AP English Lit.

Question:  21^st century literature includes an understanding of how a work gets updated and modified to fit a new set of criteria.  Heart of Darkness is written to address themes of imperialism and racism.  How does changing the form from a novella to a movie impact these themes?

The transformation from a book to a movie includes a translation from what a reader interprets with his or her imagination to a visual representation of what someone else interprets. In this transformation the themes of the book or novella are changed or modified to fit the visual transformation in such a way that the themes send the same message but are different then the themes presented in the novella. This is the case in Apocalypse Now, where the themes of imperialism and racism are taken from the novel and modified to fit the modern day concept of what imperialism and racism mean.  Where imperialism in colonial times meant the expanding of empires, now it means the involvement in the Vietnam War, where racism meant the use of slaves, now it is the indiscriminate killing that is commonplace in the movie.  This way the visual impact of these themes is easier to understand since they are presented in the movie, a visual representation in itself.  The actual meaning behind the theme does not change, as imperialism was an instrument of immoral conquest, the Vietnam War was an instrument of spreading influence and domination through force.  Where racism in slavery was the cruel treatment of human beings, racism was expressed in the senseless killing of Vietnamese that was present in the movie.  What connects the novel and the movie more is that it is the idea behind the actions, or the reason for the imperialism that does not change.  The only differences are in the minute details of the presentation of the themes.  The overall impact is greater in the movie because the impacts can be seen and are shown to us, in the book it is left open to interpretation of the mind, and our own mind possibly not wanting to contemplate the thematic horrors of what we read will lessen the impact.

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