"Apocalypse Oz" - The hybrid of "Apocalypse Now" and "The Wizard of Oz"

What is it about?

This article presents a highly innovative short film "Apocalypse Oz" (2006), conceived and directed by Ewan Telford, with cinematography by Kev Robertson as a hybrid of two earlier films: Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War movie "Apocalypse Now" (1979) and the 1939 fantasy musical "The Wizard of Oz" directed by Victor Fleming. Both these productions are, in turn, film adaptations of classic literary texts: Joseph Conrad’s "Heart of Darkness" (1899) and L. Frank Baum’s "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900). The article gives a glimpse of how "Apocalypse Oz" blends the two films, using the dialogues only from these works and merging their characters, as well as introducing various references to them (visual and thematic). The study is an analysis of "Apocalypse Oz", a cinematic equivalent of a collage, against the background of its sources, while indicating interpretative shifts from them.

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Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

Photo by NOAA on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is the first academic analysis of "Apocalypse Oz" and demonstrates how Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" remains an important text for contemporary culture.

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