Planet of the Apes (1968) (Cameron, Eunick, Luciana)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Running Time: 

1h52min (IMDb)

Starring

Charlton Heston, Roddy Mcdowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans

Director 

Franklin J. Schaffner

Writers

Michael Wilson, Rod Serling
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcpRHuPjOI

Review:

Astronauts from the USA set off on a journey to escape their current situations. In the year 3978, they end up crashing on what appears to be a foreign planet. There being no sign of life on this planet other than the 3 men (Dodge, Landon, and Taylor), they begin to explore. They soon find life in the form of plants and pursue the trail, leading them to what seems to be a slave-like society. The humans that they encounter cannot communicate through speech and appear to be less civilized. Suddenly apes appear riding horses, hunting down the humans and taking them in captivity. Tragically, Dart dies, Landon gets his brain toyed with, and Taylor is beat up but uniquely retains the ability to speak, and, in doing so, becomes a representative to all humans on the planet. After being put through many trials, alongside Zira (an ape psychologist specialized in humans), Taylor emerges victorious against the Chimpanzee government and sets off with his girlfriend/wife, only to realize that the planet they were on was actually Planet Earth only much later on.

Throughout the film, copious cinematic techniques were brought to our attention such as framing and angles. A close-up was observed on the apes’ faces, allowing us to capture their specific facial expressions when throwing objects at Taylor. One can tell that they are very angry and hurt. 

Medium shots are used during most of the film, which permits us to capture most of what’s happening in the surroundings at all times.

Long shots were equally used when showing the landscape of the water and canyons while the ship is sinking. This allowed us to process just how urgent their situation was, as we saw them struggle to get out of the spaceship in that huge body of water. A long shot was also captured the three astronauts in the fields right before they bump into the other humans, giving an insight on how out of place they are on this unknown planet.

The positioning of the camera played an important role in the film. For example, in the scene including the astronauts atop the canyon, a high angle shot was used to portray their vulnerability. The shot is taken from below; they’re all tiny high up on the edge of the canyon showing how little power they have in this new place.

Editing is highly involved in films and was fairly used for the duration of the film. During the human hunting in the beginning of the film, the scenes changed relatively quickly in order to demonstrate how intense the situation was by filling the spectators with suspense and letting them intake what’s important. These short takes that the director used portrayed the chaos and panic that was happening in that moment. Long takes, however, give time for the audience to really observe everything. In the opening scene there is a long take displaying Landon, which is used to establish and summarize the reason for their voyage. This is an important scene being that it sets the reality of the astronauts in outer space. Another instance of editing was the last scene; it pictures Taylor alone, questioning everything, a very long scene focused on him. The reason this particular moment is so long is because it is a crucial scene to the movie. It is a moment where realization hits Taylor. This epiphany is big. Taylor had just spent all this time believing he was stranded on some confusing planet where humans were inferior to apes only to discover that he had been on earth all along. He figures this out upon seeing remains of the statue of liberty. He was shocked as reality started to sink in and he began to understand that the earth as he once knew it was gone and he was left with the conclusion that the cruel world he left behind did not better itself. Humans lead themselves to their own destruction.

Sound, although heard during the entire film, is specific in the impact it has on the ensemble of the movie.  Non-diegetic sound refers to sound that doesn’t come from a source in the movie. For instance, suspense music is playing all through the attack on the humans in the beginning of the film. The music that is heard here is urgent and in certain moments high pitched signaling danger. At the exact moment that the gorillas were introduced riding in, a horn seemed to be played making us feel the seriousness of the situation. Later on in the film, when the apes take Taylor to see Landon, the music intensify and exhibits a lot more pounding of drums when Taylor realizes that his companion’s brain has been tampered with and starts to get aggressive. Diegetic sound however, consists of sound that can be heard by the characters. In this movie we could clearly make out the pitter-pattering of feet against the sand in the desert as the men travel across the landscape before they discover life form. Emphasis was put on pitter-patter in order to emphasize the long journey and how small they seem in comparison to the vast lands. 

The costume choice helps define a character and is therefore an important aspect. The uncivilized, mute, primitive humans all wear animal skins. This is an interesting factor due to the fact that it is the humans who are perceived as animals and not the other way around. We don’t see the apes wearing human skins. We believe that this was done probably for the purpose of the film to not show nudity. Another interesting factor noticed is that all of the gorillas wear darker clothes in comparison to the Orangutans who wear lighter orange clothing. This seems to show social considering the position the orangutans have over the gorillas. The gorillas are inferior; all orangutans are in a position of power and we identify them through their costumes. The fact that the apes have actual clothing puts them in a different perspective to the humans; making them the dominant species. The clothing that Taylor wore after being captured was good as well; it really entitled him as a prisoner.

This movie really managed to well incorporate the role reversal, which raises awareness on the way that humans mistreat animals in our world. This is a theme that “Planet of the Apes” brings out through the entire viewing. The apes treated Taylor in the same way humans treat the animals they hunt down or take captive. Back in 1968, animals were probably treated far worse than they are today but animal maltreatment has not ceased to exist. Animal cruelty was and still is an issue. Ironically, in the film, Taylor being held in a cage against his will notices just how cruel of a treatment he’s receiving. He even yells out “It’s a mad house! A madhouse!” in the scene where the guard is spraying him harshly with a hose intended to quiet him. We believe that an issue and question raised in this film are that of what our world is becoming. What are humans letting the world turn into? In the beginning of the film, Taylor is recording himself and wonders out loud ‘if man still makes war against his brother, and let his neighbor’s children starve.” When saying this, Taylor is referring to the future. From his description, Taylor left behind a cruel planet earth filled with egocentric people and hopes that those who listen to his tape will be of a different breed, “hopefully a better one.” (The big question being whether or not humans will lead to their own wipeout).

What we enjoyed about the film was the message they were trying to get through along with the plot twist at the end. Humans have for some reason gone back to their primitive ways, incapable of speaking and the apes have evolved, acquiring some sort of intelligence, allowing them to be the dominant species. The plot twist really stood out to us because we really didn’t see it coming. The whole time, we too were focused on the strange that they were on another planet. As for the message of the movie, we thought it was clever to create a world in which the human and animal roles are reversed. An interesting point we noticed is that this was one of the first movies that didn’t include useless sex or romance. The only time where it was remotely present was the end, when Taylor kisses Zira.  This really added to the production of the story. However, “Plant of the Apes” did have its flaws. We did find that the acting could have been better, especially that of Charlton Heston. His credibility as an actor was doubtful and he wasn’t very good at making the audience feel what he was feeling. We found that often, the actor’s tone of voice did not appropriately represent the emotion they were trying to express. Considering the year this production was made, we acknowledge it could have been worse. 

1274 words

  

Course Connections:

1) Personhood is a concept that comes into play at a crucial moment during the film. Considering that it was a subject touched upon in class, it is something we all noted, especially during the court scene. As discussed, not all humans are persons and not all persons are human. This is pointed out when Zira tries to defend Taylor saying “At the very least, this man has the right to know whether there’s a charge against him.” In calling this to attention, she implies that he has rights. This results in the authorities getting upset and claiming that Taylor is a man and “therefore, he has no rights under ape law.” This demonstrates that they believe that he is not to be treated as an ape for he is a non-intelligent beast. Does this sound familiar? Indeed, this is the way that nowadays some humans behave towards non-human animals. They don’t grant him personhood in society, just like how we humans wouldn’t grant a chimp personhood. There is another instance where personhood is brought to the table. When Taylor is in a cell across from Nova just looking at her as she stood there mute, he ponders: “Do you love me? I wonder. Can you love? I wonder.” These are the same questions we ask ourselves about animals in order to determine if they 1) have these capacities and 2) should be granted personhood.

2) Another idea that is present in the film which connects to class topics is speciesism. What this term represents is similar to racism or sexism considering it’s a prejudice that consequently leads to treating certain species better than others. It is solely based on certain morally irrelevant aspects and is very present in the film. Other than Zira, no one believes that humans are on the same level as chimps. They all think that they are superior and that humans, or animals as they call them, are significantly inferior to them. Between all the objections sustained by Dr. Zaius in court, or the obvious favoritism, it is clear that the higher powers of the chimpanzee government wants nothing to do with humans other than to use them for their own good.

3) Several times, we see Zaius refusing to believe that Taylor can speak or that he can think for himself. We saw this as failure to perceive cognition. Cognition includes gaining knowledge, being capable of comprehension, remembering and problem solving. Even when Zaius finally acknowledges that Taylor can coherently speak, he denies that this characteristic proves that Taylor has higher levels of brain functioning than the other humans that surround them. When talking to Zira, Zaius clearly says, “Man has no understanding Dr.Zira. He can be taught a few simple tricks. Nothing more.” Being the Minister of Science, he has a big influence on others way of thinking. When Taylor was still injured and Zira points out that he’s actually mouthing words, trying to speak, the guard that was with her, Julius, simply replies, “Well, you know what they say. Human see, human do.” Upon hearing this, we really grasp onto their belief that humans are useless and incapable of developing higher functioning brains. We can further connect the notion of cognition with what is known as the black box. As covered in class, the black box refers to a box that cannot be opened. One cannot see what goes inside, yet knows what goes in and out of the box. In the film, the black box would be the human brain. The apes aren’t aware of its full function and consider it to be taboo to even mention that humans could possibly be not so different to apes after all. Upon questioning this, Zira becomes curious and starts to make certain discoveries. This is precisely what puts her as menace to Zaius, causing him to want to shut her up. 

Questions:

1. Do you think it's possible for the earth to ever reach the point where a non-human animal species (apes or other) could "take over"?

2. Do you think accidental/intentional time travel will ever be possible/accessible to the public?

3.Nova is presented as a very foolish, non-intelligent female character that constantly seems lost and in need of Taylor. Her role, unlike Zira’s, was exaggerated and wasn’t empowering to women.  What similar situations do we still see today involving sexism? 

Works Cited

1. "Planet of the Apes(1968)", IMDb, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063442/, accessed March 30, 2017.

2. “Planet of the Apes.” Screenplays for you. https://sfy.ru/?script=poa_1968  , accessed 10 March, 2017.

 3. Blue, Clayton. "Planet of the Apes." Planet of the Apes 1968. N.p., 26 Dec. 2014. http://www.collativelearning.com/mybb_1401/Upload/showthread.php?tid=3955 24 Apr. 2017.