Apocalypse Now: Visual Trauma

Throughout its entirety, the Vietnam War was a keen talking point in the American psyche. Since Americas involvement began in 1962, there had been strong opposition. One of the most iconic things taken from the Vietnam War was the trauma it caused those soldiers who served in it, due to the brutal (but necessary) tactics of the Vietcong and often the unbelievably cruel acts U.S. soldiers were expected to commit. This is especially true in the film industry, and is even more true of Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece, Apocalypse Now (1979). In this essay, we will look at how Coppola uses visuals to display trauma, specifically in the drunk bedroom scene.

            The scene opens with a ceiling fan spinning, evoking images of a helicopter, as well as make the sounds of its blades. Immediately afterwards we see Captain Benjamins drowsy, hazy eyes staring upwards, almost in a dreamlike state. This helps us understand that the fan is bringing back these memories of Vietnam, even though he hasn’t even left the country yet. The captains dreamlike stare is often viewed throughout this scene, referencing the “Thousand Yard Stare” that is often visible in PTSD victims. This simple stare really helps the audience see what kind of trauma the captain has experienced, as he constantly looks like he is remembering something.

            Secondly, we see the captain drunk and freaking out in his room. It starts with him seemingly pretending to fight something. The main trauma we see inflicted on him here is his alcoholism and how it leads him to bouts of anger. He drinks to forget and to stop feeling, but all it seems to do is bring him closer to these memories, to his trauma. After cutting his hand, the captain breaks down into tears, crying by the side of his bed. The trauma is all in Martin Sheens face, acted wonderfully. We see his anguished face until the screen fades to black.

            To conclude this scene, the ways it shows trauma is dependent primarily on its actor. Coppola allows Sheens acting to control the scene, but sets it up beautifully by bringing the viewer into his world. The use of dull lighting makes the whole scene feel more depressed and downbeat, and the visuals of the captain’s wife leave us remembering that these soldiers left a lot behind. The visual trauma is overwhelming and uncomfortable, something all too real for a lot of veterans in the United States today.

Jack Monk

Bibliography:

Films:

• ·         Apocalypse Now (1979, Omni Zoetrope)

Valuing American Cartoons From the 60s

Whilst some may look down on cartoons as being “for children”, they’re values and ideals cannot be ignored and can often have a significant impact on a developing child. They are made very deliberately to instil ideas and thoughts in young people. In this short essay, we will look at a few examples from 1960s America and what values they chose to represent. We will be looking at The Flinstones (1960 - 1966), The Jetsons (1962 – 1963) and Scooby Doo (1969 – 1970).

            Firstly, we will look at how each of these represents family life. Both The Flinstones and The Jetsons represent what is known as a nuclear family. They both have a mother and a father, and both have children, with the Jetsons having a boy and a girl and the Flinstones only having a young girl. Both families even have a pet, another feature of a typical ‘American’ household. They promote the importance of family and togetherness, contrasting the era of ‘free love’ that they come from with a message of a more ‘settled down’ approach. Both wives are homemakers whilst both husbands are the breadwinners, another typical feature of nuclear households. The difference in these examples lies in Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo takes a very different approach than these two, with the ‘family’ being a group of young adults instead, who work together as essentially private detectives. Where the two former cartoons promoted traditional family values, the other promotes a working youth and cooperation outside of family, although they too do have a pet.

            Secondly, we will look at how Scooby Doo represents hippie culture. There are many typical hippie trends viewable in Scooby Doo, such as their psychedelically painted surfer van or Fred and Daphne’s typically hippie outfits. Some would argue that it is implied that Shaggy is a typical ‘stoner’, owing to his constant case of ‘the munchies’. Most importantly however is that the show represents a kind of counter culture to everyday American life. These youths are self-employed and travel all over the country looking for work as private detectives. Whilst this may not seem like a realistic representation of counter-culture of the time, it’s actually not far from what hippies often did. They would often travel the country, especially to anti-war protests, and often in vans such as the one depicted in Scooby Doo.

            Lastly, we will look at how The Jetsons represents the future and how that links to the space race that was ongoing in the United States. The Jetsons was set in 2062 and had high hopes for the future. The family was assisted by a robotic maid, for instance, and their house was located far above the ground. George Jetson drives a flying car to work, where he only must work for two hours day, two days a week. The future was envisioned as luxurious and carefree for all. This is indicative of this era, with many forms of media depicting a similar future for Earth. Its hopeful and positive message is received throughout, displaying its values in the setting as well as the content.

            To conclude, it is obvious that cartoons hold more than just their humour, but the message can be somewhat confused in such a tumultuous era such as the 1960s. Some wish to keep things as they once were, such as The Flinstones with its nuclear family and traditional roles. Some seek to represent the once disenfranchised youth with their new personal power like in Scooby Doo. Others just want to dream and glimpse at the future and what wonders it will hold, just like in The Jetsons. But all of them make us smile despite any ulterior meaning.

Jack Monk

Bibliography:

TV Shows:

• ·         The Flinstones (1960 – 1966, Hanna-Barbera Productions)

• ·         Scooby Doo (1969 – 1970, Hanna-Barbera Productions)

• ·         The Jetsons (1962 – 1963, Hanna-Barbera Productions)

Night of the Living Dead – A Post Mortem

The zombie genre is considered a staple of horror in modern cinema, however, it wasn’t always this way. In this short essay we will explore the creation of George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) and how it left an everlasting mark on the horror genre by birthing the zombie film.

            Firstly, we must explore the creation of Night of the Living Dead and to do this, we must look at its creator. Romero graduated Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1960, leading him to work on commercials and a few short films. However, this wasn’t for Romero, who wanted to make his own feature length movie. Together with nine of his friends, he formed Image Ten Productions in the late 1960s, which managed to raise a budget of $114,000 for the project according to IMDB (2017). Night of the Living Dead was originally pitched as a horror comedy, but eventually experienced a tonal shift into what we see today. The fact that Romero used an independent production company meant that he had more creative freedom over the final product of the film, which ultimately meant he could go further off the mainstream, something the final product of the film is famed for.

Even with the extensive fund-raising Image Ten did, the budget was still very low and cuts had to be made. One way of saving money was to film in 35mm black and white and whilst this decision was made purely as a economic one, it actually benefited the final product greatly. According to Maddrey (2004), states that the black and white gave the movie “the unflinching authority of a wartime newsreel” and adds that “it seems as much like a documentary on the loss of social stability as an exploitation film”. With the filming being done w%Sithout colour, it opened up a lot more avenues of money saving, such as using chocolate syrup as blood (a practice used in Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)) and using old clothes from thrift stores to clothe the zombies.

When finally released, Night of the Living Dead made around $30 million in box office. However, its initial release was met with severe controversy, specifically because there was no real age rating at the time, so young children who were used to watching low budget horror movies for kicks were met with something truly terrifying. Despite this, it was met with critical applause, and still to this day is held as a classic, holding a 96% user rating on film rating site Rotten Tomatoes.

            Secondly, now that we have established the creative process of Night of the Living Dead and its release success, we will look at how it created one of the biggest horror genres, the zombie film. Following Night of the Living Dead, Romero himself directed two more zombie films shortly after; Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), with The Crazies (1973) being of a similar theme too. Even later into his career he directed Land of the Dead (2005) and Diary of the Dead (2007). However, the real legacy lies not in Romero’s career, but in the hundreds of others that he inspired and influenced. One of his biggest influences started in comic books but later became one of the biggest shows in U.S. history, The Walking Dead (2010 – ongoing). The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has said on multiple occasions that Romero was a huge inspiration to his work, and even wrote a letter honouring him after his death. Not only did Romero inspire this behemoth of a show, it also inspired Shaun of the Dead (2004) directed by Edgar Wright. The movie is tonally completely different from Night of the Living Dead but without it, it likely wouldn’t exist.

            To conclude, Night of the Living Dead is one of the most culturally significant horror movies of the 1960s, spawning a huge genre in modern cinema. Zombie movies are everywhere, and the trope has spread to video games too, where it is also a huge genre. Romero laid out a legacy from his first feature length film, and followed up on it until his death in 2017.

Jack Monk

Bibliography:

Books:

• ·         Maddrey, Joseph (2004). Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film

Websites:

• ·         IMDB.com (Accessed 2017, used for multiple references)

• ·         Rotten Tomatoes (Accessed 2017)

Films:

• ·         George A Romero, Night of the Living Dead (1968, Image Ten)