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.

Malay Mars Attacks! Blog

 Choose two scenes that illustrate how Burton humorously satirizes government, the military, capitalism and patriotism inMars Attacks.  What is the film saying about sacred institutions? You might also discuss how the film parodies the science fiction genre taken so seriously by films such as Blade Runner, Alien, and Independence Day. If you have seenIndependence Day, think of the respect paid to the President in that film, versus the treatment of Jack Nicholson's role inMars Attacks.

Mars Attacks! Alien

In Mars Attacks! Burton satirizes government in the scene where the Martians kill all of the congressmen and women. The Martians go to Washington D.C. to apologize for killing all of the people in Nevada, however their apology is not sincere because within five minutes of being there, they annihilate everyone. By killing all of the congress-people, Burton further reveals the true anarchist nature of the Martians. Burton also makes a political statement in this scene criticizing the fact that the American government makes everyone conform to its standards and if they do not, then we invade those people’s country and start war. The Martians in Mars Attacks! are similar to the Martians in Plan Nine from Outer Space in that they represent the fact that American loves to destroy others who are different from us. Burton is saying that the anarchist spirit of the Mars Attacks! Martians are like the anarchist that America feels in that we do not have to abide by everyone else’s rules, but that they must abide by ours. Burton is satirizing the notion of American exceptionalism in this scene.

The satirizing of patriotism is present in the scene when the Washington Monument is about to fall over onto a group of Cub Scouts.  The idea that one of the most American of American monuments would crush a group of one of America’s most American organizations is ironic. It parallels the idea that America will destroy itself from the inside presented in Plan Nine from Outer Space. The satirizing of patriotism also is a reference to the hyper-patriotism in Independence Day. By making fun of that, Burton is also poking at the idea that America has too much patriotism in general because most of the monuments destroyed by the aliens are American monuments.

A common plague of the science fiction genre is that its films take themselves too seriously. For example, Independence Day is loaded with images of terror and destruction that make the viewers feel that all is lost and there is no hope left in sight. Burton pokes fun at that too by making the aliens look silly and the American people look silly because they lose a war to little green men with giant, exposed brains. Burton shows viewers that sci-fi doesn’t always have to be dreary and depressing.

Malay Ed Wood Blog

After you have watched the Tim Burton Film, read the posted article, and watched the documentary by Jonathan Ross, I want you to discuss three elements in Burton's Biopic that pay homage to what Wood as a director was doing in his films. Some scenes in Tim Bruton's film are actually taken directly from Wood's films.  Why?

Ed Wood

Element #1: Cross-Dressing. Now this might seem kind of obvious, but the fact that it is incorporated states a few things about Burton’s willingness to take risks. Burton could have easily left out the fact that Ed Wood liked to wear women’s clothing and made the biopic solely about how terrible his movies were, but he didn’t do that. Instead Burton focused in on that specific trait and showed how it made Ed Wood feel more comfortable and confident not only in himself as a person, but also as a director/producer/actor.

Element #2: Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. Burton has a knack for reusing actors over and over again in his films, which is what Ed Wood did in his films as well. This element is vital in the biopic because it shows how Burton draws some similarities to what Ed Wood was doing. By reusing the same actors and actresses over and over again in films, it becomes very evident, trademark almost, that “Oh this is an Ed Wood film.” Or “Oh this is a Tim Burton film”.

Element #3: Storybook beginning and ending: A biopic is a story, a film is a story and by having the film start with Criswell and end with Criswell there is a sense of wholeness and completion not only with the film itself, but Ed Wood as a person and his career. Ed Wood wanted to tell stories through motion picture and so it only seems fitting that Burton would tell Ed’s story through a motion picture.

The scenes taken directly from Wood’s films are also a way of paying homage to him because if the scenes were not in the biopic, some people may not have the motivation or want to see any of Ed’s films because of the fact that they are rated some of the worst films ever by one of the worst directors in all of film history. By adding in scenes directly from the movie, the audience gets a better sense of who Ed was and how he went about making his films in Burton’s biopic. Essentially what Burton is trying to get across is that Ed Wood was not a bad person at all, he was just incapable of realizing that what he was putting out was not good.