Tim
Burton regularly uses dualities in his films to help develop character through
conflict. The dictionary definition of a duality is an
instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of
something; a dualism. In Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of The Planet of the Apes I
believe intelligence is an important duality that really plays into the
development of characters Ari and Captain Leo Davidson.
In the beginning of the film we
are shown Captain Davidson’s world. He works on a United States space ship
training monkeys to operate space shuttles. The Monkeys are kept in cages and
are experimentally trained to do work for the humans. Clearly in Captain
Davidson’s world he is used to being the superior more intelligent species. In
Ari’s world humans live in the wild in fear of being captured by the Apes. Once
captured, they are put into cages and treated as property to be sold as slaves
or pets to Apes. In this world it is clear that Apes are the superior species
and more intelligent than humans.
Ari is a prominent supporter of
human’s rights believing they may indeed be equally intelligent yet also a very
privileged Ape who has only ever known the life of being the superior species.
She some times gets herself into trouble with her talk of humans being
intelligent but her fathers powerful roll in the Ape community always gets her
out of any real consequences. Captain Davidson has too only ever known the life
of being the superior more intelligent species until he is thrown into Ari’s
world and forced to experience the demeaning nature of being the inferior
species for the first time.
Conflict arises when Ari frees
Captain Davidson and a few other humans to help him fulfill his promise to Ari
that he will show her something incredible and unbelievable. The conflict in
this duality is that both Ari and Captain Davidson have their own superiority
complex. Ari has argued for equality but never imagined a human would claim to
have ever been superior to her.
Captain Davidson first comments
on his belief of having superior intelligence as he starts to really notice his
situation.
Captain : “How
did the apes get this way?”
Daena:
“What other way would it be?”
Captain:
“They would be begging me for a treat right now”
He offends Krull greatly with all
this talk especially by calling them monkeys and he responds violently but Ari
truly shows her intelligence by demining human activity the captain describes
to her. He tells her their apes couldn’t talk to which Ari responds, “Maybe
they chose not to... given the way you treated them.” She asserts her own
superiority to him just through her intelligent words and ideas. My favorite
dialogue in which she does this is here:
Ari: So many questions I want to ask.
Leo: Yeah me too.
Ari: These zoos you speak of what are they this word is
not familiar. Leo: Zoos is where we find our last few apes.
Krull: What happened to them?
Leo: Gone! After we cut down the forests... the ones that
survive we lock up in cages for amusement or scientific experiments.
Ari: Thats horrible.
Leo:Yeah we do worst to our own kind.
Ari: I don't seem to understand you seem to possess
such...intelligence.
Leo: Yeah... the smarter we get the more dangerous our
world becomes.
I
really enjoy the way Burton uses this duality between the two characters to
comment on the social problem that growing intelligence can lead in negative
directions. The Apes have not yet begun to create the technology humans have in
Leo’s world and she is shocked by it all. I think in the end this duality
allows Ari to teach Leo that many of his world’s ways are wrong and Leo sort of
warns Ari of the danger of the superiority complex combined with growing
intelligence.
Kelsey, I really enjoyed how you compared the two characters of Ari and Captain Leo Davidson. Your post is easy to follow and has great evidence for your opinions. Also, you seem to be amused with the movie and that shows up throughout the post. The dialogue you quoted was quite witty, and shows how Burton has well thought out scripts in his movies. He never makes a movie for pure entertainment, instead, he always comments on society. Whenever someone hears of intelligence, it is always thought of as positive. But there are some negative aspects to growing intelligence that Burton highlighted in the movie, and especially in the dialogue you utilized. With intelligence, people can do wonderful things, but as you said, there is a superiority complex. This is shown in everyday society. While people who are intelligent can do great things, they often become arrogant and socially awkward. They say rude things to others who they believe are inferior to them while not even noticing. It is like there is a constant push subconsciously that tells them to make sure everyone knows they are superior at all times. Burton uses the superiority complex and makes it much more dramatic to show how out of control it can become.
ReplyDeleteDevin Bogle