Comparing Marlow of Heart of Darkness and Willard of Apocalypse Now

Could the cruelest, most punishing soldier and a peaty chaplain’s assistant be at all alike? How are they different? When reading Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, Billy Pilgrim and Roland Weary are some of the first characters you will meet. One is a no-life and the other a die hard army man. The characters are different yet very similar. Billy and Roland are similar even if they don’t realize it.

There are also stylistic similarities between the two men. In each scene where Kurtz and Willard are portrayed together, Willard is always to the left of the screen, except when Kurtz is on the left, at which point Willard is on the right. In no sequence are the two men pictured on the same side of the screen. Even in the scene where Willard is killing Kurtz, the two men are on opposite sides of the screen, Willard charging in from the right and attacking Kurtz,who is on the left. Willard and Kurtz are portrayed as complimentary figures almost literally then, standing opposite one another. The placing of Willard and Kurtz opposite one another is a representation of the similar journey each man took through the war in Vietnam. They were both special forces men, well versed in unconventional warfare. Their experiences led them to believe the war itself was useless. Yet, they have different reactions to this belief. Kurtz chooses to exile himself amongst a local tribe, ruling them. Willard chooses to return to the US, and tell the story of his exploits as a warning to future

The characters are similar; however, they are built entirely different. In the stories you can see that their background shows who they are and what type of person they are. "Won't be here till tomorrow. Seems to me I've got to stay her a while. Anyway, I'm the same man-with or without this" (Foreman

     Many time in our lives, we have seen the transformation of novels into movies. Some of them are equal to the novel, few are superior, and most are inferior. Why is this? Why is it that a story that was surely to be one of the best written stories ever, could turn out to be Hollywood flops? One reason is that in many transformations, the main characters are changed, some the way they look, others the way they act. On top of this, scenes are cut out and plot is even changed. In this essay, I will discuss some of the changes made to the characters of the Maltese Falcon as they make their transformation to the ?big screen.?

Joseph Conrad utilizes the essential differences between “primal” and “primitive” to tell the story, Heart of Darkness. Through Marlow, the reader is posed with existential questions on personal beliefs and humanity. A resounding theme of the story is the emotional journey for purpose and the idea that it is not enough to find a purpose, but to be candid in the fulfillment of said

In recent years, it has become popular for many of America's great literary masterpieces to be adapted into film versions. As easy a task as it may sound, there are many problems that can arise from trying to adapt a book into a movie, being that the written word is what makes the novel a literary work of art. Many times, it is hard to express the written word on camera because the words that express so much action and feeling can not always be expressed the same way through pictures and acting. One example of this can be found in the comparison of Ken Kesey's novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the film version directed in 1975 by Milos Forman.

   In the opening scenes of the documentary film "Hearts of Darkness-A Filmmaker's Apocalypse," Eleanor Coppola describes her husband Francis's film, "Apocalypse Now," as being "loosely based" on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Indeed, "loosely" is the word; the period, setting, and circumstances of the film are totally different from those of the novella. Yet, a close analysis of character, plot, and theme in each respective work reveals that Conrad's classic story of savagery and madness is present in its cinematic reworking.

In The book Heart of Darkness, written in 1899, and the Movie Apocalypse Now ,made in 1977, are closely and vastly similar stories. The movie Apocalypse Now was just a reiterated version of the book Heart of Darkness. The aim of this paper will be to discuss the concepts of madness and insanity in both the book and the movie following the hypocrisy of imperialism. Both depict the insight and developing the idea of colonial and democratic views in the light of its for the best. In both stories groups of men travel through the heart of the jungle to reach Kurtz, but on their voyage they learn the devastating reality of madness as they lose themselves and their soul. In the Heart of Darkness Marlow travels from station to station and eventually

As many avid scholars know the book is almost always better than the movie but one particular case is a candidate to break this trend that is seen so frequently. The outlier occurs in Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, an adaptation of Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad where the correlation between both stories is extraordinary. Coppola does exceedingly well using devices of both sound and sight to portray the feelings of futility and creeping darkness that Conrad portrays in his book. One of the most important and similar symbols is that which keeps the protagonists sane, the dossier and the boat.

Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness (1899) and Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now critique the values of their context through the endings of their texts. The combination of symbolism and the biblical allusion of the river representing a snake in the line “the brown current ran swiftly out of the heart of darkness, bearing us down towards the sea” reveals how the River Thames is a symbol of the line that connects our pure side with our side of corruption and savagery. Conrad here is also critiquing the methods of King Leopold II during his colonial reign establishing that colonialism has brought about his capacity for evil and greed. In comparison Coppola, through a full shot of the rundown boat being swallowed by native Vietnamese

This question is a perplexing one, and will be explored throughout the following text. However, first a person must consider the value of a films translation of text into cinematic language. “A movie based on a literary source is often seen as a secondary work, consequently, of secondary value” (Cahir). What makes this ideology present in our society? What makes one translation considered more valuable than another? “Literature, generally, still occupies a more privileged position in the cultural hierarchy than movies do…” (Cahir). It is in the translation versus adaptation of text to cinematic language that offers film its own identity. Adaptation equates to the transformation of written word

This film shows how hard filmmaking could be. The process of making a movie is a real challenge, especially if the screen writer is adapting a book to a movie. The hardest part of making a book movie, is when a screen writer is trying to stay true to the book author’s story.

Nevertheless, both of the men had different backgrounds before they began their journey. Marlow was an experienced sailor, while Willard was an experienced warrior. Willard was a man who went to hell and back in Vietnam. His soul was already corrupted and only got worse while his journey to Kurtz continued. Marlow was a man who just wanted a job.

When has one ever seen a film that could compare to the words written in the book? Movies are almost always different, almost always never compare, and almost always have a different premise than that expressed by a novel. The reason, one wonders, is because you have to keep the audience interested. Ambrose Bierce’s short story and Robert Enrico’s film adaptation entitled, “An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge,” is a great example of differing themes in a piece of work. In the entry, evident themes include: reality verses imagination and deception, war, death and dying, and time. Some are expressed in the film clearly, while others are hidden to the untrained eye.

In adapting Madame Bovary for the screen, both directors had to deal with what I term "the narrative problem"--how to create a coherent narrative structure in a cinematic version of a fictional work. A fictional narrative can reveal the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of the characters, and can move the reader smoothly from episode to episode through narrative and descriptive links. This presents a challenge for cinema, which is a visual medium.