Violent Heat Apocalypse Now between (De-)Colonization and the Cold War

Abstract

In this article, I try to illuminate how decolonization and the Cold War intersect in the cases of film (making) and literature. In particular, I study heat as a metaphor and what it reveals about the nexus of decolonization and the Cold War. To this end, I scrutinize three “sites”: the film and film set of Apocalypse Now and the novel The Sympathizer which critically dissects both. The third “site” is Heart of Darkness which served as the basis for the script of Apocalypse Now. I suggest , Apocalypse Now echoes a colonial medical history of “tropical neuras-thenia,” relevant as a concept during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), among other places. “Tropical neurasthenia” in the Philippines entailed the fear of the U.S. military that its soldiers would demise physically and mentally in the heat of Southeast Asia. However, Apocalypse Now does not merely reproduce the discourse of “tropical neurasthenia”. Instead, the heat in the film brings to light the physical and moral decay of U.S. soldiers as the result of a violent U.S. empire. It is thus a tropicality which recognizes the colonized people’s gaze of the violent colonizer.