Malay Planet of the Apes Blog

Thade versus Davidson

Power versus exploitation is an obvious duality in Planet of the Apes. The apes are well educated and their social structure is fairly modern which is ironic because for being so educated, they treat humans as less than second-class citizens. There are many historical events that show how the exploitation of the inferiors is for the benefit of the powerful (The French Revolution is a prime example of the powerful taking advantage of those below them or a more modern example would be the exploitation of children in underdeveloped countries working 18-plus hours shifts per day for little pay only to the benefit of the company the children assemble products for.) In the film there are two specific scenes that stand out in my mind especially. When the apes capture Davidson after the ambush in the beginning of the film, other humans are pulling the cart that the captured humans are being crowded into. The humans pulling the cart and the humans in the cart are being treated like cattle for slaughter. The apes are exploiting the cart-pullers by using them like we would horses or oxen and the people in the cart are soon to be treated just the same. The second scene that stands out in my mind the most is the dinner scene at Ari’s house. The humans are the servants to the apes and by being forced into this type of slavery; the apes are exploiting the humans for their own benefit. A historical parallel to this would be serfdom in medieval Europe. The peasants had no hope of social mobility or material advancement the same way the humans have no hope of that either. The peasants were bound to their land and bound to their social class, as are the humans. The humans are born into a society that would not allow them the same freedoms and privileges as those above them and so by not allowing for material or social advancement, the humans were ultimately bound to their owners and their social class.  As stated before, the power versus exploitation theme in Planet of the Apes is obvious and perhaps what Burton is trying to say to the viewers is that there are still forms of exploitation happening today and we should give it attention in the same way we give attention to other big issues today too.