The Deadliest weapon
He or she who has
the most power will not always prevail, but the more power you have the harder
it is to change the ways. Power, is one of the single most influential things
in history, present day, dream like situations, and even reality. The single
objective that people strive to get more of and the influence that shapes
everything we know today as a civilization is power. The idea of trying to
achieve more and more power is a very old idea that dates back to the start
anything. Power is such a monumental attribute to anything that it came way
before any humans. Power is defined as the possession of control or command
over others. Power is simply the way everything in life is made up of. The
theory of the circle of life and food chain is all a way of power showing its
true colors. Along with power there is a direct correlation to corruption.
Corruption is the act of one individual or group that is going against the
establishment of power, in turn trying to gain more power themselves. The
weapon of power that rules all now, is understood to be a parallel to that of
corruption because the only reason ever for corruption in the first place is to
achieve more power.
The two texts I have
chosen to highlight the power and corruption themes are that of the production
of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now Redux and Robert Hayden’s“Frederick
Douglass”. Both of these texts shed light on the importance of power and the
corruption that come along with men that begin to strive for more and more
power.
In Hayden’s work,
the angle is a little bit different from that of everyday example of power and
corruption. Frederick Douglass, a slave striving for his freedom was faced with
a decision in his life that he, a black slave during slave times wanted his
freedom along with many other slaves. He, being a slave with no power whatsoever
decides that he needs to unite his fellow slaves on his plantation and rise up
against the power of the white plantation owners. He believes that if the slaves
band together they can create enough corruption that the power itself will shift
and they will be able to gain there freedom by standing up. “….this Douglass,
this former slave, this Negro beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world
where none is lonely, none haunted, alien…this man shall be remembered. Oh not
with statues’ rhetoric, not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone,
but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives fleshing his dream of the
beautiful, needful thing.” Hayden uses this quote, as he realizes that Douglass
created this shift in power and changed slavery forever. Frederick Douglass used
the power that plantation owners and slave-owners have over their slaves and
turned it around on them. He used the fear that scared the slaves from ever
revolting and began to ask his brothers and sisters why can’t we? And the will
of the slaves took them to places they had not seen
before.
Coppola’s Apocalypse
Now Redux, takes power and corruption to a whole other level, but is one that
is more common than that of Frederick Douglass. The whole premise of the movie
is that of one very decorated and honored colonel being corrupted and upsetting
the higher establishment of the United States Military. The Military then sends
a man to kill this colonel because men are dying because of him, but what in
the end is the fact the people in power no longer have control of this general
and staying on the side of caution, as well as fear of further corruption order
him to be killed. What really speaks to the themes of power and corruption and
how they coincide is that of the Colonel himself. He’s a man who is one of the
highest decorated soldiers in the military, one that could be trusted with
anything as well as asked to do anything. The man seemed to be “incorruptible”
who has divisions of men at his disposal becomes corrupted. He ventures with his
troops to a foreign land to where he acts barbaric. Chopping off heads, caging
men like animals becomes a man on a power trip. This once “incorruptible man” is
striving for more and more power by any means necessary. No matter what the
cost. He then eventually almost enslaves his assassin to tries to corrupt him as
well. The themes of power and corruption run deep throughout the film and again
highlight the parallel created between power and
corruption.
No matter what the
example or what the story is power and control are everything. The ones who
have power are living in fear of corruption and losing their power while the
people that are not in power are striving to achieve more power.
This everlasting parallel created between power and corruption is very
interesting themes in texts to look at because it is an everyday life situation
that many people are involved in throughout their
lives.
the most power will not always prevail, but the more power you have the harder
it is to change the ways. Power, is one of the single most influential things
in history, present day, dream like situations, and even reality. The single
objective that people strive to get more of and the influence that shapes
everything we know today as a civilization is power. The idea of trying to
achieve more and more power is a very old idea that dates back to the start
anything. Power is such a monumental attribute to anything that it came way
before any humans. Power is defined as the possession of control or command
over others. Power is simply the way everything in life is made up of. The
theory of the circle of life and food chain is all a way of power showing its
true colors. Along with power there is a direct correlation to corruption.
Corruption is the act of one individual or group that is going against the
establishment of power, in turn trying to gain more power themselves. The
weapon of power that rules all now, is understood to be a parallel to that of
corruption because the only reason ever for corruption in the first place is to
achieve more power.
The two texts I have
chosen to highlight the power and corruption themes are that of the production
of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now Redux and Robert Hayden’s“Frederick
Douglass”. Both of these texts shed light on the importance of power and the
corruption that come along with men that begin to strive for more and more
power.
In Hayden’s work,
the angle is a little bit different from that of everyday example of power and
corruption. Frederick Douglass, a slave striving for his freedom was faced with
a decision in his life that he, a black slave during slave times wanted his
freedom along with many other slaves. He, being a slave with no power whatsoever
decides that he needs to unite his fellow slaves on his plantation and rise up
against the power of the white plantation owners. He believes that if the slaves
band together they can create enough corruption that the power itself will shift
and they will be able to gain there freedom by standing up. “….this Douglass,
this former slave, this Negro beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world
where none is lonely, none haunted, alien…this man shall be remembered. Oh not
with statues’ rhetoric, not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone,
but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives fleshing his dream of the
beautiful, needful thing.” Hayden uses this quote, as he realizes that Douglass
created this shift in power and changed slavery forever. Frederick Douglass used
the power that plantation owners and slave-owners have over their slaves and
turned it around on them. He used the fear that scared the slaves from ever
revolting and began to ask his brothers and sisters why can’t we? And the will
of the slaves took them to places they had not seen
before.
Coppola’s Apocalypse
Now Redux, takes power and corruption to a whole other level, but is one that
is more common than that of Frederick Douglass. The whole premise of the movie
is that of one very decorated and honored colonel being corrupted and upsetting
the higher establishment of the United States Military. The Military then sends
a man to kill this colonel because men are dying because of him, but what in
the end is the fact the people in power no longer have control of this general
and staying on the side of caution, as well as fear of further corruption order
him to be killed. What really speaks to the themes of power and corruption and
how they coincide is that of the Colonel himself. He’s a man who is one of the
highest decorated soldiers in the military, one that could be trusted with
anything as well as asked to do anything. The man seemed to be “incorruptible”
who has divisions of men at his disposal becomes corrupted. He ventures with his
troops to a foreign land to where he acts barbaric. Chopping off heads, caging
men like animals becomes a man on a power trip. This once “incorruptible man” is
striving for more and more power by any means necessary. No matter what the
cost. He then eventually almost enslaves his assassin to tries to corrupt him as
well. The themes of power and corruption run deep throughout the film and again
highlight the parallel created between power and
corruption.
No matter what the
example or what the story is power and control are everything. The ones who
have power are living in fear of corruption and losing their power while the
people that are not in power are striving to achieve more power.
This everlasting parallel created between power and corruption is very
interesting themes in texts to look at because it is an everyday life situation
that many people are involved in throughout their
lives.