Kolda Planet of the Apes

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. 

Kolda Mars Attacks

Mars Attacks! came out right after Independence Day, which is a film about the human race coming together to defeat the aliens, and uses patriotism as a source of drama and pride. In Mars Attacks!, all traces of patriotism are destroyed and then regarded by the aliens as a joke. The lack of drama about the deaths of all the characters makes the film feel much lighter and funnier. The makers of this film clearly do not take themselves too seriously, which is refreshing. And the Hollywood super stars in the movie are also poking fun at the “invincibility” of stardom. Most of them sre killed by aliens along the way. And with the invincibility of stardom, the invincibility of the government is also made fun of. 

 The government is portrayed as powerless in the scene where the alien Prime Minister issues his formal apology and then zaps the entire congress to red and green bits. This powerlessness is further shown in the failure of the nuclear missal, which was simply captured and inhaled by the aliens while they laughed at the impotence of the military. It is funny because the general was so forceful with the president to sign the agreement to use the missal because he was absolutely sure it would take the aliens down. But indeed it did not. There wasn’t even much of an explosion.

 Jack Nicholson is the all-important leader of the Unites States of America but also a big-talking hustler in Las Vegas. Tim Burton is pointing out that the people with government positions have shadows just as much as every one else. This double Jack Nicholson appearance also confuses the audience and makes them think that maybe it is the same person; that he is deceiving the public to think that he is a purely good man, when in reality he is not. This deception might make sense, as the aliens also use this tactic. They tell the humans not to run and that they come in peace right before frying everyone to death, which is a little bit like the way the U.S. government is viewed.

Kolda, Ed Wood

Three elements in Burton's film that pay homage to Ed Wood himself:

1) Glen or Glenda is about Wood’s struggle with his weird obsession with women’s clothing. Ed Wood also has a focus on this issue, though Burton’s film focuses more literally on Wood’s life and relationships. We see how this obsession affects his movie making and his relationship with his girlfriend, who has little tolerance for his cross dressing or movie making. She is the kind of person that Wood has to work against.  

2) The movie has weird quirks that Wood's films also have. For one, there is the use of very unrealistic animation in both Ed Wood and in Tim Burton’s films. In Plan 9 From Outer Space, there are three space ships that are used in the movie frequently. The same spaceships are used in Burton’s opening credits as well as extra animation. The animated octopus tentacle is in reference to the fake octopus with no motor used in one of Wood’s films. And the names written on gravestones is taken straight from the opening credits of Plan 9 From Outer Space.

3) Ed Wood is not what the audience expects. The opening credits set the stage for a horror movie, yet Ed Wood is much more realistic than expected after watching the credits. This is similar to the way Wood’s movies were not what we think they will be. Glen or Glenda for example is supposed to be a funny movie about a sex change. Instead, it is a drama about his own struggles with being a transvestite.

By filming this movie in black and white and adding strange quirks, Burton is paying respect to the way moviemakers had to do things with the little resources they possessed. In a way, he is turning Ed Woods films into one that has a chance of being seen, but does so in a way that praises Wood, and still gives him the credit. 

Kolda The Girl Who Turned Into a Bed

Upon reading "The Girl Who Turned Into a Bed" the first time, it seemed innocent. It's a story about a girl who picked a flower and then morphed into a bed. Her skin turned to cotton, and her organs turned into springs. If a kid read this, he or she would be creeped out and see nothing beyond the story of a girl turning into a bed. But we are adults.

Clearly, there is a message beyond the obvious. As she becomes a bed, she loses her humanity. She is an object that is used to sleep on. She has no choice, or opinion, or personality. She cannot move. Tim Burton is commenting on the way girls grow up in a society such as our own. They may be innocently picking pussy willow, or other things that girls do that they think is innocent (Like treating themselves as objects for the opposite sex to use). But after a while, these girls become unaware of what they are becoming. The use of the bed in this poem is symbolic of women who are used as sexual objects. Just like a bed, these women cannot practice using choice, opinion, or show personalty because they are put in a position where showing humanity is unnecessary.

The picture of the girl in the story shows no signs of alarm as she transitions into a bed. Perhaps she has been conditioned by society to think that turning into a bed is normal or that girls are supposed to turn into beds. Whatever the case, nothing was done to stop the transition. Clearly she, nor the narrator wanted to keep her from transitioning. The narrator's attitude was at first surprise and terror, but in the end he did not want to help her because he got something out of it. And that is the unfortunate attitude of society towards women who allow themselves to be used.

Kolda Mardi Gras

          Muses was the first real Mardi Gras parade I had ever attended, and it was AWESOME! I had to learn the rules though. I yelled for a shoe half the night until I learned that the shoes were only given out to men. And only the tall men got them. My favorite part about the parade though (apart from all the free toys) was watching the dancers in the marching bands. I could definitely tell that a lot of hard work and planning was put into that parade. In Austin, where I’m from, I don’t think anyone notices Mardi Gras, so I was amazed to see how much is invested in it in New Orleans.

          I think the tradition is very cool. Mardi Gras is the day before Lent, which is a season of fasting in which meat and other luxury foods are not to be eaten. And why let all that food sit out for a month and go bad? Solution: eat everything. Other solution: party hardy. That is why it is called “Mardi Gras,” which means, “Fat Tuesday.”

          It is also important that Mardi Gras is a religious celebration. The holiday is meant to be fun and full of happiness, which makes it a mistake to claim that it is a day full of sin. It is simply a day to be as decadent as possible in preparation for Lent, and it is celebrated everywhere around the world where there are Catholics. I can’t believe I lived my whole life without it.

          Here is a picture of me next to a horse in the Krewe d’Etat parade. I figured out that if you’re in the middle of the parade route, you are more likely to catch stuff and get cool pictures because everyone else crowds at the beginning and end of the parade. Also, avoid standing next to children and tall people. They get all the best toys. I find it helpful to dance violently so that no one wants to get in your space and the people on the floats are more likely to notice you. However, if a toy falls on the ground between you and a small child, don’t be that guy and pick it up. Pretend you don’t see it so the kid thinks he’s being sneaky and quick when he gets to it first.

          And that is what I learned at Mardi Gras. 

Kolda Edward Scissorhands

            Edward finds himself in a magical land that at first seems ideal and perfect, but just like in any fairy tale there is a danger to it. The people he so desperately wants to fit in with are not as perfect and good as he thinks. We see their twisted kind of morality when the family he is staying with tries to teach him the right thing to do if he were to find unclaimed money, which is to turn it into the police. But Edward and Kim agree that the nicer thing to do would be to share it with loved ones.

            The ethics of the people in the neighborhood rely heavily in a set of rules, and anyone who breaks those rules is seen as weird, crazy, or evil. Edward of course is an outsider who learned a different set of rules. In the flashback of Edward’s creator teaching him etiquette, he is learning the nice thing to do rather than what his fake family says is “right”. One of the only other characters besides Edward and Kim who is able to live beyond the boundaries of these rules is the loony religious lady. The rest of the neighborhood women refuse to interact with her because she is not like them, and she operates I an entirely different code of ethics.

            What we see in this colorful fairy tale land is that just because everything may look perfect on the outside, that doesn’t mean people can’t still be empty on the inside. Edward travels there to find completeness, but these people are equally as incomplete. None of the ladies who show him affection can offer him love, and none of them receive it from their husbands who all leave for work at the same time, dressed the same way, and who return in a single file line of cars expecting a perfect home made meal when they get home.

            When Edward finds completeness, he finds it in Kim who is not a part of the club either. The danger of Suburbia is that everyone who seeks completeness by being accepted into it will become even emptier because they are surrounded by fake love.

Kolda Batman Returns

a penguin examining an abandoned egg

             Batman and Penguin are similar in that they are unsure of their identities; Penguin because he was born of humans but raised by penguins, and Batman because he is a man and a shadow. Both characters are alienated, living away from society in underground lairs. They both lost their parents at a young age. Their difference is that a street thug took Bruce’s parents away from him, causing him to react negatively toward all crime in Gotham. Penguin on the other hand, was abandoned by his parents, which caused him to be bitter towards all people in society and take revenge on Gotham itself.

            This is how Penguin became a danger to Gotham. Because his parents of all people, who are supposed to love him, abused Penguin, he develops a mistrust of all seemingly good people. By kidnapping the children of Gotham while their parents are at a party, in a way he is getting revenge on his own parents while also on the city which allowed such a thing to happen to him.

            While Penguin became a threat to the city, Batman became its protector. As a child, Bruce Wayne knew love. His parents did not willingly abandon him; they were taken away from him. As an adult, he was dissatisfied with the amount of crooks out there that might be taking other children’s parents away, and so his motives were much different than those of Penguin.

            Batman was the first to suspect that Penguin was not a good guy, possibly because he was able to see past the heartbreaking abandonment story, having also been raised without his parents. The rest of Gotham may have been enchanted by his sad story, but they became blinded by it and failed to see that he had other motives. This also has a lot to do with how the media portrayed Penguin, highlighting his sad Penguin story and leaving out the real story.