scene where the soldiers storm the stage is symbolic of the psycholigical toll the war took on the soldiers. The soldiers are turned into animals and are unable to behave as they would have before being exposed to the war. This psycological toll can also be seen in the behavior of the soldiers throughout the movie. The weird behavior exhibited is clearly symbolic of the post traumatic stress exhibited by veterans returing from war. The scene with the playboy bunnies at the riverside camp also contains allegorical elements. The stories of the girls and who they were before they began modeling and were forced to do stuff they did not want to do because it was "expected of them" is symbolic of the very soldiers who they are telling these stories to. These girls were forced to give up their innocence. The soldiers are fighting the war because they were told that it was expected of them. Most did not want ot be involved in the things they were doing but did so because they felt it was their responsibility. The forced action caused them to lose their innocence. Another case of allegory present in the film is the long, drawn out boat trip. This boat trip up the river is very symbolic of the war itself. The war, as did the river trip, lasted a long time with few casualties of the American side. As the boat trip dragged on and came closer to the end the trip became increasingly deadly. This is very reminsicent of the course of the war where many of the worst years of casualty occured late in the conflict. The long drawn out war lasted for years as symbolized by the lengthy boat trip up river to Cambodia.