McCurdy- Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes

      Science versus primitivism is addressed in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. The land Mark Wahlberg's character comes upon is inhabited with apes, but they are not as technologically advanced as the earth he came from. Though they seem just as intelligent as the humans he is used to, the society has not advanced as much as it could. This science versus primitivism creates a duality of the two species and Burton illustrates this duality throughout his film.
      Mark Wahlberg came to the new land in a spacecraft, but when he finally reaches the wrecked ship again, the apes do not know what to think. They have never seen such a thing before, since they rely on simple horses to transport them around. They are also disturbed when Wahlberg's character pulls out firearms. They are afraid of the deadly weapon and destroy it as to not allow him the upperhand against all of the apes in the territory. The apes are generally very weary of all technology Davidson presents, since they have never seen such things before. They rely on the land and natural resources and have not advanced into such a state of technological advance and industrialism. Their mindsets are also not as open as the humans. In many ways, they are timid. For example, Ari is terrified of water and just the sight of it makes her scream.
    Even more scientific bounds are displayed to the apes when Davidson finds his crewmates' wrecked ship with limited video footage of what had occurred before the plane crash. The apes don't have such technology and were astounded. However, Davidson too was shocked, but for different reasons. The apes told him that the ship had been wrecked for thousands of years, but he remembers the crash as if it were just three days ago.
      Primitivism and science are repeatedly conflicting in this film, but together they create a duality. It is similar to the duality created by the species of both humans and apes existing together in this story.

McCurdy- Mars Attacks!

Aliens from Mars Attacks!

       Mars Attacks! parodies America in general, but especially satirizes sacred institutions, such as the military and government. The government is basically helpless when he aliens invade. This is very comical, but it also illustrates that we should not always be so entrusting of our own government that is said to always be protecting us. Every individual should also be able to take care of themselves. This is also true for the military in the movie. The aliens immediately terminate them without hesitance. Their armaments easily overpower that of the American soldiers. 

      A scene that displays the corruption of government is when Martin Short's character picks up a woman from the street, who turns out to be a martian girl that wreaks havoc in the White House. He picked up the girl for his own personal gain, but she ended up killing the president. Burton is showing that people cannot always trust the officials of sacred institutions. They may just end up failing at their job... or suddenly getting zapped by alien intruders.  

     Also, the military is proved untrustworthy when the aliens first depart from their space shuttle. The entire military is waiting outside in preparation for them. They release a dove as a sign of peace, but the aliens shoot it down immediately.  Then, chaos erupts and the aliens continue to shoot at all of soldiers surrounding them. They even kill the head of the military who represented protection for the people. Just like the government, the military in this movie cannot be held in high regards. Even though they are supposed to protect the people against the alien attacks, they are miserably failing. People have to take care of themselves.

     Interestingly enough, the people who don't rely on these institutions for guidance end up surviving. Two examples of this are Taffy and Richie. Taffy consistently rolls her eyes at her presidential father's decisions and Richie ignores what his trailer-park parents say altogether. They both disregard the chaos people are partaking in and focus on what is good for them. The fact that Tim Burton allows these people to survive shows that he too scoffs at "sacred" institutions. 

McCurdy Ed Wood

Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. 

       It is obvious after viewing Ed Wood that Tim Burton can easily connect with this so called "worst director of all time." They have many things in common and that seems to be why Burton was moved to make this film in the first place. Though Wood was notorious for creating this awful flicks, Burton was drawn moreso to the reasons behind the film making. In Burton's biopic, Ed Wood Finally receives some deserved credit as a director. He pays homage to him in a way, allowing Wood to be redeemed to much of the ignorant public eye.

       One way in which he credits Wood's film making is illustrating Ed's drive to create films that he thought would be great, not out of arrogance or for the money. Time after time in Burton's film, Ed Wood can be seen passionately involved with the his own film process, mouthing script lines as actors are reciting them and enthusiastically exclaiming that the scene was perfect after just one shot. Wood also created a group of actors that appeared in his films who were originally outcasts. Though this individuals may not be the greatest of actors, they stuck together through every film with him and continued on no matter the poor reputation or lack of money. They were bound together by their outsider qualities and Ed Wood believed in them when no one else did. In particular, the public believed Bela Lugosi to be past his prime, but Wood recognized his talent and thought he deserved recognition on screen. Finally, Ed Wood went to great lengths to raise funds for his films, even when times got rough (which was... most of the time). He believed in his movies for what they were and wanted to get them produced and out to audiences. Many directors do not have the patience and drive to raise funds for their films time after time, especially when people remark on how awful they turn out to be. 

       Burton uses scenes from Ed Wood's films in his own to continue paying his homage. The inclusion of these scenes also gives the audience a better feel for what Wood was creating and gives more insight to what emotion and creativity he was trying to display in them. Ed Wood's directing style was misunderstood at the time, but Burton appreciates his honest drive and in many ways redeems him as a director through this film.