Planet of the Apes deals
with many dualities. The duality
that stood out to me was the different species. I thought that having the contrast of the apes versus the humans
was a creative plot. Ari in
Burton’s Planet of the apes is the daughter of the senator and she is the only
ape that wants to not put the humans to work. Ari is another example of a duality involving different
species because she goes against what her friends and family believe.
Throughout the entire movie both species are fighting against each other and we
see the conflict of the apes trying to undermine the people. We see an example of this because the
apes lock up Captain Leo Davidson and the others. Since the apes locked up the humans and in real life we
usually see apes locked up in cages at a zoo, the movie changes the usual
dynamic. The apes act like
humans while the people are treated like animals, which is one of the main
conflicts in the movie. The people
are intellectual while the apes are physically stronger, but the apes act like
the humans are not smart and try and degrade them. Another scene in which we see duality is when the apes go to
war with the humans. The apes are
fighting to keep their territory and use the people, as slaves while the humans
just want to escape from being used.
A little bit after this scene we also see that the political issue that
the apes caused. The apes changed
the Lincoln statue to make it an ape and take over America. The way that the apes act is extremely
violent and their only goal is to be the dominant species. The apes go to any extreme to make it
known to the humans that they are in charge and nothing can change that. It is ironic to see that the apes are
taking over humans in the movie because they are the animals that are most
closely related to humans. The
roles between humans and apes are switched and I think that Tim Burton did this
because in his movies he always has an underlying message that relates to
issues going on in the world. This
is why we see the issues of duality being related to political policies and gender/species
issues, and civil liberties. Tim Burton
does a good job of associating these issues in the movie.
Maggie, I really liked how you talked about the duality of species in your blog post. The way you talk about the issue is very interesting and is very thought provoking. Bringing up the character of Ari is a really great way of talking about the duality of species in the film Planet of the Apes. I really like how you brought up the point about how we keep apes in cages at the zoo. I personally do not like zoos, as I do not like looking at all of the animals in their cages. Going to zoos makes me feel sad, and I cannot imagine how it must feel to be an animal locked up in a cage. Planet of the Apes does a great job of presenting the same situation that I find very hard to imagine: being locked up behind a cage with others being in charge of me. The idea of being in the same situation as Leo at the beginning of the film truly frightens me, and the film handles the issue quite well.
ReplyDelete- Patti Butler