Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, and Apocalypse Now, a movie by Francis Ford Coppola are two works that parallel one another, but at the same time reflect their own era in time and their creator's own personal feelings and prejudices. ... Conrad's Heart of Darkness deals with the account of Marlow, a narrator of a journey up the Congo River into the heart of Africa, into the jungle, his ultimate destination. ... One of the many similarities between Heart of Darkness and "Apocalypse Now " is race. ... Conrad uses ivory traders as his characters in Heart of Darkness and the...

• Word Count: 1530
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

By using the major themes of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad as inspiration, Francis Ford Coppola created an honest portrayal of one of the most controversial periods of time in America's history: the Vietnam war. ... Heart of Darkness more accurately acted as a template for any story involving humans behaving at a basic level. ... The success of Francis Ford Coppola in imitating Heart of Darkness is seen in the manipulation of two unique periods of time in world history. ... The film Apocalypse Now emulated the truly horrendous and thought provoking themes of Conrad's Heart of...

• Word Count: 913
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now lacks the impact of its inspiration; Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. ... His fascination with Kurtz is also less profound than in Heart of Darkness. ... The character of Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, however, is never de-humanized as it is in Heart of Darkness. ... Conrad's Heart of Darkness forces its reader into meaningful introspection, while Apocalypse Now fails to capture the depth of Conrad's vision. In Heart of Darkness, Kurtz's last words "the horror, the horror!" ...

• Word Count: 1046
• Approx Pages: 4

Apocalypse Now, like many other films inspired by a novel, lacks the impact of its predecessor; Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. ... In Heart of Darkness, the reader is introduced to Marlow through his multitudinous cogitation's regarding imperialism, human nature and morality. ... In Heart of Darkness, Marlow is defined by his complacency, while in Apocalypse Now, Willard behaves aberrantly, and his fascination with Kurtz is more impressiveness than awe as in Heart of Darkness. ... In Apocalypse Now, Kurtz is portrayed as a powerful, fearless, eccentric Army major; a polar opposite...

• Word Count: 785
• Approx Pages: 3

Coppola created this film with "ambitious effort to show Vietnam as America's Heart of Darkness, with Joseph Conrad's story providing the narrative skeleton" "(Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 1-1) and many themes, meanings, and entire scenes from the movie do in fact come directly from Conrad's book. Aside from the adaptation of Heart of Darkness's story into the film Apocalypse Now illustrates the hardships of war in nearly every aspect of a soldiers life. ... Ford's use of imagery, darkness, and slow and long cross dissolves also create vivid realizations of the ...

• Word Count: 1876
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate