There’s a fine line between enjoying violence and enjoying oneself despite the violence that may be happening nearby. When an Apocalypse Now villain takes pleasure in napalm, he clearly falls into the first category. However, his promotion of surfing during an attack suggests category 2.
By presenting this character as a villain, Apocalypse Now seems to disavow both ways of enjoying violence. Yet when the film struts bright color and appealing sets in front of the viewer, its position outside of these categories becomes slippery.
Hansen claims that Apocalypse Now‘s focus on aesthetics distracts from its violent content. She thinks that the choreography of the helicopter scene makes viewers forget why the fleet is incoming. The film’s aesthetics are also working on another level to accomplish something even more frightening: synthesizing pleasure and violence in its viewers’ minds.
Some examples. We see Mr. Clean beginning to dance from Willard’s perspective. We’re in a dark part of the boat. Bars of this darkness reach out, failing to obscure the light sky and happy teen.
Later, the bright artificiality of pink smoke provides a welcome break from the visible and contextual horrors of war.
Some of the jungle leaves, unexpectedly, look just as bright and false. The figure in the shot below is cloaked in darkness and most of the foliage around him is dim, yet one bright plant beckons.
