In the shadow of the cinema
Rory Dunlop
THE BEACH by Alex Garland Viking, f10.99, pp. 439
he Beach is a young man's novel. It is dominated by the character of the narrator, a young man (inseparable from the author) in search of solitude and danger in order to prove his manhood and understand him- self. The context is contemporary: he is a backpacker, brought up on films and video games, searching for a part of Thailand unspoilt by tourism. 'The beach' is an island, barred to visitors, where a small group of travellers has been living in secret. The narrator finds this beach and the novel tells of the community's struggles to maintain an Eden-like existence against Eastern drug-dealers, Western tourists and the wilderness which overpowers their sani- ty.
Obsessed by Vietnam war films, the nar- rator echoes phrases and whole scenes from Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and even Forrest Gump (`me love you long time', `beaucoup bad shit', `the horror, the horror' etc). Their mission as idealistic travellers, like that of the Ameri- can army in Vietnam, is ineluctably doomed, their very presence precipitates the destruction of what they are trying to protect. And, just as in the Vietnam war, the lawless drugs and desperate, senseless attempts to cling on to an unwinnable posi- tion drive them all mad.
The narrator himself resembles Charlie Sheen in Apocalypse Now; he even starts the novel in a hotel room in Bangkok, watching a fan rotate. He is fascinated by war, by fear, death and evil. He wants to be a Vietnam Vet, to see the worst extremities in life and to know the extremities of his own character. It is interesting to see the progression from Conrad's travels in the Congo, through Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now to The Beach and Gar- land's travels in Thailand. Conrad, Coppo- la and Garland are appalled by the destruction wreaked by the West under the pretext of philanthropy and fascinated by the ideas of wilderness and self-knowl- edge, In another sense The Beach is the antithesis of Heart of Darkness. Conrad manipulates language to create paradox, ambiguity and enigma. Garland's prose is stunningly lucid. It is as if the influence of films is so strong that he has written a film in the form of a novel. The chapters cut from one scene to the next, there is a huge proportion of dialogue and there are even whole scenes borrowed from famous films. But it is a very well-written film. Garland balances the cinematic detail with narrating wit and insight, like Charlie Sheen's soft drawl against Vittorio Storaro's awesome cinematography.
The narrator's other obsession is video games. Video games are a modern child's cops and robbers; they're just a less realistic way of mimicking a fight. The fas- cination with warfare and self-knowledge are perennial by-products of youth and testosterone but, whereas Coppola's generation fought in Vietnam, Garland's experience is vicarious. Hence The Beach, like a video game, is addictive and compelling but has not the power of the films it emulates.
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