Topic > 2001 and The Planet of the Apes: the role of technology compared

“Man is a social animal, characterized by 'culture': the ability to create tools and communicate ideas. The use of tools appears to be its main biological characteristic” (Oakley). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Directors Stanley Kubrick and Franklin J. Schaffner maintain Oakley's statement by insinuating a growing dependence of human nature on technology. Both films, Franklin J. Schaffner's Planet of the Apes and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, indicate that technology promotes inter- and intra-species separation that is exacerbated by heavy dependence. According to Planet of the Apes, apes are the dominant species that possess the most advanced technology and killing mechanisms. Kubrick places humanity – the evolutionary product of the apes in “Dawn of Man” – as the counterpart of the dominant species. These two films thus explore the contradictory and superior relationship that humans and apes have towards machines; 2001 and Planet of the Apes both suggest that species dependent on technology as a means of progress place themselves in a dominant social role. The opening scene of Planet of the Apes depicts the level of dependence humanity has always had on technology. The spacecraft, equipped with leather furnishings and hibernation spaces, is the fulcrum of the life of the four astronauts on the mission. The fact that humans possess the ability to create a spaceship, sustainable transportation even in space conditions, speaks to the level of progress they had achieved. At the same time, this progress means greater dependence. The crew members left the direction of the ship in the hands of the computer for almost 1300 years in Earth time (about a year in ship time) during their hibernation period, also maintained by computer power. There are no clear indicators of how or what the astronauts ate or completed other necessities for sustainable living, but, evidently, the ship's technology provided the means for such actions. Although the audience later discovers that the communication was sent to a dead end, the ship allows Taylor to inform the "different race", which he perceives as Earth's evolved species, of his life in space. After landing, the crew continues to maintain their methods of communication by informing Earth's inhabitants of their landing on a planet in a different solar system. The advanced nature of the spacecraft confirms humanity's capabilities and our dependence on technology. This dependence revolves precisely towards that nature of man which promotes him as a dominant counterpart. This dependency is applicable, but to a lesser degree, to the apes of the Planet of the Apes. Although apes are not advanced enough to be able to explore space, they do exercise a certain level of technological advancement and a dependence on that technology. The staging of ape civilization in Planet of the Apes indicates growing but stifled technological support; they're advanced enough to be dominant, but they're not killing each other yet. Most of their furniture is made of wood, which indicates that they are artisans. Therefore, we might assume that they are not welders, but the weapons that the ape militia use against humans say otherwise. Without the weapons, there is less chance that they would have managed to capture so many humans who were not equipped with tools or weapons to fight back. In the laboratory, Zira does not use any sanitizing methods as confirmed by the laboratory assistant who complains about having contracted ita disease from the human body. To transplant blood from Taylor to Nova, Zira places subjects on wooden slabs and uses tools such as scissors. During the mission to Jupiter, Kubrick highlights how dependent man has become on technology. From the cut-bone throw to the “bone-white spaceship” (Poole176), the most progressive apes have gotten by with the help of technology. Humans cannot survive in space without technology; thus, for the entirety of 2001, humans depend on technology to live. The aircraft, controlled by the 9000 series of computers, provides the critical resources for sustainable life in space: oxygen, food, water and communications. In essence, the audience gets the sense that Discovery One (controlled by HAL 9000) hosts a community that eats, sleeps and lives together. Upon request, the aircraft makes trays of liquefied food available to astronauts and provides hibernation chambers that monitor their internal functions. Without the machine man would not be able to survive in space. Also in “Dawn of The Man,” the audience sees the ape become dependent on tools as a means of obtaining food and maintaining possessions. Before Moonwatcher had his enlightenment, the monkeys appeared to be malnourished and threatened. One night, when the monkeys were sitting inside their cave to avoid predators, they fought over some food that a monkey had. The land's vegetation may not have been sufficient for both monkeys and tapirs. The evil leopard unapologetically killed the monkeys. The other tribe of monkeys had also driven them away from their only source of water. With the bone, however, they expanded their nutritional possibilities by becoming carnivores. The bone also provided protection for the monkeys to secure their water source and presumably to fight off any predators that taunted them. Upon their arrival on Earth, the three crew members Taylor, Dodge and Landon proved that they could survive with less dependence. on technology and at the same time become inferior to monkeys. Like HAL, the plane's computer died when the ship sank in the middle of the ocean. With a dinghy, 72 hours of food and water, a gun, 20 rounds of ammunition, a camera, a medical kit, a soil test kit and other miscellaneous tools, the group set out in search of life. Instead of hibernating while the computer drove, they had to take flight on their own two feet. On this journey into the unknown, the crew members look out of place in their all-white suits in such dusty, dry terrain. Without the protection and isolation of the plane, they face the possibilities of nature alone. A falling boulder threatens their lives as does thunder and lightning producing a harsh, windy environment instead of water, and all they could do was run. However, once completely stripped of their tools, the crew members are defenseless: the apes kill Dodge, lobotomize Landon, and capture Taylor. While the group enjoys the waterfall they found, the primitive humans steal their modernist clothes along with all the gadgets they carried in their backpacks (including their weapons). The crew members are then forced to quickly assimilate into primitive human culture. They adapt rags as clothes, eat fresh corn and coconut, and run away from monkeys as they appear like other humans. The monkeys shot and killed Dodge as he attempted to escape from a trapped net; they captured both Landon and Taylor. The audience is invited to follow Taylor's experience, but we don't find out about Landon and his lobotomization until about halfway through the film. However, the fact of the matter is that the absence of tools to protect or arm them has made them therelower counterpart of the species. Through the development of ape culture presented by apes in ancient Africa, 2001 frames tool use as an exacerbation of competitiveness. human tendencies. In the 2001 episode "Dawn of Man", the Moon Guardian (as the main ape is called in the manuscript; Daniel Richter) discovers the advantages of using tools both as a means of obtaining food and as a weapon. Moon-Watcher violently destroys the skeletal remains of a tapir using a bone as a hammer; the scene often cuts to a fallen tapir rolling on the ground, which suggests the monkey's internal thoughts. At this point in the episode, the simian nature has transformed from herbivorous to carnivorous. The tapirs and monkeys will therefore be unable to coexist peacefully, as revealed in a scene before the Moon Guardian's discovery. Rather, this upright man-ape now produces a feeling similar to the leopard ferociously attacking a then defenseless animal. According to 2001, tools put a strain on the interspecies relationship by considering the creature that wields the most vital tool and the others more disposable. 2001 insinuates that tool-wielding apes are more superior than their peers, implying a human-animal boundary. The man-apes of "Dawn of Man" use their new weapons to kill the leader of the other group of apes who challenged them. The Moon Guardian begins the killing as his tribesmen follow suit. By eliminating another monkey as easily as they do, monkeys place a boundary between their tribe and each other and assert a level of dominance. This scene uses apes as “a mode of revelation that produces technological humans from nature” (Wheat). However, it is evident from the first interactions that the two groups could not live in harmony despite belonging to the same species. The other group of apes brought this hostile environment to life near the beginning of “Dawn of Man,” when they brutally took over the waterhole. And they did it, successfully, without weapons or physical violence. Supposedly, the groups had fought repeatedly over the water source, but Moonwatcher's group ended the skirmish by asserting its dominance. The level of inequality makes this claim to superiority possible. Without the bone, the groups would be equal again and the other age group could have easily supplanted the Moon-Watcher group. Immediately after their first appearance, the apes of the Planet of the Apes imply the dominant role in society as the species with the most advanced technology. They present themselves to the public with a series of murders. The apes kill and capture humans without hesitation, chasing them through the cornfields. And they do it deliciously. The very first monkey dialogue was "Smile" from the monkey with the camera taking a photo of several excited monkeys as they stood over a pile of human bodies. Zaius defends the ideology of his civilization: “Why, man is a nuisance. It eats its food supplies in the forest, then migrates into our green belts and devastates our crops. The sooner it is exterminated, the better." Zaius refers to the killing of humans as "a matter of ape survival", similar to how Moon-Watcher and his crew drove away the other ape tribe to maintain their waterhole. These tool-wielding superiors impose their rule violently and without hesitation. In 2001, Dave reasserts humanity's dominance when he shuts down HAL "as casually as one might remove the battery from a malfunctioning smoke detector" (Leonard). HAL's reckless killings insinuate that he had created a boundary between himself 36.1 (2011): 22-67, 100.