War for the Planet of the Apes is another example of the franchise using the parable of apes ruling over humans to convey deep fears and challenges of the society of its times, each time creating a new, innovative story supplemented by cutting edge visuals.
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Transcript provided by Youtube:
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[Beware the beast man, for he is the Devil’s pawn, alone among God’s primates. He kills for sport or lust or greed]
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In a movie landscape full of reboots and never-ending franchises, Planet of the Apes not only keeps
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going on, but actually gets better — winning in the eyes of the critics as well as at the
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box office.
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Rather than simply rehashing or remaking an older film with visual updates, the Apes franchise
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has repeatedly used the parable of apes ruling over humans to convey deep fears and challenges
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of the society of its times, creating new, innovative stories supplemented by cutting
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edge visuals.
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Since 1968, the nine and counting Planet of the Apes movies– including the latest in
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the reboot War for the Planet of the Apes — have proven that the question “what if
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apes ruled over humankind?”
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continues to capture our imaginations and meaningfully explore the nature of humanity.
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[Director Matt Reeves] ‘I think what has been so exciting about this story from the
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beginning is that really what we’re looking at when we’re looking at these apes is ourselves.
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And it’s a way to hold a mirror up to human nature.
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And, you know, the most human character in all of these films is Caesar, who of course
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is an ape, not human.’
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The various Apes films have presented analogies for nuclear war, radiation, racial tensions,
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global spread of disease, religious fundamentalism, animal rights, class, and military aggression.
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Meanwhile, whichever film you’re watching, all are cautionary tales warning us to be
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mindful of how far we push nature in our scientific advancement, and to be wary of our own worst
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selves.
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At the heart of each story is the metaphor of the ape within the human — we’re witness
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the nightmare of our inner beast defeating the civilized humanistic soul.
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Inspired by the 1963 novel by Pierre Boulle, the original 1968 film tells the story of
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George Taylor who finds a strange world in which humans are mute savages, and the superior
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race consists of highly intelligent apes.
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The premise builds on the nightmare of subjugation by a superior species — a shocking reality
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to imagine given our longstanding dominance on Earth — and demands that we acknowledge
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our deep fear of inferiority.
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Big spoiler for the first film coming up here:
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Taylor finally discovers a toppled Statue of Liberty, confirming that the foreign planet
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is in fact Earth, thousands of years into the future, following a nuclear war that destroyed
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human civilization.
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Playing on the timely fear of nuclear activity created by the Cold War, Planet of the Apes’
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so resonated with moviegoers that four sequels came out within the next five years.
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The 1970 sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, explores a society of mutated humans
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who live underground and worship an ancient nuclear bomb.
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The 1950s through the 70s saw a slew of films pondering how society might be crippled by
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radiation and mutation as a result of nuclear warfare, notably, the original Mad Max, popular
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monster films and franchises such as Godzilla (1954), Gamera (1965), and Them (1954),
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and horror films like The Hills Have Eyes (1977) about a family of mutated cannibals
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hiding in the hills of an old nuclear testing airfield.
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So Apes tapped into this zeitgeist.
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It also captured the 60s spirit of youth and distrust of the older generation.
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The film also depicts religious fundamentalism as well.
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On the deepest level, the films were an allegory for US racial tensions surrounding the 1968
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Civil Rights Act.
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The fire hose on Taylor is reminiscent of the Birmingham police brutality of 1963.
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In Escape from the Planet of the Apes, when two of the protagonist apes have an intelligent
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and promising child named Caesar, contemporary humanity expresses disgust with the child
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to cover up their anxiety towards a potentially equal being who threatens their superior status.
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Scenes in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes echo the imagery of race riots and violent
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protests, notably the ones of Watts, Newark and Detroit.
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The vicious behavior by the humans embodies the fear of white Americans who resorted to
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violence and discrimination as they felt threatened by the prospect of race equality.
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Writer Rod Serling wanted to dramatize what it felt like to be the enslaved or disenfranchised
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race.
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The intention was to display a segmented society, defined by racial and class inequalities in
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which a key reversal disrupts the ingrained caste system forcing audiences to challenge
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their own need to look down on other members of their own society.
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Even within ape society, we see a hierarchy aligning with color — lighter-skinned orangutans
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at the top, chimps in the middle, and black-skinned gorillas at the bottom.
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In the years since, some have seen the analogy as heavy-handed.
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For some viewers, the imagery of aligning black people with apes, even as a metaphor
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for oppression, enters into troubling territory because it echoes longstanding racist stereotypes.
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The purposely ambiguous ending of the final original film, Battle for the Planet of the
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Apes, shows a statue of Caesar shedding a single tear before an integrated ape and human
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audience.
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While it may be a tear of joy for the end of segregation and racial oppression, it may
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also mark a tragic, deep divide that we can never escape from.
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Following the original films, the franchise was never truly dead or gone for long.
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A TV series and an animated series attempted to fill the absence.
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Tim Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes was a box office success, but it was dismissed
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by critics as a let down and failed to gain traction.
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But starting in 2011 with The Rise of Planet of the Apes, the true spirit of the original
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films was revived was revived.
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Rise continues the original films’ power of reversals by compelling the audience to
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sympathize with the apes rather than humans.
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While Caesar and the other apes in animal control display protective kindness towards
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their companions, humankind continues to rear its ugly head.
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And while we like Rodman and see his fondness for Caesar, we also observe him playing God
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through medicine and falls victim to his hubris — symbolized by the attempt to prolong human
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life.
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He ends up creating an epidemic instead.
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Far surpassing the originals, the convincing visual technology helps us to sympathize with
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Caesar.
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And the CGI gives us the iconic image of an ape riding a horse for the first time.
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Yet this CGI is only compelling when the script and characterization have given us reason
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to believe in the ape’s superior humanity over the actual humans we meet.
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In a short epilogue, a tense one-minute scene shows Hunsiker arriving at an airport, when
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blood drips from his nose.
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This small, succinct moment tells us the answer to the puzzle of how humankind arrives at
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the subjugated position we know is their future.
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The downfall this time isn’t nuclear war, but the spread of disease through a hyperconnected
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world.
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Yet both causes are the byproduct of human innovation accompanied by negligence and short-sightedness.
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Again, we can’t help but feel humankind did this to itself through its own stupidity.
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The new films pay respect to the original films also with a few fun Easter eggs, reinventing
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characters such as Caesar in a fresh, new way.
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The large orange orangutan Maurice was inspired by the actor Maurice Evans, who played Dr.
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Zaius in the early films.
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The female child in War for the Planet of the Apes is named Nova, a tribute to Linda
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Harrison’s iconic portrayal of a savage woman in 1968.
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Other characters such as Bright Eyes, Cornelia, and Cornelius, are also all tributes to characters
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made famous by the original.
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Dodge Landon, the apes’ abusive caretaker, gets the honor of saying one of the most iconic
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lines in the Apes franchise:
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On a deeper level the reboot cleverly imagines the classic series with modern enemies such
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as Alzheimer’s, the pharmaceutical industry, animal cruelty, and commercial travel, as
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well as one very familiar enemy — people themselves.
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Due to the increase in human lifespan, in 2010 Alzheimer’s become the sixth leading
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cause of death in the United States.
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And we can’t deny the predominance in our modern lives of pharmaceuticals — with their
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pursuit of profit and myriad side effects — while animal testing of non-human primates
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is a reality that troubles many.
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The increased frequency of commercial jet travel also began in the late 80s, which was
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again reflected in the movies of that time, as well as the 90s’ hit Outbreak.
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Yet today we seem even more anxious over the threat of a global epidemic.
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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes deals with other modern issues like militarism and aggressive
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government regimes.
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It uses its realistic CGI to not only fully imagine a massive war between an army of apes
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and humans, but also to flesh out conflicting personalities and philosophies in characterizing
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individual apes.
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Whereas Rise gave us a simple reversal, in which the apes became humane and the humans
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inhuman, Dawn shows that revolution inevitably deteriorates into a complex, sprawling situation
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in which the original cause is threatened by brutality and militantly ruthless ideologies.
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Our own human political conflicts continue to prove the same, time and time again.
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The debates between the apes bring to mind the racial conflicts portrayed in the originals,
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but the divide here is more accurately between moderates and extremists.
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This accurately reflects a big challenge of our times, as our world conflicts and politics
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continue to push evermore towards extremism.
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[Andy Serkis]: ‘To be able to literally flip the world on its head and be able to
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see human nature within another kind, really does allow us to put the human condition under
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a microscope in a very interesting way.’
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In War for the Planet of the Apes.
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Caesar and a small group of apes, find a human child who they keep safe from harm.
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Our heroes are the moderates who choose peace and empathy over division.
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In addressing major problems of our day through fiction, the modern films channel the power
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of the originals and remind us what great science fiction is for.
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Planet of the Apes has evolved to adapt to our changing society while continuing to make
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us question what it truly means to be human.
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This post was previously published on Youtube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video