Fear of Infectious "Savagery"

                In his essay “An Image of Africa”, Chinua Achebe critically examines Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. He states that the novella “projects the image of Africa as ‘the other world,’ the antithesis of Europe and therefore civilization,” a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality.” Achebe repeatedly notes throughout his essay that Conrad had constructs his image of Africa as Europe’s savage, primordial ancestor; furthermore, one which passed down many terrifyingly (to Conrad) dominant genes. Something very similar can be said of the manner in which Francis Ford Coppola depicts the country of Vietnam in his film Apocalypse Now.

Achebe notes that the book opens upon the peaceful waters of the River Thames, where Marlowe is recounting the sights he bore witness to on his journey to recover Kurtz. The story he tells, however, occurs on the River Congo. The further Marlowe travels upon it, the more it is implied he is moving back in time, deep into some sinister ancestral womb. Exposing the waters of the Thames to those of the Congo would open the former to the risk of entering “the mindless frenzy of the first beginnings.” Here, we see that what fuels Conrad’s xenophobia not fear of corruption, but of regression.

I would like to argue, however, that though Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now are both laden with racist overtones, in the case of the latter, the reverse is true: the soldiers do not see themselves in the Vietnamese, and this is what makes it so easy to dehumanise them. That said, the fear of being changed into something like them, or “going native” – as is suggested happens to the film’s Kurtz – is incredibly real for the troops.