When I first heard this music in Apocalypse, Now, it reminded me of Birth of a Nation.
For some of you that don't know, Birth of a Nation is a black and white silent film made in 1915. It was considered highly controversial because it depicts blacks as "unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women. It also portrays the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force." Wiki. I haven't seen the movie, but I came across one of the scenes on youtube upon doing research in the past. In the film they have a scene where the KKK rides to "victory" in the sense of rescuing the white women and disarming the blacks. Thus making them heroes and bringing order to a nation during Reconstruction. This song was played during this scene. It's probably one of the few films that will forever be controversial that is still being debated to this day.
So yeah. When I saw the scene in Apocalypse, Now, I felt like it didn't show the Americans in Vietnam in a good light because of the song. You have these "white" Americans coming in to Vietnam and basically destroying the villages in the scene. They think that what they are doing is right, but at the same time and really, it is wrong. The scene depicts American imperialism at it's best/worst.
Something to think about.
Olga Martinez
I agree with you because when I saw that scene I kept thinking in my head "like really?" I couldn't help but feel like that was just a typical Hollywood scene. However, the music did fit well with the character. I can't remember his name in the film but he was the commander of the troops. His character was very upbeat and energetic and the music definitely reflected his emotions. Also, I think he said "the boys love it" (referring to song). This is really the only explanation I can give for this scene but other than that it didn't do much for me. It just seemed like a poor attempt to beautify the war.
ReplyDelete