I guess I want to start by saying that after all the horror movies I've watched, this movie really creeped me out. I know a little bit about the Vietnam war, and none of it's pretty. My dad served two terms over in Cambodia, and very rarely talks about it. When asked, you can tell that it's something he doesn't want to talk about and when he came home, he was never exactly the same. I know how much it scared him, and on top of the movie being already creepy, neither one helped at all. It also doesn't help, that through classes and media I already had my own opinions of the war and none of them are good. For some reason, if I think of WWII I think of yay we won and not horribly bad things. However, whenever I think of Vietnam, I think of horrible bloodshed deep in the woods - kind of right along the lines of what the movie showed us.
The first two things that really jumped out to me was the music and the visuals of the movie. I kept thinking that if I have a halloween party next year, i'm buying the soundtrack to this movie. The background music made the movie extra creepy. The Doors, Rollingstones, and other bands who had music in the movie all had great mood setting music. Minus the song "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" I can't remember one other upbeat song. Even when the background showed the lights that made it look like a carnaval, it wasn't lighthearted carnival music, it was creepy evil clown music. Also, throughout the entire movie I thought the visuals were really interesting. I'm not sure if it was the loud music, the bigger screen, or what but this movie made me feel like I was almost there. At different times I actually got really into the movie like it was really happening. Even though annoying at times, I think I liked the movie being played louder to really set the mood for the movie. I thought the sceens with the helicopters flying were visual appealing along with a lot of the other sceens. I'm not sure why, if it was the camera angle or whatnot, but I couldn't get my eyes off the screen.
One of the sceens I want to mention was where they brought in the playboy girls to put on a show for the soldiers. I couldn't help but notive their outfits - cowboy, indian, and a female version of uncle sam. I don't think it was ironic that these were the outfits they were wearing. Also, the whole sceen just seemed like the soldiers and lost control. Even during the fighting and shooting no one really went crazy but as soon as the girls started dancing they were screaming and jumping all over the place. It really did seem like this was not for entertainment purposes rather more for getting them hyped up about fighting. The girls were only on stage for a matter of minutes before the men started jumping each other and taking over the stage. It seemed that they had all their energy back and then some, to go out and fight. (I also like the big Playboy bunny stamped on the helicopter.)
The reading as well as class touched on the subject of "playing God". I'm not sure how I feel about this. I don't think anyone should be assigned with having to 'play God', but I guess soldiers basically have this job. They ultimately have the choice of who is going to live or not. One specific example of this that came to my mind is when they are going up the river and they stop the other boat that they really didn't have to stop. Not only did they not have to stop, but they really didn't have to shoot anyone on the boat. They didn't do anything wrong and because of the soldiers they ultimately lost their lives. So in this aspect, I guess they do get to play God.
Another sceen that really stuck out to me was when the animal (bull, ox... i'm not sure) and Kurtz were both being killed. I thought there were a few reasons that they made the film like this. One, would be that they didn't want to show the whole bloodshed sceen so much. Another would be though, how symbolic it was to kill him and the animal at the same time. From being in Cambodia for so long and living in the jungle, it's almost like Kurtz himself had become animalistic and losing a lot of his human instincts. Cutting off the heads of people and the other horrific things he did seem very savage and not humanly.
Theres many other things I could mention but I'll leave it here. I overall liked the movie but it really did creep me out and give me an even better idea what it was really like for the Vietnam war. The movie really opened my eyes to how horrific war can be and how mentally straining it can really be on a person.
So, I am not sure if you got the chance to read my blog yet, but I think that its really interesting how we both talked personally about someone we know who was involved with Vietnam. My grandfather hates to talk as well and it is a very touchy subject. I too feel very negatively towards the Vietnam war, and like you said, the personal connection I have to it helped me to shape that narrative, but I really think of a terrible narrative as well when I think of WWII which I think may be a little different than you. It is true; WWII was very romanticized for Americans as we kind of looked like hero’s, but in actuality we assisted. I am not saying that WWII veterans didn’t do an amazing service to the country, I just feel like its important to mention that just from Russia alone there was around 20 million deaths. Not to mention the concentration camps, I don’t in anyway think of WWII as a pretty war. But I do agree I am disturbed just as bad by the thought of the bloodshed from Vietnam. I do really agree with your music comment; it was completely creepy. In my opinion a song like, “I Cant Get No Satisfaction,” was used in terms of satire to accent the generation at hand and to illustrate the American mindset of unrest and turmoil, remember the song was played when the men stormed the beaches and the American camera man said something along the lines of, “keep moving on, as if your in battle.” The song is an icon element in defining the generation, but the fact that it is so upbeat, in a time in the movie where pointless bloodshed was occurring adds a sense or irony and grotesqueness. I too mentioned the “playing god,” aspect in my blog and in class. It’s really scary when thinking about a soldier’s mindset. The primitive archetype of survival comes out. They decide who lives and who dies. The reading did a good job of talking about this, and like I said I wish we had more time in class to discuss this eerie idea. I also feel as though we as an audience almost have to make decision in determining if the deaths in the movie were justified. You talk about the boat scene where the pointless deaths happened, where the soldier lost all moral reasoning, completely lost in the Vietnam jungles. I can’t even begin to imagine what the soldiers went through and what they had to decide. It really is about playing God, being “strong” enough to be in a situation to do so. There really is so much t talk about involving this movie and talking about the Vietnam generation.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to see the dramatic change in film portrayals of specific wars such as World War II and Vietnam. It seems like World War II even in movies and series today such as Saving Private Ryan, portray it as somewhat glamorized and gritty simultaneously whereas Vietnam War movies, at least Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Dead Presidents to some degree, show Vietnam as more traumatic and disturbing. Why do we still insist on these assumptions? In reference to the "playing god" aspect, while I feel disturbed that they had this choice and power I feel equally if not more disturbed that in the film, this choice is second nature and almost taken advantage of. In the boat scene that you talk about, several of the soldiers end up getting into a verbal fight one side finally blowing up and killing people on the boat. The soldier who shoots seems to project his frustrations into this action like its natural to cope in this way. Kilgore's dialogue also seems to suggest this; telling the men to go surfing, proclaiming his love for napalm, giving orders while asking one of the soldiers about surfing. These behaviors all seem to point to an acceptance of this killing power and disconnectedness from how brutal it really is, which I think fits into the "dehumanizing nature of imperialism" that Vargas describes Heart of Darkness as "denouncing". I also think the music such as the mentioned "Satisfaction" serves a kind of detaching effect, perhaps to give the audience a sense that at times of extreme brutality they like the soldiers are disconnecting from what's actually going on around them and allowing them to accept their roles as "playing god". I will admit that at the beginning of the movie, when "This Is The End" was playing during a series of explosions, I thought about how stylized it looked and how this scene coordinated with the music. It wasn't until after the class discussion that I realized what I was thinking about and how detached I was from watching what was a series of violent explosions during Vietnam. In addition to this detachment function, I think this song despite its irony due to its placement at the beginning of the film set the stage for the time it was supposed to be in, "This is the end"...of what? Judging from this movie, the end of military nobility, of life, of caring about the actions you take as a soldier.
ReplyDeletePlease go comment on my blog too! http://francisdimaria.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteJulie, the fact that you classify this movie as a horror movie is really interesting--most people don't talk about that aspect of it, and it's worth going into. What specific horror movie tropes and techniques do you see playing out here?
ReplyDeleteBe very careful about the context of your quotes and references. The comment about "playing God" didn't have to do with the actions of ordinary soldiers, but rather the obviously insane decisions made at the command level--Kurtz and Kilgore especially, but also the inhumane and detached political structure directing and ordering the increasingly insane war from a safe distance, indifferent to human suffering or the fact that US soldiers were just losing it.
The comparison between how WWII and Vietnam in popular culture is a really interesting one that I'd have liked to see more discussion of too. How do pop culture presentations of Iraq/Afghanistan fit in to this analysis, do you think?