Friday, October 26, 2012

Burros? Icky? Apes? Maple Street? Monsters?

How do the thematic elements(i.e.- humans' destruction, reversal of the expected, inferiority, etc...) presented in The Planet Of The Apes movie make us contemplate and wrestle with the concept of xenophobia? Does it pertain to any of the Science Fiction we have read? Use quotations from the movie and texts to support your claims.  Respond to this blog by 2:30p.m. on Mon., Oct. 29th.

22 comments:

  1. The thematic elements presented in The Planet of the Apes definitely make us contemplate the concept of xenophobia. For example, Taylor says,"Why are you afraid of me doctor?" That line made us think about what else we treat differently in our society out of fear. This idea most closely relates to the story "The Silk and the Song" because humans are also treated as lesser individuals out of fear.

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  2. The elements in the movie, "Planet of the Apes" makes up contemplate the term Xenophobia because it makes a person realize that everything we know and see are different and foreign to us. With things that are different for us we treat it with different reactions. There isn't a quote that I remember from the movie that proves my point from I have one from the story, "Puppet Show" that proves my point very well. "There are people that run at the sight of the unknown, others who advance to meet it."

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  3. The idea of xenophobia can be warped, this is extremely evident in The Planet Of The Apes. In the movie one of the apes state, “Get your hands off me, you damn dirty human!”. This statement conjures the thought of apes being more advanced than humans, and ape leadership is unknown. This factor contributes to the fear of ape leadership.

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  4. In the movie "Planet of the Apes," the thematic element has us contemplate xenophobia because humans are not the master race, and the apes are even scared of humans. The scene at the beginning where the human gets free, they say "catch the wild human" and do everything in their power to get the human back under control. This is compared to "The Silk and the Song" as well as the way we treat animals sometimes. Humans aren't actually wild and out of control (usually) but in this movie, since the apes are ignorant to what the humans would do, they're scared of an unconfined human.

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  5. The thematic elements do make us contemplate xenophobia, it makes us feel guilty for things like racism and irrational fear and segregation when we are the victim. In most of the stories that we have read, some one or some race, was rejected or even persecuted it seemed for no reason at all. However when looked at more closely, one can realize that they are looked at differently because the superior race is either scared, or just to full f themselves.

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  6. The different elements in the movie "planet of the apes" makes us think about xenophobia by having the humans in both the movie and the short story puppet show as the lesser race. In the planet of the apes the human is the animal. this is not the case in puppet show but there is a higher race then the humans in the story. the fear of humans not being the master race is one of the most feared aspects of xenophobia.

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  7. The themes that surface in Planet of the Apes really makes us think about xenophobia as a real issue instead of thinking 'I would never think like that'. It made me think about how we treat animals and even other people that many people think are 'below them'. Planet of the Apes was very similar to The Silk and the Song because both stories had humans as slaves and shown as unintelligent.

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  8. The thematic elements in "The Planet of the Apes" makes us contemplate xenophobia because the apes are more powerful than humans and when things are out of the norm, it can install fear in us. The movie makes us question ourselves, the things we do, and how we act.

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  9. The apes refuse to believe that humans can be nice, civilized creatures. They are scared of us because of what they've been told about humans, and that fear prevents anything from changing between human and ape interaction. If instead of fearing us, they could learn about humans and life could be good for both species.

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  10. The thematic elements in, "Planet of the Apes", are xenophobic. The whole time the human thought he was in a different time zone and planet because his race was not the dominate race, but in reality humans were below the apes. The Apes were scarred of the humans so they captured the humans and did experiments on them so they would not be the better race.

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  11. The thematic ideas in Planet of the Apes tie in closely to extrapolation and the other texts that we read, especially dealing with human destruction and the thought of other's extrapolation towards us. As Cornelius says, "Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. ... Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." This is a topic that is somewhat sensitive to most humans, mainly because it is so closely related to the truth. Planet of the Apes is also very closely related to The Silk and the Song, because both deal with the enslavement and dehumanizing of humans.

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  12. The thematic elements make us really think about the idea of xenophobia. In "Planet of the Apes" the roles of humans and apes are reversed, so the impact on the viewers is different rather than if the humans were capturing the apes. Also in "The Silk and the Song" Mara says, "We have to find a way to force the Hussirs to accept humans as equals, not as animals". The fact that in these stories the humans are being "captive", considered the dangerous ones, or are being affected in a negative way is perceived differently by the audience than it would be if it was another species.

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  13. Planet of the apes really makes us think of xenophobia as a big issue. Its showing us how the world would be if the tables were turned. Seeing life through the others eyes, which is something we all need to be aware of. The apes don't want to believe that humans are capable of all these things, just like we don't believe that animals might have all these qualities that we are just to afraid to realize. Which is an example of xenophobia.

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  14. The elements in stories like "planet of apes" and "silk and the song" show us what it would be like when we are the inferiority. Mankind has grown too comfortable with being on the top, when we see us as being a lower species we tend not to like it. though the sad truth is that there are probably hundreds of races out that will make us look lower than a bug and none of this will change until mankind stops fighting with itself and work together, but that is only the talk of dreamers.

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  15. "The Planet of the Apes" makes us, as the viewers, wrestle with the concept of xenophobia by shifting our perception and engaging us into the unresolved discussions that occur in our minds. The reversal of the expected is the most evident issue since it surprises the humans and is assimilated with difficulty. In the film, Dr. Zaius states, "I see you've brought the female of your species. I didn't realize that man could be monogamous." This stance also connects to the topics that have become the main focus of other literary works, as is seen in stories such as "Sales Pitch." Both of those examples of science fiction lead to the realization and further contemplation of gender roles and the particular rules that apply.

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  16. The role reversal in the "Planet of the Apes", makes us reflect as a society. It shows us how we treat animals in our society. We hunt, capture, domesticate, and experiment on animals that we think are lesser than us which is what the apes did to humans in the movie. Then we learned at the end of the movie people shouldn't really be trusted because they destroyed their own world and we should be afraid of ourselves.

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  17. Planet of the Apes shows that the downfall of humans was caused from humans destroying each other. Taylor was feared by the apes because of his intelligence and did not trust humans because humans destroyed each other.. From The Silk and the Song, humans were treated like they were lower then hussiers because they did not want the humans to know that they were from the startower and are more powerful then the hussieres.

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  18. One thematic element present in the "Planet of the Apes" film is that people somtimes believe what they want to believe even when contradicting evidence is right in front of them. Near the end of the film, the apes happened upon a doll in a cave that suggests that humans where once an intelligent and thriving species. The apes did not want to believe the evidence so they destroyed it by blowing up the cave. Perhaps the reason for this is xenophobia.

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  19. Planet of The Apes gives us a different viewpoint of mankind. The Apes are superior in this society, while man is inferior. The Apes have 'sacred scrolls', one, describing man, reads; " Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." When we hear this quote, we are forced to think about the way we treat animals (we hunt for fun, we abuse them or do tests on them), and the way we treat other people(we hate people, and kill each other). This relates to the story "Random Sample" because we realize how disgusting humans are, and how many character flaws we have, and that there might be another species out there that is peaceful, loving, kind, and understanding of each other, and better than us in every way. I think today on Earth, man has a difficult time understanding that he may not be superior. In Planet of the Apes, the Apes have a hard time justifying themselves as superior and coming up with an explanation for Taylor-the intelligent human who says he is has traveled from a distant land. The Apes are afraid of Taylor because he is intelligent, but more afraid that the whole society of apes will realize they were not always superior. I think an important quote is when Dr, Zaius refuses to announce what Taylor is and TAylor says; "Why are you so afraid of me , doctor?". The Apes are unable to look at the big picture and so are humans, due to Xenophobia.

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  20. I feel that the thematic elements of Planet of the apes really serves to peak our interest in the realm of science fiction and gives the author more of a chance to captivate us and give us a chance to really learn about his message. The message he is trying to get across is really that if we look at our own society and how we treat others that are inferior to us and replace them with ourselves, we really are not all that different. We as a species are all about maintaining our basic innate rights and t be treated with respect, which is the goal of all species.

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  21. Planet of the apes shows a complete role reverse. The apes were the master race, and they saw humans just like we see apes today. The apes in the movie all have human characteristics, as does the human. In todays society, only the human contains that characteristic, and the apes are seen as inferior. Could this mean that apes have more knowledge than we know? It seems to be sending a message about how we may not be as superior as we think we are, and it makes us think how treat people we dont know about, and people inferior to us. I think it is trying to convince society not to be xenophobic

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  22. the ideas presented in planet of the apes shows xenophobia in the way that the apes are afraid of thoughts that are differnt or things that are differnt just the same way that theists are a afraid of facts and ideas that go against their beliefs and how people in the 50s were afraid of people who are were differnt. everyday i see xenophobia and it is still existant and everywhere in this world.

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