O'Doherty - Planet of the Apes

One of the many dualities that is mentioned throughout Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" is man vs. apes. From the film we see that the major difference between the two species is technology. Apes are very intelligent creatures. In the opening scene, we see that scientists have trained several apes to navigate through space. The scientists do this through classical conditioning. Whenever the monkeys follow instructions (pressing buttons and pulling levers) they receive a treat. 

Though they are very intelligent beings, they are not as "advanced" of a species as human beings and therefore they are not capable of building advanced technology. Because they are not as scientifically advanced as humans, they are not able to build advanced weapons like guns. And since human beings have guns and other powerful weapons that the apes do not possess, it gives humans power over the apes. Moreover, the fact that the apes cannot build these weapons or create more advance technology, has led people to believe that they are not as smart as human beings. Thus in the "real world," the humans believe they can have power over the apes. However, what Burton is trying to tell us is that this is just our egos speaking. There is a very thin line between humans and apes, but we justify our control over animals by telling ourselves that we are smarter (and therefore better than animals), and our lives are worth much more than theirs. But who are we to say that apes are less than us? 

In the parallel universe (in which the apes rule over humans), there is an even thinner line between humans and apes. The apes speak english and have a civilized society and are even smarter than humans. But even though they are far more advanced than the apes in the "real world" they are still not able to create advanced weapons. The evil ape's father admits this right before his death. The father revealed to his son that humans possessed guns, (which were ten times more powerful than the apes primitive weapons) which made them more powerful than apes could ever be.

But by the end of the movie, the apes developed the advanced technology, thus there was no real difference between apes and humans-- the only thing that made them different is the physical appearance. In an essence, the movie is a warning against putting humans above all else.