After the chaos of the atomic bomb and the carnage of World War II, priority was given to government construction to provide the order. to a tense climate, in particular to find direction in a new “East versus West” conflict. In John Le Carré's mid-20th century novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the propagated glamorization of the role of political spy acts as a foil to the bureaucratic and utilitarian characterization of the circus setting, whose façade projects an air of legitimacy to an ideologically confused population. Thus, political action becomes a response to the stasis of the times, while the dialogue highlights Leamas's profession as an escape from the boredom and anxiety of an existence threatened by nuclear weapons . Similarly, in Francis Coppola's 1970s film Apocalypse Now, paranoia over the threat of communism and the Bamboo Curtain motivates American soldiers to have a sense of duty, as military construction symbolically relies on the violence to create a sense of power and security in an apathetic modern society. Conversely, while attempts to find a purpose met with disappointed success, the ephemeral questioning of American democracy, particularly in the hypocritical Vietnam crusade, deterred the legitimacy of the political direction and responsibility of the central government, as symbolized by Willard's loss of innocence and journey into immorality. Samuel Becket's mid-20th century play Waiting for Godot also supports this view, in that the main religious issue subverts the presence of salvation, over which the political paradigm loses its grip in the face of spiritual and ideological emptiness. Thus, government policy cannot reverse the sense of helplessness and anxiety in the post-bombing era. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay As the nuclear arms race brings universal desolation into threatening proximity, finding purpose and meaning lies in political action. In Le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, federal propaganda plays on this social vulnerability, in which the glorification of the role of political spy is explored through the archetypically masculine depiction of Leamas as both emotionally and physically resilient, as illustrates him “ruthless” and “tough”. In an anxious climate still shaken by the morally dubious actions of the Second World War, a return to this traditional and conservative structure allows the confronted truths of the modern era to be masked by "the same banality", from which a feeling stability and order returns. Thus, illusion presents itself as a basis on which order can be found. This is expressed through the characterization of the Circus context as a foil to the glamorous federal construction, in which the bureaucratic, utilitarian and often dehumanizing nature. of the institution, particularly in the portrayal of Leamas as "ends and means" in the legal arena, contrasts with the public's sentiment that Western individualism is a moral basis. This represents the sense of loss felt by the Cold War population, for whom the repetition of "not knowing" underlines the desperate search for social paradigms of legitimacy, order and meaning in an ideologically confused context, and its poor place in the governmental political system. . This is also expressed through dialogue, in which Leamas' profession acts as an escape from the boredom of asociety threatened by nuclear power because, ironically, the position gives him a sense of purpose and power despite the continued prevalence of the threat. This is illustrated in “…playing cowboys and Indians to brighten up [his] rotten little life.” Paranoia creates the same effect in Coppola's Apocalypse Now, in which the social paradigm's search for power in a vulnerable landscape prompts America's political involvement in Vietnam, particularly to curb the Bamboo Curtain and the threat of communism in Asia. To supplant this ideological threat, the central government promotes this effort as an American responsibility; a military “mission”. This is illustrated by the soldiers' obvious enthusiasm, as in the helicopter scene, the connection to the death gods of Norse mythology in the score's title, Ride of the Valkyries, implies their "divine" responsibility , because in this brutality, they assume power. and superiority over fear; thus “love… of napalm” and “victory”, because inaction would mean the “nightmare” of “crawling, sliding, along a razor’s edge”. Subsequently, as in the Circus characterization, the dehumanization in the opposition's political "end" expresses a level of universal distrust and anxiety, in which paranoia allows dissociation to flourish. Symbolically, this presents nihilism and apathy as a vital new element of the modern order, for despite the anti-war protests that followed, it was soldiers like Kurtz who welcomed "horror" as a byproduct existential crises of modern warfare; brutality is necessary to find purpose in vulnerability. This is further epitomized by his desolate characterization, "just wanting to go out like a soldier, standing up" and "trying" to mean something in a disparate post-bomb world; thereby promoting political action as an escape from social anxiety. However, government systems fail to provide a sense of power in futility. Despite a deceptive place of legitimacy within the government agency, innate suspicion and mistrust fracture the bond between the body politic and the leader, especially as American involvement in Vietnam contrasts with its democratic base. In Apocalypse Now, this idea is illuminated by Willard's metaphorical journey down the river, which parallels Leamas's road with the children in the car, and Waiting for Godot's Roadside, the mission symbolizes life and management. In particular, it represents the leadership of the political agency; a journey into immorality and dissociation. This becomes evident in the merging of Kurtz and Willard's voices in the reading of the letters, as their retreat into the "jungle" becomes a strong motif for their shared sense of lost innocence; their immorality leaves them dehumanized and creatures of political apathy. This is even more evident in the characterization of the soldiers as willfully brutal and dissociated from their actions, to the extent that they symbolically become an embodiment of the political perspective. This is expressed as “…a hill was bombed, for 12 hours…victory”. Thus, a lack of credibility is signified, because the American body politic's ignorance of its own moral basis for free speech, specifically to fight its own personal war against communism, implies hypocrisy. Consequently, this illegitimacy arouses protest and disillusionment with social paradigms. This inner conflict inspires futility; as long as collective bodies differ within a lost framework, order and purpose inevitably fail and anxiety persists in confusion. This theme is further expressed in Becket's Waiting for Godot, in which the struggles ».