Mroski Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes

In the Tim Burton adaption of The Planet of the Apes, there are many dualities expressed that move the characters and the plot along.  My personal favorite is the clash between bellicosity and passivity.  Throughout the film, we find instances in which both types of behavior are crucial to the development of the characters.

One way that this arises is in the very beginning.  It starts with a defiant soldier who wants to go after his chimpanzee in the middle of an electromagnetic storm.  Captain Davidson, against orders, launches himself into the storm, and the main plot begins.  If he had been more passive and submitted to his superior, than the whole mess of Planet of the Apes would have been no more than a chimp being sucked into a wormhole.  We see this again later when Birn, the teenage boy in the band of humans, defies Davidson’s orders to stand back and help with the forces during the final battle.  His defiance shows Captain Davidson what it’s like to be defied, which gives him some insight on his own urge to fight issues of ego.

Passivity does help character and plot development, too.  There is a scene at the beginning, when Limbo ends up in the mix between the apes and the human escape attempt.  When Davidson turns the gun toward Limbo, Ari tells him to stop.  Telling Davidson not to “stoop to his level,” Ari chooses a passive route that sends Limbo on the same journey as the other runaways.  This pivotal point leads to an exodus that ultimately changes his view of the humans in the end.  

Both attributes have different strengths and weaknesses, but at the same time, there is no right answer to which one they pick.  Either path that they choose, the other side is just as legitimate. Each temperament has the ability to strongly influence the plot.

Mroski Mars Attacks

Mars Attacks

In Mars Attacks, Tim Burton uses conflict between man and Martian to satirize the military, as well as science fiction as a genre.  One of my favorite jokes was the flip of how most movies portray generals in conflict.  When the aliens first arrive, they obliterate what looks like a thousand people in a number of minutes.  Immediately, the people assume that it was a “cultural misunderstanding” and attempt to make up the issue, while General Decker is suggesting an offensive attack.  Instead, the government decides to let the aliens into their congress!  Obviously that turns into a big snafu and we are left with the president again suggesting that they try to make peace with the Martians.  By this time, General Decker is literally screaming at the president for war and the president scolds him for it.  It’s really funny because normally the warmonger general in a movie is the bad guy, or at least the stupid guy who makes everything go to hell.  In this case, he is the voice of truth.  Instead of satirizing the overzealous general, Burton takes a poke at the government as it tries again and again to make amends with an overtly bloodthirsty race of Martians. 

                It also pokes at the government in another way.  The Martians seem invincible and no one knows how they are going to get rid of them.  The government tries everything from diplomacy to nukes and everything in between to stop the slaughter, but nothing works.  The government tries so much stuff, they neglect something as simple as the “Indian Love Song.”  After the world is nearly annihilated, we find redneck Richie and his senile grandma about to be killed before they accidentally discover that her god-awful music is the only thing that can kill the Martians.  I think that Burton uses this instance to tell his audience not to trust their government as much as they do.  In a big crisis, we also have to have a plan.  This contrasts greatly with Independence Day, when the government is the end all be all to the human race.  

Mroski Ed Wood

Ed Wood

Ed Wood pays homage to Edward Wood in a tragically dignified manner.  I loved how the movie itself took place on cheesy looking sets in black and white, just to glorify Ed Wood's "style" of screenwriting.  The movie had a great sense of sketchiness about it; its artistic value is great since it takes so much of Ed's cheap looking style into account.  Also, the book-ending helped set the corny tone that was supposed to be felt in the movie.
Ed Wood was filled with many different shots of the films Edward Wood himself created, replicated very well by the cast of the Burton film.  There were many scenes, from the zombie Vampira scene, to the scene with Bela going on his favorite speech, to the scene in Glenn or Glenda when his wife gives Glenn (or Glenda) the shirt.  All of the these scenes are a great homage to viewers who know his works, as well as a hint that the story is biographical to those who do not know about his movies.  I was shocked at the similarity when I watched the documentary  as well as plan 9, at how similar they were. Those similar little shots drew me in and made me want to actually watch more of his movies to see if I could catch the extra shots that were "stolen" from the movie.
Many of the characters were strikingly similar to the real life people that they represented.  The casting was very well done and in some cases looked frighteningly close to how the real people looked. As with the familiar scenes, the familiar characters draw in non-fans and captivate die hard B movie watchers.
All of these characters were total outsiders.  They were all somehow rejected from the Hollywood world.  This was interesting because Tim Burton tends to also have a little cult of people that feel most accepted with him.  Just as Ed Wood, Tim Burton re-cycles actors and works with the outsider-type people that he feels most comfortable with.  Casting characters who look so similar to their real life counterparts brings Tim Burton's ability to withhold judgement, just like Ed Wood, come to life.