Blog 7 JY

Allegory is a way of portraying an idea without explicitly showing it. Coppola was able to portray the Vietnam War through Apocalypse Now by using the characters and the events in the movie. Many of the events in the movie tried to show the audience what it was like being in the Vietnam War. Even though these exact events did not occur in real life they were able to show the audiences how it would be like to be in the Vietnam War.
One example of an allegory in the movie was Colonel Kurtz. He was suppose to be a decorated soldier and had a great record and could have been a commander if he wanted to be. Captain Willard is sent to get or kill Kurtz who is now “disillusioned.” When he finds Kurtz the colonel controls all the native Indians in the jungle and they treat him as if he is a God. The colonel seems as if he is not in the right mind set. This is an allegory showing how the Vietnam War changed people and partially made them crazy. This may be a sign of post traumatic stress disorder. Many soldiers from the Vietnam War changed their view on the war because it was very stressful and mentally challenging.
Lance the soldier that was from California and was a surfer is an allegory of what happens to the young soldiers. When the audience is first introduced to this soldier he seems like an enjoyable youthful kid. The further they get into the jungle the more disillusioned he gets as he soon starts to take off his clothes and sets off a flare that lures the enemies to the boat. This is what happened to the young soldiers that were not ready for the war. They entered to war as dreamers that thought they could achieve anything. After they see the reality they become to go crazy. At the end he starts to get accustomed to the native Indians that are with Kurtz.
There was also an allegory as the boat with Captain Willard got deeper in the jungle. The deeper in the jungle the boat went the crazier the events got. At first they ran into a tiger when they were searching for mangoes then at the end they run into a civilization full of native Indians and Kurtz. I believe that this is an allegory of the soldier in the Vietnam War. The longer the soldiers stayed the crazier they got and the worse the war felt to them. This is a central theme in most other books and movies I’ve seen about war. The longer the soldier tended to stay the harder it would  
be on them and the more they wanted to go back. The Chief on the boat was always reluctant to go further, because the more dangerous it would be on them.