Movie Essay - Irony and Insanity in Francis Ford Coppola’s Film, Apocal

Irony and Insanity in Apocalypse Now      Ã‚  Ã‚   This is end of sanity. As Francis Ford Coppola suggests in Apocalypse Now, sanity is not the manner that would have settled the Vietnam conflict. Rather, through the character of Walt Kurtz, Coppola illustrates the means by which the U.S. Army could have decided the end of the war. Walter Kurtz is a psychopath. Walter Kurtz achieves success in Vietnam. Here lies the irony that Coppola brilliantly conveys. Thousands of troops arrived weekly in Vietnam without the proper arsenal of faculties that one needs to execute the actions essential to success in Vietnam. The boys are not insane enough to win. However, Kurtz, through his psychopathic tendencies, achieve success repeatedly in jungle combat. He was "winning the war his own way."    In order to diagnose an individual with psychopathic deviance, or psychopathy, the individual must display behaviors that reveal four personality characteristics. Psychopaths are impulsive, manipulative, anti-social and pathagnomic (Hare and Shalling 5). The anti-social trait does not signify introversion. Rather, it refers to anti-social behaviors. Pathagnomy indicates the lack of a conscience. An individual who has no conscience can not discern between right and wrong.    Psychopaths display antisocial behavior and impulsiveness (Hare and Schalling 17). Antisocial behavior is determined as activities "not appropriate to the accepted functioning of one's social relationships with one's surroundings" (Hare and Schalling 37). Kurtz performs antisocial behaviors impulsively. Those evaluating Kurtz's behavior due to their social appropriateness are his superiors. General Corman determines that his actions are not acceptable in the circumst... ...uding antisocial behavior, manipulativeness, lack of conscience and impulsiveness, provide the most efficient manner in which to dominate and eliminate any opposition. Such initiative offers soldiers a means to survive and the U.S. government victory. The process, as Coppola explicates, is futile. Young boys become confused, frenzied, mad. Young boys are reinforced in a depraved manner. They receive rewards for their psychopathic deviancy with successful campaigns against the opposition. Kurtz understands this process and attempts to use it to his advantage in achieving success.       Works Cited Hare, R. and Schalling, D. Psychopathic Behaviour: Approaches to Research. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1978. The editors of the Boston Publishing Company. The Vietnam Experience: War in the Shadows. Boston: Boston Publishing Company. 1988.