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Tim Burton - Keep Your Stinking Paws Off This Movie!
by Barry Meyer

Page 2

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To make it's point The Planet of the Apes uses a good deal of satire with the switching of human and animal roles. And there is an enjoyable dose of sly and clever puns that work both visually and in dialogue. Dr. Zaius attempts to belittle Taylor's ability to speak by passing it off as "Human see, human do." And when Zira drones on about her theories of evolution, the three Orangutan Judges drown her out by mimicking the See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil monkeys.

But the real thoughtful stuff comes out in the confrontations between Taylor and Dr. Zaius. Taylor argues that Zaius' duel positions of being the "Chief Defender of the Faith", and the "Minister of Science" has given him the dangerous power and ability to dictate however he sees fit. Like the Church before the Age of Enlightenment, Dr. Zaius vehemently enforces the laws of the Holy Scrolls, and dismisses the observations of science. He declares that one species, Ape, is the only worthy being, and Humans are mere animals that lack dignity and should be treated thusly.

There is also the less veiled commentary on the race relations between whites and blacks (and any other race that the anglos have had tensions with). "All humans look alike," and "Humans are nothing but a violent species," are all statements made by the Apes. Sound familiar? They're the same ignorant statements that whites have made about blacks and other minorities for decades. In one interesting moment, while speaking out at the tribunal, Dr. Zaius proclaims that humans are inferior to Ape. This bit of judicial bigotry directly mirrors a ruling put forth by our own U.S. Supreme Court. In 1857, in what has been called the lowest moment in this nation's judicial history, the Supreme Court in Dred Scott vs. Sanford ruled that blacks, as "subordinate and inferior beings," could not constitutionally be citizens of the United States, whether slave or free.*

The role of women in our society was challenged as well. There was only one female on the space flight, and her only role was to be Eve to the other three astronauts once they found a suitable planet to populate. Once she was eliminated, Taylor turned his sites on the beautiful mute human, Nova (Linda Harrison, Airport 1975), who, he says, is a lot dumber than the female astronaut, but certainly more attractive.

There is a greater Truth that seems to intrigue both Zaius and Taylor. Dr. Zaius fears this unknown Truth, afraid that it will shatter all that he believes in. Taylor, on the other hand, has nothing to believe in anymore. He is disillusioned that life back on Earth has become too trivial, and laments that man has become complacent, and self-centered, and has no purpose. He took the space flight to explore the possibility that "there must be something out there better than man."

Who would have thought that a silly movie about apes ruling man would be so deep?

The script, adapted from a 1963 novel, La Plančte des singes by Pierre Boulle, was penned by Rod Serling (the creator of The Twilight Zone) and Michael Wilson. Their main chore was to turn the satiric novel about "the vanity of human ambition" into an allegorical commentary on race relations, and the Vietnam War. Along with the direction of Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton), and Cinematographer Leon Shamroy, they have created a film that is both exciting and thoughtful.

This type of film (and science fiction as a whole) has become a rare breed, overshadowed by the high-tech, budget-bloated, inorganic blockbusters of today that place style over content. The filmmakers expend too much time and money on methods that try and fool the audience into believing what they are seeing is real, when we already know that it's not. Audiences know that everything is created by guys in dark rooms with computers, we've seen them all boasting of their achievements on the countless Making of… specials that "reveal the secrets." There's no more magic. Audiences no longer become immersed in the fictional world of the story, instead they marvel at the technological bells and whistles, and they wonder aloud "How'd they do that?" To me that is not an ideal movie-going experience. I don't want to understand that I'm watching a piece of technology. I want to become a part of the movie. The beauty of the movie-going experience is when a filmmaker can engage the audiences imagination, and lets them visit the world that they've created.

My greatest worry over the upcoming Tim Burton version of Apes is that he will be more interested in outdoing the outward, technological appearance of the 1968 film, and he will forget and ignore the important intellectual content of the film and novel. Hell, he ruined The Legend of Sleepy Hollow! Why stop there?

*from the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia

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Mar 21 2002, 07:16:13
  
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