Comparing Marlow of Heart of Darkness and Willard of...

Comparing Marlow of Heart of Darkness and Willard of Apocalypse Now Whenever books are adapted for film, changes inevitably have to be made. The medium of film offers several advantages and disadvantages over the book: it is not as adept at exploring the inner workings of people - it cannot explore their minds so easily; however, the added visual and audio capabilities of film open whole new areas of the imagination which, in the hands of a competent writer-director, can more than compensate. Heart of Darkness relies heavily on lengthy philosophical and expository passages, as well as some very unusual and complex imagery; â€Å"not the easiest material to rewrite as a screenplay† (Canby, 18). However, rewrite it Francis Ford†¦show more content†¦Therefore, Coppola elected to change the character, the only similarity between the two being that they are both normal people amongst lunatics, and are both outsiders - Marlow never fits in with the corrupt and immoral Company, and Willard does not play by the usual army rules (both characters are uncannily similar to Kurtz in that respect). The similarities end there. Willard lacks the depth of thought that Marlow has; Willard does not digress into lengthy ethical debates, or philosophize. Also, he does not use imagery of any sort - the strong, red-eyed devils and the flabby, weak-eyed devils from the book are not mentioned (if Willard were Marlow, he would have admonished the army leaders in Saigon for being flabby devils, for example), nor does he have any of the fascination with shoes and other arbitrary objects and ideas that Marlow seems to. Willard also has no qualms whatsoever about killing, whether it be innocents (the girl on the trading boat) or Kurtz himself; in the book, Marlow had an abhorrence towards killing. These are mostly unavoidable differences, due to the different settings. Marlow is an imaginative pilot who wishes to explore the Congo, having had a fascination with the many blank spaces on the earth†¢ from childhood; Willard is a soldier through and through and does not have time to moralize. Were these changes not present, then Apocalypse Now would have been horribly off-balanced,Show MoreRelatedParallels Between Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now1871 Words   |  8 PagesVarious parallels can be drawn when comparing and contrasting Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Frank Coppolas Apocalypse Now, while taking into consideration Heart of Darkness is a novella and Apocalypse Now is a film. These differences and similarities can be seen in themes, characters, events and other small snippets of information including anything from quoted lines to strange actions of the main characters. Both pieces follow the same story line but they are presented in differentRead MoreEssay on heart of darkness1844 Words   |  8 Pages Various parallels can be drawn when comparing and contrasting Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness and Frank Coppolas quot;Apocalypse Nowquot;, while taking into consideration Heart of Darkness is a novella and quot;Apocalypse Nowquot; is a film. These di fferences and similarities can be seen in themes, characters, events and other small snippets of information including anything from quoted lines to strange actions of the main characters. Both pieces follow the same story line but they are presentedRead MoreComparative Essay1096 Words   |  5 Pagesanalysis: â€Å"Heart of Darkness† â€Å"Apocalypse Now† Student: Mora Vandenbroele Teacher: Azucena Estigarribia Year: 11th â€Å"A† â€Å"Heart of Darkness† vs. â€Å"Apocalypse Now† It is very interesting how humans are so intrigued about the evilness in the world, and the dedication of some men to compare Hell with the Earthly horror. Joseph Conrad, a genius writer, took his time to show this with his masterpiece â€Å"Heart of Darkness† that wasRead MoreComparing and Contrasting Marlow/Willard and Kurtz979 Words   |  4 PagesComparing and Contrasting Marlow/Willard and Kurtz Inherent inside every human soul is a savage evil side that remains repressed by society. History is loaded with examples of atrocities that have occurred when one culture comes into contact with another. Whenever fundamentally different cultures meet, there is often a fear of contamination and loss of self that leads one to discover more about one s true self, often causing perceived madness. Heart of Darkness, a novel written by Joseph ConradRead MoreAnalysis Of Joseph Conrad s Heart Of Darkness1164 Words   |  5 PagesAs Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness eludes to the inverse interpretation of colors as a motif, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now not only mimics but also portrays through the Vietnam War, the contrasting misguided crusades of enlightenment that the supreme race forces upon savages. The reversed meanings amongst the colors and entangled description in Heart of Darkness shows how backwards civilization is through the need to enlighten or civilize the natives is flamboyantly flaunted in both the