Tim Burton's version of planet of the apes is constantly driven by the fact that the entire film creates several dualities. The most prominent in the film are the dualities between gender and species, while modernism and primitivism are not farm behind.
In today's society, not just in the film, we are constantly reminded that there was a point in time where men were thought to be superior over women. It was considered quite primitive and since this film pits the two ideas of modernism and primitivism, gender roles help add an interesting conflict to the plot. When we are introduced to the apes of the film, we see them capturing the humans. Note, they are all male apes. They have taken on the role of the capturer and are treating the humans like beasts in order to force them into slavery. If we think back to more primitive days, we can remember that this is how society functioned. The males constantly took on the role of the capturer/hunter in a sense, and even though in nowadays' society, males and females are treated more equally, it is this idea that Planet of the Apes plays on. The film portrays the female as the one that doesn't engage in battle. Even in the final battle scene between the team of "humans' and the apes, we don't see and female apes battling on the ape side of the battle. It is all male. This duality based on gender is a strong driving force of the plot. It is also a huge deal when Ari (the female ape played by Helena Bonhamm Carter) swoops in as the apes' rights activist because of the fact that she is female.
Paul Giamattis's character sees her as weak because of her gender.
The other major driving duality of the film is the species barrier. The movie shows a roll reversal between the apes and humans and honestly is what the entire film is about, so, why would the main duality not be the reason that the film progresses. When the two species are shown together are the screen, we see a monkey interacting with the humans. He is not as far progressed as the other primates we are later introduced to, and the humans still have the "upper hand" in the interactions. When we move into the future to when the apes have control of the planet, they are beating and capturing the humans. as humans watching the film, what we see on the screen provokes strong emotions from us. We see our own kind being whipped and beaten into a backwards "slavery" and it gives the movie to progress. We want to keep watching to see the humans overcome this situation that they have found themselves in.
On a completely unrelated note:
Did Nova (female ape):
remind anyone else of:
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