While many differences and modifications exist between Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film, Apocalypse Now, and Heart of Darkness, the 19th century Joseph Conrad novella from which the film is loosely adapted, the novella contributes significantly to the overall structure and narrative strategy of the film, as well as to its many themes and storylines. Similar to Conrad, Coppola subverts the conventional “quest-up-the-river” narrative structure, replicating some of the techniques used by Conrad to bring light to the realities of the imperialist politics of the Vietnam War-era time period. In addition, Coppola takes advantage of the film medium by utilizing audio and visual components that are unavailable to the novelist - only include if I include Ride of the Valkyrie section. All in all, through the utilization of similar narrative strategies, memes, and intertexts, Coppola forms a linkage between 19th century western imperialism and …show more content…
A logical place to start in comparing the two works and their linkage through adaptation is by questioning why Coppola was drawn to the source text in the first place. As referenced by Coppola in the documentary on the making of the film, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, the idea for adapting Conrad’s novella into a film drew from Coppola’s interest in desiring to make a film about the Vietnam War and the “impact of Western society on the rest of the world” (Coppola). While there were many potential source texts that Coppola’s screenwriter John Milius considered adapting the film from, Heart of Darkness was eventually decided upon for its “themes regarding imperialism” (Coppola). Furthermore, it can