The Films Planet of the Apes and 12 Monkeys in the Subject of Animal Ethics - Movie Review Example

In what ways do Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner 1968) and 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam 1995) speculate on the of animal ethics? How dothe films engage with issues related to posthumanism? Discuss. Introduction to Science Fiction: Science fiction is an amazing and spectacular genre, which started in 1902. “Science Fiction films have been with us since 1902, when Georges Mélie’s 3 minute epic Le Voyage Dans La Lune took cinemagoers off the planet for the very first time. (Si-Fi Film History) (“Le Voyage Dans La Lune” means a trip to the moon.). While describing Science Fiction, Cramer (1994) states, “Science fiction allows us to understand and experience our past, present, and future in terms of an imagined future.”  Though the genre is imaginary it just thrills the spectators and at the same time through dystopian representation of the future world, it conveys a valuable message to the audience. Science fiction is the source of entertainment as well as effective way of conveying message to the society. According to Sobchack "science fiction cinema is an important source to understand the history of spatial and temporal transformation of the city as it has been experienced by the spectators in USA, from the 1950’s to the present, from modernism to postmodernism." (Vivian Sobchack 1999) Animal Ethics: Man is supposed to be the most powerful animal in the world. Of course his power lies in his intellectuality and most advanced brain. Being most powerful animal of the planet, he started assuming that he has a right to exploit flora and fauna of the earth. He has forgotten the ethics of behaving with animals and plants, which are the inseparable elements of our eco system and our planet. Animals and other living things on the earth are being used by man for his selfish deeds. While using them, he even does not think about their emotions. The animals are being used in film productions, circuses, for food testing, for experiments etc. They are harassed by the man. Prior to technological advancement, the hobby of the medieval people was hunting. In India innumerable wild animals were hunted just for the hobbies of princes, kings, and people from rich and royal families which culminated into the extinction of animals like Chitah. After scientific revolution the entertainment habits changed but animal harassment still continued. Movies became the major and influential source of entertainment. The animals are frequently used in films. The film producer tries to be close to authenticity. Hence in many films the animals are used. To represent the animal character on screen, the animals are exploited. During the shot, the director cannot tell the animals to act in a certain way. The animals on the other hand are provoked so that they would behave in a certain way. Sometimes they are terrified. At that time it is not their acting but the real terror they feel during the shot. If there is a shot of falling of animals, it is not manipulated fall but real fall in which they are injured and their pains are real. These animals are treated like slaves. Sometimes if it is a demand of the script, they are too often killed on screen for effective cinematography. Number of films has killed animals for the sake of the authentic cinematography. The animals such as horses, apes, pigs, cows, birds and many more animals are killed. Some films who used the animals are Godard’s Weekend, Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Iñárritu’s Babel, Haneke’s Caché etc. When the use of animals is on rampant the film Planet of Apes really shows a very sensible approach of not using animals even in the roles of animals. Almost all the non human roles are played by the human beings. Our research paper discusses the protocols related to the treatment given to the animals by human beings. These protocols are discussed by comparing two films which are based on animal world. First movie is “The Planet of Apes” (Franklin J. Schaffner 1968) and 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam 1995). The Planet of Apes is reviewed by some critics as an allegory. According to them this film is an allegory of racism. But our focus is not one this topic. It is rather on the animal ethics. So we are not going to discuss anything on racism any more. The film is about human interaction with the species with which they share the planet. The special characteristic of this film is that even if it is an animal film, very less use of actual animal has been done and it is really very appreciating. The story is based on the crew of astronauts who had to land on an unfamiliar planet in an emergency. First of all they felt that the planet is isolated with no creature. Later on, to their surprise, they found that there were ape like creatures that had a very strong and developed brain like human beings. They also were talking like human beings. The human beings on the other hand, were mute and they had worn animal skins. Thus the film indicates the probable changing role of human race in future. When the four astronauts reached there, they were attacked by the group of gorillas. While trying to escape, one of them called Dodge was killed. One got unconscious, one was shot in throat and the forth one that was Taylor was taken by gorillas to Ape city. His life was saved by the scientists who were none but chimpanzees. Taylor also noticed that there is a caste system among the ape community. Among them gorillas were police, hunters, or they were in military or some of them were workers. The other caste was Orangutans. This caste was involved in the profession like administrators, politicians, lawyers, or religious priests. Chimpanzees held the intellectual posts such as scientists. Human beings were hunted for entertainment or for sports. Finally the film concludes with the twist that long years back the ape planet had been governed by human civilization but now it had been ruled by apes. Now turn to the next film of our discussion and that is the “12 Monkeys.” Like “The Planet of Apes,” it is also a science fiction and a thriller. While talking about “Twelve Monkeys” and other films Sobchack states, “Its correlations between the ungrounding of urban space and the ungrounding of identity begin with Blade Runner and are followed by The Terminator (1984), Robocop (1987), Total Recall (1990), and more recently by Strange Days (1995) and Twelve Monkeys (1996).” (Vivian Sobchack 1999)The future society is living in exile beneath the earth as the earth’s surface has been conquered and occupied by deadly virus. The scientist found that the surface of the earth was contaminated, which took place in 1996, but they were still unaware about the causes of the contamination. Hence some prisoners were appointed to go back to the past to find out the origin of the virus that had conquered the earth and killed 99% of humans on the earth. Around 5 billion people from the world had been killed by a virus and only 1 percent had survived. The virus killed only human beings and thus after the massive massacre, the world came under the control of other animals. The protagonist James is one of them. Instead of going in the year 1996, by mistake he went in the year of 1990. James was arrested and sent to a mental hospital. He met the lady of his dream. After that many surprising incidents happened with James. The title of the film 12 Monkeys refers to gorilla band of animal lovers, which was led by a scientist spoiled son. The role is played by Brad Pitt. It was believed that the dreadful disease which had killed human beings had arisen as an act of bioterrorism by this mysterious army of 12 monkeys. These twelve monkeys are outraged by the cruel treatment give to the animals while they are used in laboratories for experiments. The film presents dystopian world in future where science has become an instrument of oppression. In the past that is in 1996, science was used to conquer and exploit animals just for selfish deeds and commercial success. The protection of biosphere was hardly there in the use of science. In future world, which is depicted in the film, man has become just a guinea pig. Oppression has finally succeeded. The message given in the film is that man may become animals or animals will rule the world and they will oppress the man in the same way he had oppressed them in the past. Kaalchakra (Cycle of Time): If we consider both of these films from animal ethics point of view, both show the picture of a dystopian future, which will be very horrible for human beings. There is a concept of Kalachakra in Sanskrit which means “Cycle of Time.” At present we, human beings are on the top of the cycle, while the other animals are down. But the cycle tends to revolve and it never remains steady. In future our position will be downward and those animals will be on the top position. At that time they will also give us the same treatment as we are giving them today. We will be in position of victims and they will harass us as we are harassing them. So human being must not be overconfident about their today’s position because it is said that every dog has its day. The theme of retaliation: Both of these films, directly or indirectly convey the same message and that is the retaliation of animals over human beings. Both of these movies contain the same animal and that is the monkeys. They have been shown as the enemies of human beings. The message of animal ethics is conveyed in both of these films. If human beings try to suppress the animals through their intellectual power, the day is not far when they will also develop a powerful brain and they will rule the world. The same fear has been predicted in both “The Planet of Apes” and “12 Monkeys” It is a question of thought why this excessive hatred between animals and human beings is shown in the films? It is because the arrogance and conceit in human being has reached to the extreme level that he has started thinking himself as the ruler of the world and sometimes the creator of the world. The animals, though cannot express themselves like humans, they might be feeling strong hatred for human beings. While describing the cruel attributes of human being, Cornelius in the Planet of Apes reads from the ancient scriptures of apes: “Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devils pawn. Alone among Gods primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brothers 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”. It is the time for human being to think seriously about animal ethics. Otherwise, this type of stereotype will always be there and the good natured human beings also are likely to be the victim of animal attacks in future. There is a dialogue where Zaius warns Dr. Zira on experimenting human brain, “Dr. Zira, I must caution you. Experimental brain surgery on these creatures is one thing, and Im all in favor of it. But your behavior studies are another matter. To suggest that we can learn anything about the simian nature from a study of man is sheer nonsense. Why, man is a nuisance. He eats up his food supply in the forest, then migrates to our green belts and ravages our crops. The sooner he is exterminated, the better. Its a question of simian survival.” The army led by Jeffrey Goines in “Twelve Monkeys” was also formed to take revenge on human beings. Jeffrey Goines: When I was institutionalized, my brain was studied exhaustively by the guys of mental health. I was interrogated, I was x-rayed, I was examined *thoroughly*. [turns head and coughs] Then, they took everything about me and put it into a computer where they created this model of my mind. Yes! Using that model they managed to generate every thought I could possibly have in the next, say, 10 years. Which they then filtered through a probability matrix of some kind to - to determine everything I was gonna do in that period. So you see, she knew I was gonna lead the Army of the Twelve Monkeys into the pages of history before it ever even occurred to me. She knows everything Im ever gonna do before I know it myself. Hows that? Irony: “The Planet of Apes” and “12 Monkeys” both films have a touch of irony. “Based on Pierre Boulle’s absurdist science fiction novel Planet of Apes (1963), the film adaptation aggressively handles the story’s ironic and satirical ...” (Gary Westfahl 2005) this is an irony made on the unethical approach of human beings towards the animals. The theme itself is an irony where in both films the animals are shown stronger than human beings. If the unethical behaviour towards animals continues in future, it will culminate into the powerlessness of human beings. In “The Planet of Apes” it is shown that there is no separate planet of apes but our own planet will convert into ape’s planet. All the signs of human civilization will perish and their place will be taken by the kingdom of Apes where man will be treated as a pet animal. He will be experimented; he will be harassed and occasionally killed by the intellectually powerful apes. The same ironical approach is there in Twelve Monkeys. In the film an army of twelve monkeys has been formed by Goines , a doctor’s son whose ultimate aim was to free the animals from the laboratory of Goines’s father. The main rival of the animals and virus is no one but human beings. “I think, Dr. Railly, you have given your "alarmists" a bad name. Surely there is very real and very convincing data that the planet cannot survive the excesses of the human race: proliferation of atomic devices, uncontrolled breeding habits, the rape of the environment, the pollution of land, sea, and air.” The future dystopian world will perish only human beings. The wrong sense of superiority of human being is leading us to the destruction and decay. The si-fi films try to find out the answer of the question “what if? If the cruelty on animals still continues, there will be no future in future for mankind. Both films depict a fight between human beings and the animals. Both films through the fictitious stories, focus on the unethical behaviour towards animals by human beings. Sources: 1. Vivian Sobchack. “Cities on the Edge of Time: The Urban Science-Fiction Film”. in Annette Kuhn. (ed.) Alien Zone II. New york: Verso, 1999. pp.128-129. 2. Vivian Sobchack. “Cities on the Edge of Time: The Urban Science-Fiction Film”. in Annette Kuhn. (ed.) Alien Zone II. New York: Verso, 1999. pp.140. 3. Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner 1968) 4. Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam 1995) 5. Gary Westfahl (2005)“A Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy : Volume 3 , (p.1207) 6. Science Fiction Film History from the website www.scififilmhistory.com/ 7. Kathryn Cramer(1994) , “The Ascent of Wonder Read More