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| Monkey Fist of Fury! |
Burton’s Planet of the
Apes deals a lot with superiority; who is civilized and who is not. On the
strange planet Leo lands on, the apes are “civilized” while the humans are
“savages.” But the qualifications of these two opposites are not very well
defined. Are the apes more civilized because they have cities, language, and military
power? Are the humans savages because they act apelike (in the way that we are used
to seeing apes act)?
Burton is trying to
tell us that superiority is not something accurately measured in technological
advancement. The “lesser” species is misunderstood as unintelligent and lazy.
But that is because they are denied the chance to live like the other. Apes and
humans simply live differently. Who is to say which way is better? The species with the technology tends to be the
more ruthless one. Leo asks Daena how the apes got this way, to which she
answered, “What other way would they be?” and he told her that usually, his
monkey buddies would be begging him for a treat. He now finds himself in the position
of having to beg for the treat of freedom.
Leo’s astronaut friend
in the beginning of the film asks him not to tease the monkeys because they will get aggravated
and violent if they find reason to do so. Later in the movie, Ari is warned about the
danger of wild humans and how she must keep a distance from them for her
safety. This misperception of the other species is one that gets traded back
and forth and used as evidence that one is civilized while the other is
savage, when in reality they are simply afraid of one another.
I think the first question of what qualifies one to be civilized or savage is one of the most important question that the film raises, to which Burton answers that technology is the qualifying factor. We see this in the way Krull smashes Davidson's gun when they are making an escape from the apes. Technology is what gives a sense of superiority because it goes hand in hand with power. In the moment that Davidson has his gun he is superior to the apes because he has a more effective means of defending himself and others, while the apes, with their "primitive" warfare could not compete with the technology.
ReplyDelete-Summer Balbero