ABSTRACT
Apt Pupil is a study of the nature of evil, and unfolds as a psychological power struggle between the two characters. Music's role in eliciting emotion in cinema is largely taken for granted. It does not simply mirror the character's emotions but, rather, it signifies the true situation or emotional state behind the surface of the narrative. Singer sees that fact that Hitler held Richard Wagner's and his music in high esteem to cement Kurt Dussander with his Nazi past. But the use of Tristan und Isolde goes further than simply classifying Dussander as a Nazi. Pamela Potter has shown that much of the supposed ideological lineage connecting Wagner and Hitler is built upon the large accumulation of rumor. The reality seems to be that Hitler's enthusiasm for Wagner was based entirely on his music, and that any anti-Semitism, nationalism, arrogance, or xenophobia found in Wagner's works were either unknown or ignored in Nazi Germany.
