Elkins Planet of the Apes

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One duality I found very interesting in Planet of the Apes was that of science vs. primitivism. Both the 1968 version and Burton’s version deal with this duality, although Burton’s version is a little more fleshed-out. In the 1968 version, Taylor’s story of crashing on the planet in a spaceship (speaking of which, there’s another link – the main characters of each film are horrible at landing their respective space-ships) is dismissed as heresy against the ape religion. In Burton’s movie, the technology that Davidson possesses makes the apes fearful.

Two scenes that illustrate how the science vs. primitivism conflict helps to develop character through conflict: the scene where Davidson retrieves his supplies from his crashed space-ship and the scene where General Thade breaks the red decoration and finds the gun. The scene where Davidson retrieves his supplies from his crashed space-ship is important because it further expands the gap between the humans and the apes. When Davidson fires his gun, one of the apes says, in a hushed voice, “Sorcery.” Sorcery and magic in general are usually just terms for sciences we do not yet understand, and thus we dismiss them as being associated with “the Other,” which sort of gives it a negative connotation. The apes hold strongly to their religious beliefs, and, as this scene illustrates, are hesitant to deal in matters that question their religion.

The scene where General Thade breaks the red decoration and finds the gun also helps to illustrate the apes’ fearfulness of technology. Thade, a character that already hates humans, is introduced to the invention of the gun by his father, who says that the gun is “the symbol of destruction” or something like that (I don’t remember exactly what was said). The apes are a civilization that uses swords and spears to fight (a very medieval thing) and don’t use modern weaponry (or, at least, none that I saw). His dying father’s condemnation of guns further deepens Thade’s hatred of those who use them  - the humans (although, I’m not sure how the apes grew to use the modern weaponry as seen in the end  - to be honest, I thought the ending was just kind of dumb).

Burton uses Planet of the Apes to again deliver a message he’s well familiar with: the misconceptions that most hold for one another. Although,  I think Burton did a weaker job of addressing that message with this film than his previous films (but that’s just me).

Elkins Mars Attacks!

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Two scenes that I felt perfectly illustrate how Burton satirizes government and the military in Mars Attacks!: the scene where Professor Kessler is adamant about how the aliens are “more technologically advanced, so therefore peaceful” in the beginning of the movie in the Oval Office, and the scene where Jack Black’s character cannot shoot his gun and then grabs the American flag and shouts, “I surrender!” In Independence Day, the scientist of the movie solves the problem of the alien force-field, allowing the army to destroy the aliens. In Mars Attacks!, the scientist of the movie is consistently wrong and plays a part in the government’s humorous blundering. In Independence Day, the soldier carrying the American flag would be the one who fights until he/she has nothing left.  That soldier in Mars Attacks!, like I said, yells, “I SURRENDER!”

Another comparison of both films is how the American President is respected. In Independence Day, he is well-respected and commands authority. In Mars Attacks!, he may as well be a Las Vegas hustler.

In Mars Attacks!, I think Burton is trying to tell the audience that social institutions are not immune to criticism. Just because people collectively think of a high office or an esteemed institution as “sacred” does not mean that those things are untouchable. Everyone thinks of the President of the United States as being a seat of untouchable power (which, it in some ways is, but that is beside the point). Burton, in his dark humor, laughs at this and makes the president both have a sort-of nervous breakdown and kills him in one of the strangest, funniest ways that I have seen in film. I think that this message of nothing being sacred is really one of the only serious things about the movie.

I do not, however, think that films such as Blade Runner and Rise of the Planet of Apes take themselves too seriously – I have seen both and thoroughly enjoyed them. They have important messages that I would not listen to unless they were put into a movie format (but maybe that is just me).

Burton, in Mars Attacks!, really only makes one thing clear to me: nothing is beyond criticism. And that is the way it should be.

Elkins Ed Wood

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Let me start off by just saying that I thoroughly enjoyed Buton’s Ed Wood. I thought it was well-done and really brought me in like a sort-of drug. With that said, I absolutely hated watching what I could of Plan 9 from Outer Space. I understand that it is supposed to be terrible and that it is supposedly the “best B-movie of all time,” but I could only get through about thirty minutes before I had to start asking myself, “What am I doing?” Taking the risk of sounding arrogant, but I truly think (in this rare case) that I could do a better job. But that is not the point of this blog. I want to talk about three elements of Burton’s Ed Wood that pay homage to what Wood was doing in his films.

In his films, Wood was following his own vision, delving into what he loved, and using what he could to complete his films. In Ed Wood, Burton showed how desperate Wood was to “make it big.” He got the frugal amounts of money from wherever he could and tried to live his dream however he could. All he wanted to do was live out his vision (even though one would have a difficult time arguing that his vision was 20/20) and he did just that. I am reminded of the scene where Wood meets the great Orson Welles (incomparable in success) who tells him to just do what he loves, and not to let anyone else get in the way of that.

I do like how Burton included the filming of some of the scenes of Wood’s actual movies (such as the graveyard scenes from Plan 9 from Outer Space). It seemed to me that the scenes from Burton’s movie looked a lot faker than those in Wood’s actual movie – sort of like Burton saying, “You know, guys, it could have been worse.” I think Burton did this for no other reason than that the movie would not be Ed Wood’s life if there were no scenes of him actually filming his masterpieces. And when I say masterpieces, I am talking from Wood’s perspective.