What is your reaction to the Playboy playmate scene in Coppola's Apocalypse Now? Clearly, this is a question related solely to the film and not Conrad's novel.What do you think is the purpose of this scene, and how does it influence your "reading" of this film?
This is a fairly challenging question because despite the fact that I did feel the playmate scene was a little out of place, I didn't put much thought to why it was there. However, now that I think about it, maybe it was to support Conrad's concept in "Heart of Darkness" where he feels that women did not deserve the respect of men. Maybe he used it as a way to objectify women to portray that same sense of lacking respect. I definitely feel that the scene was not significant to the events of the movie so I think it would have been better without the incorporation of this scene.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hatem. Although the scene was misplaced and completely inapropriate in respect to the film, it was filmed for the representation of women. Women were not perceived to be on the same level as man, therefore, portraying them in a playboy scene degrades their integrity and placement in society at that time or through the eyes of the director. I believe the director added this scene for the mere purpose of "showing some skin" to the public; since there was no love story or anything sexually oriented about the film, half-naked women could catch the attention of many. The director should have shown the depiction of women in a different manner because this did not fit the film well, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that this scene depicts women of a lower social status then men. But I think this scene helps Coppola in bringing across the theme of worshiping a false God. In both the novel and the movie, Kratz is supposed to be this amazing "Christ-like" man who has basically hypnotized the natives as well as his own into worshiping him as this "God." These women help to show how easily it is for people (in this instance,men in particular) to become engrossed by something so close yet out of reach. Everyone knows of Kratz, yet many have never even met him. I think the women represent the Ivory, that everyone wants. They become fixated on obtaining this "prized possession" and it takes over all of their actions. The men storm the stage and even try hanging on to the helicopter to get to the women. Just like how the men want the ivory, they will do unspeakable things to obtain this valued item.
ReplyDeleteThe scene where the playboy bunnies descend from the helicopter, I felt, was a scene that could be percieved as not being important. Upon further analysis, we see that the scene in fact is important because it helps to express the idea of idolatry. Just like Kurtz is worshipped and adored by the natives, the "bunnies" are worshipped and idolized by the soldiers. The "bunnies" are just another example of how idolatry exists in our everyday society.
ReplyDeleteThe playboy scene is placed in Apocalypse Now to show how men portrayed women as love toys. The men of war missed their wives and girlfriends at this time,and the playboy bunnies were used to fulfill the pleasure they really wanted. The characters in this scene are men who never took women seriously. This scene didn't really influence my reading because it was a scene that had no intention of being in the film. This movie didn't relate to the purpose of the novel, which was to depict men in states of agony,not women.
ReplyDeleteI feel the playboy scene was to degrade women. As we know, women were not treated equal partners, or equal to men. This scene is show how men truly felt towards women. Women were for show. I also feel that this was to show women were for pleasure. This scene doesn't fit into the plot of the movie. A playboy bunny is a woman who is beautiful, but for a so called "toy". This symbolized what women are to the men in this movie. There are no women in this movie, and in order to have the audience's attention, if they are bored, is to put women in the scene that could be "erotic."
ReplyDeleteBy representing women in this manner it illustrates that women were below the social status and integrity of the male. My initial reaction to the scene was that it was misplaced in relation to the central theme of the film. I feel that the use of women is only presented for Hollywood effect. The scene attracts the male viewers as an erotic fantasy. Even if this scene were placed in a romance film it would seem out of place because of the content. The content of the scene does not deomonstrate any sense of compassion or commitment. It displays the wild, corrupt male mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Stacy and Amanda said about the tendency of humans to participate in group idolatry. The man on the boat who kept the picture of the girl from the calendar represented a form of worship and dedication. When he finally meets her, he forces her to look the way she did in the picture. This is the problem with idolizing flawed people. This also relates to how Kurtz came to power in the jungle as displayed in the movie. What is bothersome about this scene is how the women were commodified, like the ivory from the novel. What happens with the bunnies and the soldiers is that in fierce competition with limited resources, the men go crazy and the playboy bunnies are forced to go back into the helicopter and leave. Idolatry and superficial worship are debilitating for the person that practices either of them and will always end in disappointment and unrequited affection.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does, because it emphasizes the overall absurdity of the war. An additional Playmate sequence may be entertaining, yes it does emphasize the insane nature of the war; rather it sends a message this is a true straight mans movie, as were, sex, violence, and guns. The Playmate encounter again seems to serve little purpose, but on one hand is speaks, that the Martin Sheen character is in total control and shows the other men at their weakest.
ReplyDeleteI believe this scene was in the movie for multiple reasons. When I watched it, I felt it was placed in the movie for irony. In the novel, they view the natives as savages, or as animals. They do not see them as human beings and they do not treat them as human beings. They believe they are on a higher level. It is the same thing in the film. Americans did not view the Vietnamese culture as acceptable, and viewed them in an animalistic way. This scene depicts Americans, and even our culture, in the very same way. Sex, and sex symbols, are a large part of American culture. By practically throwing themselves at the playmates, the soldiers were portrayed in a much more savage light, and reverting back to their basic animal instincts.
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