“Other”-Ness in Cinema Represented by Fictional Groups - Part III: Everything Else I Could Possibly Think of (in the span of like five minutes)
Alright, we’ve covered android/robot things, comic book characters, now how about some fantasy via the Lord of the Rings franchise? Well, too bad. After watching not only each of the three films, but also their extended editions, I’ve concluded that while they do have some content / metaphors for how different races (i.e. Dwarves, Elves) are treated very differently in and around Middle Earth, it isn’t nearly as core to the story as pretty much everything else I’ve covered so far.
Quite literally the only picture I could find on the Elf / Dwarf race rivalry. That’s how little it’s touched upon in the films. In the books I would assume it’s more of a plot point, but I haven’t even finished Fellowship of the Ring yet!
However, there is a more recent example I want to touch on. It’s part of an extremely successful franchise (both financially and critically), almost entirely CGI, distributed by 20th Century Studios, and is a sci-fi film in the far future. That’s right, it’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Oh, I’m sorry, did you think I was going to discuss Avatar: The Way of Water? Think again!
THIS movie? WRONG.
While that would be a good choice, and possibly even a better and far easier topic to discuss; this, with the Apes franchise, I feel is a bit more nuanced and not as, well, beaten to death, because practically everyone on Earth and Pandora knows what the messaging behind Avatar is. The Avatar films literally have a themed section at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom, so if you still aren’t getting it, you must be blind, dyslexic, deaf, media illiterate, or all of the above. (However, I will admit the area at Walt Disney World is really, really cool.)
Disney’s strategy to put their new Apes-themed Land right next to the US Tank Museum is bold, and maybe even a little on the nose, but the ticket pre-sales sure aren’t monkeying around. (This bit is just a joke. Let’s get back to the topic now that we’ve all had a giggle.)
Planet of the Apes is not a new franchise. Let’s get that out of the way first. It started as a cool sci-fi film in the 60s with a twist-ending that left you begging for more, only for “more” to be a handful of sequels that are quite shallow in comparison to the original. Then, of course, there was a Tim Burton version with Mark Wahlberg. I think we know enough about it just from that one sentence to conclude that it, uh, didn’t pan out the way Mr. Burton envisioned, I’m sure.
If we keep getting Ape films at this rate we’re going to get one with this title.
Then comes the trilogy that I and many Internet-Ape-Nerds have come to affectionately call the Caesar Trilogy. It deals with the direct rise of the planet of the apes (badum-tss) and how Caesar had a direct role in the dawn of a new age for not only apes, but also humans, and the Earth as a whole. Apes are seen not only as lesser than human, but as lesser than lesser than. As the trilogy progresses, the tables turn, and humanity is on the other side. It’s quite the interesting situation.
Now, with a new trilogy dawning, I have a feeling something else may be brewing in those monkey’s heads besides “oo oo aa aa.” Perhaps a banana?
