How have artists expressed what it has meant to be an American at key moments in our national cultural history? This class will use fiction (novels, short stories, graphic novels, science fiction) and visual culture (film clips, television, and American photography) to introduce some of the most persistent themes and issues that have been articulated in postmodern and contemporary American culture and letters. Some of the themes we will track this semester include: desire, simulation, alienation, existentialism, authenticity, and reinvention.
The final scene in Planet of the Apes before Taylor sees the statue of liberty is an intriguing view on the downfall of humanity. Specifically, hearing Dr. Zauis discuss his opinions on humanity in general is incredibly deep. Dr. Zauis says about humankind that “I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself.” The identity of what makes one human is brought up here in a disturbing manner. Is it part of the human condition to do intelligent things as well as idiotic ones? Dr. Zauis’s point about emotions ruling the human brain may not be one hundred percent true, but there is definitely something to the fact that human beings often make decisions if not entirely based on emotion, then somewhat affected by it. This says a lot about the nature of the human identity. Specifically, it says a lot about American identity, since the film takes place on what was once American soil. Therefore, we have to understand that the humans on Earth in the future descended from Americans, and that Dr. Zauis’s observations are based on his perceptions of the descendants of American people. Ironically, these ideas that Dr. Zauis has about humanity are incredibly biased and are in a way similar to the ideas that Americans have had about groups of people that they are unfamiliar with. It was a similar attitude of misunderstanding about Africans that lead Americans to be comfortable with enslaving them and using them to their advantage to the misunderstanding that the apes have about human beings. Americans did not believe in the past that Africans were civilized people, and thought that they were best suited to do hard work for the white man because they were not intelligent and were generally savages. There were even pseudoscientific studies done on the shape of the “negro” skull designed to prove their inferiority. This is incredibly similar to the way the apes use their scientific studies on humans to prove their preconceived notions about humanity to be true. Dr. Zauis and the rest of the apes prove with the type of thinking evidenced by his speech at the end of the movie that their notions about man are preconceived. It is proven by their actions that these ideas dictate the overall way that they treat human beings. The fact that this type of thinking signifies the way Americans thought about cultural identity at one point is definitely disturbing. This is part of what makes Planet of the Apes such an intelligent and thought provoking film. A viewer is put in a situation where they can imagine what it would be like if their class of people became slaves and were treated as if they were less in every way than the majority class. The American Identity that was given to slaves during the 1–1800’s is incredibly similar to the identity that is given to human beings in The Planet of the Apes.
In “Imitation of Life†the character Sarah is plagued by the African American half of her fheritage. Whenever she is revealed as a Mulatta, she crumbles in defeat. As child she behaves oddly and impulsively when faced with her difference.When told that “Negro blood is different†by a classmate, she goes home and literally cuts herself to compare Susie’s blood to hers. When Mrs. Johnson interrupts a lesson on Santa Claus to take Sarah out of school, Sarah hides her face behind a book to prevent being exposed. After the cutting incident – a symbolic act in identity desperation- Mrs. Johnson tells Meredith that Sarah “Sarah needs to accept race…she was born to be hurt.†To Sarah, though, this ideal is suffocating and restricting, especially growing into her teens. As a young lady, her insecurity, and desperation about her identity as a Mulatta, presents problems for her in social situations. During the reunion between Meredith and Archer, at a cocktail party, Sarah only makes a brief appearance, retreating after a brief moment with Mr. Archer. In terms of scene placement, the shyness, and social anxiety after brief appearances could represent her insecurity over the depth of her character passing for caucasian. Even though its more or less clear, perhaps she’s afraid that her Mulatta tendencies will emerge from the artifice acquired from living in an idealized white urban upper class household. The night she announces she has a date, she has trouble facing her mother. There is no issue posed by Meredith, but somehow Mrs. Johnson expects Sara to server the dinner guests that night. Sara puts on an act of defiance and irony , stating her identity as a Mulatta and Meredith’s ownership of her mother. Despite having made it clear that she does not want to be linked back to her mother, her boyfriend confronts her, telling her he was ridiculed and ostracized after his friends found out. At home, bruised and battered, Sara J. places blame on her mother, saying “Anything you can spoil, you’ll spoil.â€
It is clear that she has absconded when she takes up burlesque, which is a dirty game to Mrs. Johnson. She persists, finding a niche despite desperate pleas and rescue attempts during and after shows. The most telling interaction to mark the divide happens in the dressing room after one of these shows. Sara is uncomfortable being chased around by Mrs. Johnson, she feels like she cannot run far enough without her mother catching up and exposing her. That metaphor speaks to the remove between Sara as an adult free woman and a starlet, and the difficult “truth†that prevents her from passing. Mrs. Johnson, accustomed to her servitude, does not understand why Sarah has to deny the security and assurance of this role for her in society. Sarah choses danger. It becomes a question of freedom, for her, while it stays a problem of race for Mrs. Johnson. Set in her ways, perhaps she cannot feel safe with the idea of Sarah’s independence. Despite the ability to pass, the mere notion of Sarah’s heritage degrades her in the eyes of society. To Annie, Sarah is a piece of her identity and ideal that is slipping away. Sarah’s imitation of life conflicts with her mother’s identity and parentage.
Power and Hierarchy in Planet Of The Apes
Dr. Zaeus appears to be a scientist, but is so dogmatic in his approach that he could also be thought of as a religious leader, somewhat of a pope. During Taylor’s trial, Zaeus and his board of officials (all very similar in appearance) painfully refuse to listen to Zira’s pleas for a new science; that apes evolved from the lowly man. Zira points out that Taylor can think and act as any civilized ape, only to hear Zaeus’s belligerent refusal. Zaeus says that Taylor cannot think, in fact, because he mentions things that are absurd to the tribunal. Everything that Taylor reports is refuted despite being true and provable to a degree. Zaeus cannot accept this narrative because of his dogma of ape worship as well as fact that the theory, no matter how provable, would be damaging to his society. He’s powerful enough that his science and philosophy are both part of the social structure, so to lose his base of knowledge would destroy his power, destroy his self-assurance as a powerful ape, and possibly destroy the faith of his society in the scientific and social order. Cornelius and Zira represent a new science, of evolution, which supports the innocence of Taylor and his release, as well as his benefit to the ape society. The tribunal – a court of law – finds that the proposal is out of order, but by all indications the setting is contextually appropriate to debate. Again, Zaeus obviously has power beyond his science, and given other similarities(scenically, the tribunal consists of three characters of similar dress and physical appearance), it makes sense in the logic of the narrative as well as to the forthcoming of the science itself.
Taylor’s ability to communicate on Zaeus’s level grossly violates everything that Zaeus believes and also stands for. Taylor dwarfs Zaeus in his assertive character, posture as well as intelligence. This scenario shows the tension in such situations where figures of wealth, intelligence and power are confronted on equal terms with subjects of lower social and biological stature. Among a vast spectrum of themes, Planet of the apes shows how democratic societies are tested in certain instances where, no matter how non-violent in certain senses, the boundaries of culture are overwhelmed.
Misogyny in Planet of the Apes
Did anyone else look at Taylor’s character and recoil in disgust? Not just because of his condescending attitude towards everyone, his crew-mates and the apes alike, but also in his sexualizing of all the females in the cast. In my personal opinion, he is a man in desperate need of a kick in the…shin. For a movie that was made after the rise of second-wave feminism, the human women are practically non-entities. One is dead and the other is a sex object. The best scene to illustrate this is immediately after Taylor and Nova are placed in separate cages. Taylor’s soliloquy and Nova’s adoring gaze clearly establish this film’s stance on human women and their uses.
Taylor tells Nova about Stewart, the only woman in the expedition. He calls her: “the most precious cargo we brought along. She was to be the new Eve with our hot and eager help.†Taylor reduces Stewart first to an inanimate object, “cargo,†then to a sex object. One can assume that since Stewart was a lieutenant and an astronaut; she must have been a very intelligent and strong-willed woman. Especially to have taken on an expedition into the middle of space with no reason to believe she would ever see her home again. The viewer’s only introduction to Stewart is when she is sound asleep in her pod. Taylor pauses to regard his crew-mates. He gives the other two men, including the token black guy, a cursory glance, then turns to regard Stewart. He lingers over her the longest, and why shouldn’t he? She’s obviously blonde, probably blue-eyed, and gorgeous. Flash forward to the crash. Stewart is dead, her beauty ravaged by death and time. Landon creates a make shift marker for her in the form of an American flag while Taylor cackles derisively. That is the end of Stewart.
The only other human female in the movie is the woman Taylor names “Nova.†She has no spoken lines and her character exists solely as the love interest for Taylor. And I use the term “love†loosely in this respect. I have no doubt Taylor is attached to her, and why shouldn’t he be? She’s lovely and silent. She clings to him and follows his every move without any hint of protest. Taylor is a man who has been cast into a world where he is little more than a wild animal in the zoo. He has no control over anything that happens to him, but Nova gives him something, someone, to rule over. There are a few Biblical references that one can apply to her. In a reversal of the Adam and Eve story, Taylor is revived, brought (back) to life because of her blood. Then the story is played straight later when Taylor names her Nova, like Adam naming the animals.
The limitations and freedoms of the Matrix(under our economy).
When Neo leaves his reality, he is introduced to the true rules and freedoms of the matrix. After Tank gives him the self defense training simulation for the Matrix, Neo soon discovers that he is more in control of the reality that he perceives than he was used to in his old life as Mr. Anderson. When he battle’s Morpheus to test out his training, he’s liberated from the restrictions of his world and body. Even though he fights well, he is defeated because his mind is not free. In his old body he was accustomed to a set of conditions of safety and danger as well as physical and mental limits. Morpheus tells him that he beats Neo because he is in full control of his prototype and his reality in the matrix. Neo must not only think he can fight, he must internalize and believe it. In the next training program, set on a crowded city sidewalk, Morpheus shows Neo the relationship between the people living in the prison of the matrix and himself as a free being. The public in the matrix live under the Machine of A.I and the imposed structure of rules and limitations. They believe in the system and cannot be dissuaded, their minds are not open or ready to be open. As a free being with the capacity to suspend his disbelief in the freedom of the reality, he is a threat to the people living in the matrix, as well as to the reality itself. After his body is freed from the organic pod, and he is introduced to the truth, he’s open to his new mission and identity. Neo is presented as the type of character who desires to escape from his circumstances. He hates his job, and works tirelessly with a digital phenomenon he’s been working to uncover. He sells illegal hardware to the underworld of his society, who obviously enjoy and desire altering and/or escaping their realities. The recipient of the hardware mentions his love of the drug mescaline, a hallucinatory substance which alters the user’s perception. As the archetypal radical dreamer/drug user, Neo accepts the real with no qualm. The public in the Matrix operate, by occupation, within the limitations of matter, gravity and capitalism, but they are not machines.
A being, no different in bodily or physical makeup from Neo, does not have the level of consciousness to suspend their belief in their reality. A society of beings within a simulation – to which Morpheus offers the term prison – of today’s free market capitalist society, believes and subscribes to the rules with varying levels of political belief, and do not choose to disrupt anything as individuals. The individual has no power over the structure of the Matrix, but, given basic human desires, would panic at the thought of submersion and control in a non-real identity, where, as mere bodies submerged in organic matter in the real, the biological feedback from their simulated reality supplies power to the A.I. They are living under a false reality, a state of imprisonment, where they are theoretically free, as bodies, but limited by the structures imposed by themselves within the matrix. The allegory herein expresses the abstract, intangible qualities of ideology. Ideology is a dream that only needs a unanimous choice against it to eliminate and abscond from it. In a reality as malleable as the simulation of the Matrix, the limits to a persons “freedom†exceed the divide between state and nature, beyond the realm of physical law and cognitive capability. The separation between these two states happens in the removal of an individual from the matrix, introducing and demonstrating to them their true conditions. This device implies a separation between the capacity of a person’s identity to themselves, and the limits imposed by a rule or ethic of society.
Contradiction of Lessons in Planet of the Apes
In Planet of the Apes, I feel that there is a serious contradiction between sets of American Ideals. I think that while American citizens are being made to sort of be “taught a lessonâ€, man’s pride of being at the top of the food chain overrides the overall message. Of course, we see that the roles are reversed in this film. At the time it was released, this was of course frightening as well as crazy to many people. It is my understanding that the purpose of this plot/storyline is to make Americans think: do we take for granted how powerful we are? Of course, it is understood nowadays that we really do and we have a lot of things to fix being humans. This movie was one of the first forms of media to really address this issue. The humans are illiterate, treated like dirt, and held captive to be studied. This is meant to make us think. How would we feel if this were really the case? Maybe we should treat the animals we hold “captive†in a better way. The thought of being subservient to another animal is one that is hardly imaginable to many humans. This thought alone definitely shines through in this film. Even though the point of the film is to make us realize what that type of captivity would be like, I feel that this strong point is mitigated by the fact that this movie was created by men. In the scene where Taylor basically takes over and leaves captivity on a horse with a weapon and a hot girl, we see that the point of the movie is almost shorted out by this scene of humans still being “better†than the apes are. This scene almost allows us to still believe that in the end, we will ALWAYS be on top of all other life forms no matter how much we take it for granted. While the apes have held him against his will for the entire movie, they all of a sudden decide that he can go just because he fights to. In the end, Taylor realizes he has been on earth all along and he is devastated. Ideally, this would be the point where Americans really stop and think about how we treat the earth. The fact that Taylor sets himself free from captivity (of his own accord) and rides off into the sunset with Nova takes so much of the lesson away from the ending scene. While almost all of the other humans are primitive in every sense, we viewers are still given that one person that will save it all for us so we don’t have to worry about our own actions (or worry about being subservient, for that matter). I think that these two views of the identity of Americans really show what point Americans were at at this point in time. Man is strong, willing, and smart. I feel that the movie ultimately proves the point that we as humans believe that we deserve to be at the top of the world.
Imitation of Life
Before I had actually viewed this movie, I was very much under the impression that it ONLY had to do with a black girl passing to be white so that she would be more accepted throughout her life. We watched a few clips in class, and they all had to do with that aspect of the film, so at first I was a little bit surprised to realize that not only was the movie about Sarah Jane and her struggle being black, but also about Lora and her struggle to be an actress and her life thereafter, etc. Even through the title of the movie, I was very sure that the movie would be entirely about Sarah Jane being a wild, white-looking daughter who wants nothing to do with her black mother. One scene that really struck me as interesting was the one between Lora and her daughter. When Lora finds out that her daughter is also in love with Steve, she is devastated. What I noticed first was the fact that Lora had to find out from Annie. This in itself is a statement about what happens when a driven person might not have their priorities straight. We as Americans are expected to look with contempt towards Lora: she should feel awful that she knows barely anything about her own daughter’s life. Then, Lora rushes into Susie’s room and tries to confront her about the situation. She becomes very dramatic and after finding out that what Annie said was true, decides to throw her head back and say “Well then I’ll give him up. I’ll never see him again,†if Steve is going to be someone that comes between she and her daughter. While viewing this scene, I couldn’t help but laugh. While this is an older movie, this certainly makes a statement about where our feelings lie. Susie then tells her to stop being a martyr, which I thought was the most perfect response. In fact, I wish that she didn’t start crying and apologizing directly after. This scene clearly demonstrates how people can allow something (in this case, her career as an actress) permeate and consequently control their entire life. Here, Lora is struggling to differentiate her real feelings from her acting. While of course this film is in fact an actress acting out this part, it’s hard to ignore how clear the message is that Lora finds herself almost always acting. She becomes so immensely wrapped up in her dreams that she forgets almost all about those closest to her, leaving Annie to take care of her daughter while she is off in other countries filming and performing. I think this is something that has been modernized and we still see this message in media all the time nowadays. One must really know where their priorities are, and I think that this film uses Lora as an example. She got what she wanted, but in the end we all know that while things turned out okay, she had to learn a lot of lessons to get there and really had to think about what was most important to her.
“It’s the Smell†of American Identity
In “The Matrixâ€, perhaps one of the most profound scenes in the entire movie is where Agent Smith is trying to get Morpheus to give him the code that will help him end the resistance. He states that he can’t stand the earth with the humans anymore. He says that it’s the smell of it all, the smell of humans disgusts him and he needs to get out before he goes insane. The connection between Jean Baudrillard’s theory and this movie is undeniable, the movie is literally produced based on parts of his theory. This scene in particular is very interesting to me. Baudrillard believes that this is really what the world is like: everything is simulated and we live on, content in not knowing what the real world is like. Morpheus knows what the real world is like, yet is willing to undergo this torture in order to keep his efforts alive. Therefore, I find it interesting that this scene is one of utmost perseverance. We as viewers can see that “the desert of the real†isn’t exactly a peachy keen place. In fact, it looks absolutely terrible. So I can’t help but ask the question: why fight for it? We are supposed to look at these characters as heroes. They are exposing the falsehood of our existence and are trying to return the world to a true state. This makes perfect sense, but the only part that gets me is that the real is not something that’s very desirable! Consequently, I think Morpheus’ relentless struggle to win over the agents is a statement within a statement about American’s motivation. This is a clearly stubborn thing to do! He is being tortured beyond reason. He is in serious pain. He is fighting for something that is blatantly not all that great. While the truth is always something that we want to attain, the truth in this case kind of sucks. To me, this really says something about the motivation and drive of human beings (especially Americans) even if it is unintentional. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder why people are so intent on doing or figuring out certain things that really aren’t that important. I think in today’s culture, it is extremely common and maybe even popular to exert yourself on things simply to look like a hero. If you portray that you are doing something to make a change for the better, naturally everyone will applaud and congratulate you on being a good person. I think that in The Matrix, the characters feel they are doing something good and therefore are the heroes in the story. While I’m not sure that this was the director’s intention, I think that it accurately displays how we as Americans approve of any “heroic†actions without taking much stock in the actual outcome of it. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and the rest of the resistance truly want to end the simulated world that humans live in, but in the movie we never really understand why. We are just naturally inclined to look at them as the good guys, and at the opposition as the bad guys.
In the film, the Matrix, Cypher is painted as an evil villain with no redeemable qualities. You can argue that Cypher deserves the bad reputation that he gets within the film. But at the same time, his character does display a little bit of humanity.
For example, during the steak scene he is talking about how he feels that the steak is real, and loves the artificial happiness that he receives from food. That is very much relatable to what a lot of people feel when they eat a meal that they enjoy. He laments that he wants to be unplugged from the very “real†world that he is in. The barren and stark reality that he is in seems to overwhelm him as a character. He wants a certain level of escape from this world, and tries do pursue Agent Smith brings him back to the Matrix. Cypher enjoys the idea and feeling of ignorance, as it feels like more enjoyable to be in a world where he was the luxuries of food, material possessions, and the overall desire to be content with such a world.
Knowing that his world is in fact flawed is a burden for Cyprus. He feels that this unenjoyable world of superficial joy is bliss. Much like Jack from White Noise feels that his ignorance is bliss. Jack feels that his family ability to have a good time, and overlook the flaws, and ignorance of his children makes him blissful. This is not unlike Cyrpus who feels that his ability to not know that “The Matrix†is filled with pastiche simulacra, and symbols can make him happy. If he can live in a world where he is overlook the ignorance of know what the real is, he can be able to know the joy of experiencing pleasure although it is very much a lie.
The steak is very much worth the lie that results as a consequence of being exposed to the flaws of society. Knowing that the world is superficial, and that your actions, and desires may not be original because it is a result of your reaction the repeated of simulacra around you, can be disheartening. Being able to enjoy life’s pleasures without thinking about it’s origins, can allow people, especially Cyprus to return what was familiar and safe.
The fact that he highly desired to an actor also proves Baudrillard’s point. The lifestyle of being rich and famous is just another form of simulacra. Much like we are told that we want to be rich and famous because it will not only lead to success, but it will lead to access to other the material needs that we can ever want as individuals. The pursuit of happiness and success, and material goods is nothing new. It has always been there, and the idea that we must attain been repeated over and over, adding a pastiche level to it.
The lie is ultimately worth it because it allows us to ourselves to escape the consequences of our reality. Attaching ourselves from consequences, and basking ourselves in ignorance allows us to redeem a certain child like wonder, which Cyprus may have been seeking to an extent.
Sara’s desire blend in and pass as “white†is heavily displayed throughout the entire movie. Sara in the classroom scene looks highly embarrassed and ashamed of generosity Annie’s. Sara is unable to accept her mother’s love and devotion towards her as she leaves the classroom. Sara throughout the entire movie tries to pass as white. We see her later rejecting her mother’s suggestions that she should give the busboy a chance. She does not want anything to do with her black identity. Sara is feeding into societies idea of dominant culture, and the idea that “white is right in America.â€
This scene is especially disturbing as she is young child. The ability of Sara, and her sister to pick up on the subtitles of race in the very beginning of the movie is disturbing. Kids are pick up on both the conscious and subconscious cues associated with fitting into society and meeting social standards.
Much of this is in line with the idea of the tragic mulatto/mualtta. She is portrays her self as person that is always at odds with her identity. She must try her very hardest to look and fit in with American dominate culture, even at the expense of alienating those who are close to her. This is similar to what we see in Passing when Clare tries to pass as white and alienate her culture in numerous ways. Imitation of Life also differs quite significantly from the case in passing. Although Clare did not have the best motives going into the situation, she still wanted to get in touch with a certain side of her black identity. Sara in imitation of life wanted to hide all traces of her black identity.
Both Sara and Clare alienate themselves from crucial people in their lives. The tragic mulatto/mulatta in these books are characters that do very little to redeem themselves. Sara throughout the film further delves into a world of alienate from her mother. She also starts stripping and offering herself at the nightclub. Her mother continues to extend herself and leave the door open for her daughter to join her in her life again, but she continually refuses. It is at the end of the movie that we see Sara feeling sad and touched by her mother’s death. She finally starts to see the error of her ways. But by that point, it’s too little to late. Her need to assimilate comes at the expense of others.
We would like to think that American identity is a broad and encompassing thing. But as we have seen throughout many of the literature and movies that we’ve looked at, American identity is arguably very uniform. There has always been the need for characters, especially Sara to fit into what is considered American. We’ve seen characters mask their sexuality, and other parts of their identity too fit into the white, middle class and individualistic notion of what it means to be an America. Because of America’s narrow ideal of what is right, charters like Sara have alienated others, and felt a great deal of shame and doubt.
(TA: Daniel)
Social Perceptions in “Imitation of Lifeâ€
In a scene from Imitation of Life, Lora Meredith goes to Allen Loomis’ talent agency in hopes of securing a role in a play. To better her chances, she invents a man called Robert Hays from International Studios in Hollywood, and says she was sent by him. Her demeanor and appearance, especially her attitude about Mr. Robert Hays, make her seem more vital, more significant in some way. She wants to be perceived as an already accomplished actress, and so adopts the persona of one, inventing Robert Hays to help. The truth, of course – that she’s struggling to make ends meet and hasn’t had an acting gig yet – must be suppressed. It appears to work out in her favor in the end, and she gets in to speak with Loomis.
This is of course only possible because of the secretary at the front desk. The idea of Robert Hays has an odd influence on her. For someone who doesn’t exist, Hays seems to leave a serious impression on people. The secretary at Loomis’ office, when told Hays had sent Lora to them, is clearly surprised by the news. Of course it’s because no such agency had sent Lora to them, but when the secretary sees how sure Lora is of herself, she simply assumes Hays must be a real figure. To cover up her perceived mistake, she speaks with Loomis and suggests he meet with Lora. Here we see again how important it is to some people that they be perceived positively. To give others a good impression is one thing, but it’s another entirely to appear completely professional in one’s duties.
Loomis himself reacts interestingly to this idea of Robert Hays. It’s difficult to be completely sure what he thinks of Lora’s ruse – though he does admit in the end that she had him fooled, it doesn’t sound entirely as though he believed her when he says so. Loomis does not question the idea that Hays exists – in fact, he appears to show that he is familiar with the name. More, he respects and instantly accepts that Lora is who she says she is because she claims this connection to Hollywood. Because she is claiming this and presenting herself with such dignity and professionalism, what else can he do but accept it? If he were to immediately question her claim, he would be putting himself into a delicate situation. If he’s wrong, and Hays did exist, he’d expose himself as ignorant, and therefore expose himself as just a man and not a professional and powerful agent. So in order to maintain this image of himself, he must feign belief in Lora’s story.
The idea of one’s personal image is central, in the 1950s, to the ideal of the American cultural identity. The film’s larger theme of perception is highlighted well. Film clips from the 1950s – such as those seen in class – give audiences today a certain idea about that time. We understand better the sorts of ideals people had at that time, and they are often centered around appearing well kept and responsible. The idea that people in the 1950s work to maintain a certain image of themselves as professional and sensible can be applied well to Imitation of Life.
(TA: Daniel)
Notions of Cultural Identity in Planet of the Apes
The first act of Planet of the Apes features the three surviving American astronauts setting out to explore after crash landing on what they assume is an alien planet. When Landon plants an American flag, Taylor (Charlton Heston) bursts into laughter. He believes – and rightly so, it happens – that they’ve traveled thousands of years into the future. He understands the implications that Landon seems to have trouble accepting: that there is no longer any such thing as the United States of America. What this means for these three survivors is that they no longer have any sort of cultural identities at all.
After some time spent in search of life, Landon and Taylor begin trading barbs at each other about why they volunteered for the mission. Taylor, who is at best a cynic and at worst a pessimist, finds the idea that Landon signed up for this specific mission to be entirely absurd. The implication is that those in the crew knew that the mission involved traveling at near light speed and negating any chance of returning to both their home planet and native time period. In essence, though they’d presumably be remembered as heroes of some kind for their daring nerve and their status as symbols of American Ingenuity in the Space Age, they themselves would be throwing away their own lives on a very personal level. The crew can never go home again. They are lost thousands of years in the future, and anyone who knew or would even remember them would be dead.
Taylor says Landon was likely the top of his class and an All-American man who couldn’t turn down the rare opportunity to go into space on that mission. Landon’s active decision to throw his life away is absurd. Landon, though, seems to have trouble accepting this. At first when he plants the U.S. flag in the soil, Taylor’s reaction suggests it is a joke on Landon’s part – and as Taylor sees it, it is. It’s a deeply ironic gesture on Landon’s part: the image of an American flag, known so well by contemporary Americans, means absolutely nothing to Taylor’s crew now that they’re stranded in the future. To Taylor, leaving such a mark is pure comedy.
Landon, though, insists that he is prepared to die. This is an interesting statement, considering the circumstances. Landon does not seem fully convinced by his own statement; he speaks it with some reluctance. It is as though, when signing on for the mission at hand, he understood what the implications of such a journey might be, but deep down he never believed it would really come to that. After all, as Taylor put it, he was an All-American and soon to be a hero, and so dying just isn’t an option. Important people don’t ever die, after all, but when they do, it’s only after they’ve had a chance to bask in the glory they’ve earned themselves. So when Landon says he’s prepared to die – and Taylor, rightly, laughs at him – he is exposing his fears and some degree of ignorance. Certainly, as Taylor suggests, there may be a statue of him somewhere, but by then even it has become faded and indistinguishable. In short, because immortality through long-lasting glory is not true immortality, because it will all mean nothing, given enough time.
(TA: Daniel)
Demonstrating Simulated Realities via Training Programs in The Matrix
Baudrillard argues that, in contemporary culture, there is no longer any such thing as reality. Nowadays too many things have become a sort of amalgam of their physical selves and the idea of them. The Matrix plays with this idea in many ways, and in particular the training programs Neo goes through makes use of this notion.
The first instance of this comes in “the construct.†Morpheus introduces it as a loading program where they can generate anything that they need. Of course, the items created are not made in any actual physical sense. The program also makes use of what Morpheus calls “residual self image.†This is most interesting: it is supposedly a digital projection of one’s self based on the idea one has of their own self image. It suggests that, if one’s physical self image was dramatically different from their actual physical features, the Matrix would depict them according to that person’s individual perception of him- or herself.
But what does that say about one’s identity? In the context of The Matrix, the idea of a person’s true personality is hard to define. The interactions and experiences people have as a part of the program shape who they are as people, but when considering the truth – that none of these interactions ever actually took place… Theoretically, this could destroy one’s perception of their identity. But then, we are the sum of our experiences, and if what we experience isn’t truly genuine, how does it matter? It’s the idea of the experiences that shapes us. The manufactured reality is more than a substitute for real reality: it becomes reality for each individual person.
The idea of a simulated reality substituting for actual reality is displayed most directly during Neo’s ten-hour marathon of downloading different forms of combat directly into his brain. It literally re-writes and restructures his physical brain, teaching him to do things that he has never physically been capable of before – without ever having the real, physical experiences. This substitution for actual training, though, is only seen to be of benefit within the substitute world of the Matrix: we never see Neo applying his kung fu mastery in the real world. This puts greater emphasis on the distinction between the real and the simulated.
The “jump†program adds to this distinction. Neo fails his first jump – as everyone does – but when he is removed from the program he is bleeding. Morpheus explains that it is Neo’s mind that makes the experiences real. Though the jump never physically took place, it is still an incredibly real simulation. Neo accepts it as an actual reality because his senses tell him that it is so.
Neo’s continuing struggle in the movie to accept the true nature of his lifelong experiences illustrate the concept of a simulated reality quite well. Though he is shown again and again that what he is experiencing is not in any way an actual reality, he struggles to train his mind to accept that what he experiences within the training programs is anything other than real.
In the supposed real world within the realm of “The Matrix†people are capable of learning anything just like a computer in that “software†can be installed to provide necessary abilities. I think this situation is pretty ironic because by default most humans are born quite literally as part of the machine, and only after one is ready to accept the notion that their reality isn’t the objective truth can they live in harmony with the idea that one can be free. That being said, it seems like the actual real world, that is the one where everyone eats the same porridge within the cold confines of a tunneling ship, necessitates technology far more than the simulated reality. As opposed to actually learning a skill, once one is part of the real world, knowledge or programs can simply be uploaded into the human consciousness which again seems more mechanical.
The scene where Morpheus fights Neo as part of the Kung Fu training program is pretty interesting. Here it is evident that simulacra of reality, breathing along with laws of physics, are in fact just misleading symbols that inhibit one’s true potential, or in other words: not real. While this may be uniquely true to the simulated reality within the movie, there are connections that can be made to our present reality. For example, in western music, indeed a significant aspect of American Identity, we are taught that sounds are organized into notes within grids of scales (basically intervallic functions) and key signatures. While this information is vital in terms of understanding how sounds are able to work together, this knowledge does not necessarily equate to producing pleasing music because a lot of the time people are worrying about these exterior forces, scales, key signatures, “technicality,†when all that should be going on is communicating the sounds in one’s head. Similarly, Neo within the training program is thinking far too much and is thus slowed significantly. Since he is only able to abandon his preconceived notions of gravity and size for brief moments, he is thus only able to experience his true power in stints, until of course he can fully “free his mind.†Quickly relating this to another aspect of the movie, the child who bends spoons is only able to do so once he has abandoned the notion that the spoon he is holding is a “real†one bound by “real†limitations.
What is interesting about this scene in the movie is that while Neo has acquired his understanding of Kung Fu through a computer, he is still potentially able to apply it to his real world aboard the ship, and not just the sparring program. This is so for two reasons: 1. Neo says when he is clearly conscious, “I know Kung Fu†to which Morpheus says “show me†2. The fight between Neo and Morpheus matters to the rest of the crew because it is representative of their abilities in the unplugged world; this has serious implications. The simulation isn’t such a simulation after all because their bodies are taking serious blows from this virtual reality, and the outcome of this training is important to the crew watching it on their television because it suggests to some of them that Neo is in fact “the one.†To me this scene communicates that simulations are only simulations if one decides they are, for if Morpheus killed Neo in the program he would also be killing the Neo aboard the ship, and that it is not a pill that decides how in tune with reality one is, but rather one’s ability to let go.
I chose to analyze the scene in “Smoke Signals†when Victor and Thomas are on the bus discussing John Wayne’s teeth. Victor had just ridiculed Thomas for not maintaining a stoic native-warrior facial expression, explaining that no one will take him seriously unless he adopts a tough persona. Interestingly enough, Victor says that one should look like they just killed a buffalo, while Thomas notes that their tribe were fisherman.
As far as the specific scene is concerned, Thomas laments the idea that cowboys always win, implying that they (indians) always lose. Even though Thomas just brought both Victor and we the audience back to reality in the sense that, yes, not all indians were plains indians, and not all indians are the same (should seem obvious but that’s part of the tragic-comedy of the movie in terms of bringing this information to the public), Thomas is really saying to Victor that we shouldn’t pretend to be something we’re not. However, when Thomas begins to discuss cowboys who “always win,†he notes Tom Mix and John Wayne, who are of course both actors. Though John Wayne on film was the premiere model of masculinity, or as Thomas notes, “the toughest cowboy of them all in it,†the actor Marion Morrison was in fact a man who disliked horses and wore suits, quite the opposite of his role on film; his name was also very feminine. Victor is questioning John Wayne’s authenticity by asking why we as an audience never see his teeth. Assuming this is true, its an incredibly perceptive comment that metaphorically reveals that John Wayne’s teeth are as artificial as his persona and that his adventures are far removed from reality. Victor says, “I think there’s something wrong when you don’t see a guy’s teeth.†Teeth here are acting as a form of simulacra that signal not only the carnal humanity of John Wayne, but his character as well. After Victor’s comment about teeth, he smiles for the first time in the scene.
Fake teeth along with the absence of smiling in general, together represent the lack of humanity. Fake teeth also reinforce the notion of a fake lineage. Cowboys on film are products of imagination and romantic illusion that acted as tools to define masculinity in mainstream culture. Though Victor is not fooled by hollywood’s cowboys, he is indeed mislead by society because he feels he must look angry and tough to survive.
Throughout, Thomas is concerned with storytelling, while Victor refuses to abandon his anger. I feel like history along with the media give us a very narrow perspective on Indians, and it is in this supposed ignorance that makes this scene funny. The two characters chant a little melody where they question what Wayne’s teeth were made of. Though this song seems like a mimicry of traditional Indian music, a steady beat along with chanting, the movie is presenting this to get the audience to question what makes an indian a “real†indian. Both are members of the Coeur D’ Alene tribe, yet Victor represents that ideal indian warrior aesthetic, while Thomas represents the power of storytelling. We are meant to question their song, because we have this profound admiration and wonder towards our perception of tribal music, but then a “real†indian begins to sing their song about John Wayne and now its comical. Its important for you as the reader to understand that Indian music, tribal music, any music, is made to communicate emotions, and in this particular case laughter. The film is using our preconceived notions, specifically that tribal music and Indians themselves are only sacred, to reveal the truth that they like all humans make mistakes and jokes.
Though “Planet of the Apes†is an interesting movie, the fact that women are so misrepresented in the work made me hate the movie.
We are immediately introduced to the concept of relativity. We have a crew who have been traveling through space while the people still bound to Earth would have aged seven hundred years. To add another layer of time, the astronauts themselves have been gone for two thousand and thirty one years according to their near-speed of light relativity. Yet despite all of this time, the crew feel like only eighteen months have passed. This whole circumstance I feel establishes man as one unable to change over time with reality. Like man’s very perception t of time, his pursuit is linear. Captain Taylor says early on in the movie, “There is just one reality left, we are here and it is now, you get a hold of that and hang on to it or you might as well be dead,†to which he soon adds, “[I’m] not prepared to die.â€
Taylor fronts the crew that was intended to reestablish humanity. While they aimed to create a new garden of Eden, Taylor being Adam, and Lieutenant Stewart as Eve, their plan is cut short when they awake to find that she has died and their ship has crashed. If they really wanted to populate another planet, why would they bring three men and only one woman? Wouldn’t they want to bring three women and one man for the sake of procreation? Also, since the men on the ship (all ethnically different) represent the alpha of each branch of masculinity on a global scale, intelligence, curiosity and strength, the fact that the only woman on board died suggests that women aren’t strong enough to handle such an arduous journey.
Landon is upset by her death, but Taylor feels nothing; his reasoning is that in actuality she died more than year ago. Taylor is really just being an arrogant prick because even though she may have died relatively a year ago, they all only found out recently so it’s not realistic for Taylor to have grieved and suppressed his sadness for what would have been a year.
Once the crew comes into contact with the remaining “humans†on the planet, there is of course one stunningly beautiful woman amidst the mob of primitive men who seemingly have never groomed themselves. What accounts for this? Why are all of these primitive women wearing short dresses? Furthermore, since “humans†on this future Earth cannot speak, we have a character in the movie who literally says nothing, does everything Taylor says, and serves no purpose other than sex appeal. While adding her to the movie ensured ticket sales, I don’t believe that her placement in the movie was to mark the notion of female subservience transcending time. Though the men in society are still as ignorant, defensive, violent and blinded by religion as any time period, the presence of Dr. Zira (though she is mistreated and spoken down to) is contrary to the notion of a future ran by males because it is she who frees Taylor, the last human on Earth, not his masculinity. Also, the only signs we have that signal the planet as Earth are the bleak remnants of both a baby female doll and lady liberty. Are these even remotely accurate depictions of women? No.
In the movie “Imitation of Life” we are presented with images of gender roles, race and the American family in regards to how that present time thought about these subjects. Concerning gender roles, we were shown something very different to how men and women act today. For the most part anyway. We are presented with a single mother (Lora Meredith) that’s pursuing her dreams to make it in show business, meets another single mother (Annie Johnson) and a gentleman (Steve Archer) that falls in love with her. Initially he tries to sweep her off of her feet, or as well as they did back in that day, and offers her the family life that was normally expected back in that time. But instead of taking it, she rebels and succeeds in her life’s dream and becomes rich and famous like she always wanted. Despite her achievements though, she never found truly happiness and “completeness†until she put it behind her and settled in with the man of her dreams that she had been spurning for so long bringing the gender roles back full circle. She had accomplished her dreams and got what she wanted, but her relationship with her daughter Suzie was a mess and she wasn’t truly happy.
It was that specific scene where she rejected that typical family life for her dreams that stood out as an outright rebellion to the times. A little bit of irony in all of this is the actress playing the role of a woman that wanted to become a famous Broadway actress even though that wasn’t the norm back then. Regardless of this, the scene is where Steve Archer is talking to Nora in the hallway of the small apartment that she was living in over the Christmas holiday. After sharing a brief romantic moment, a phone call changed the entire scene as she took precedence to the call over Archer’s romantic advances. He wants to give her a home, take care of her and love her; all of these things were common place during this time and it wasn’t out of the ordinary for a woman to find a man, marry him and choose the “no risk†option and have a family and settle down and be homemakers. She rejects all of this with that single phone call and rushes off to her opportunity that awaits her. What further drives this scene is when she’s taking off, Steve Archer flat out tells her not to go; he doesn’t ask her not to go but admittedly tells her not to proclaiming his love as reason enough to tell her what to do.
Another thing that clashes with the times in this is how, in this same scene, Lora puts Archer down and flat when he tries to keep her from leaving. When he tries twisting that moment into a possible disappointment, she turns about and slams his job choice and where he ended up. She rips into him about giving up and where it got him after he had asked her to do the same thing with her dreams.
Jaron Lewin-Berlin
The vision of reality as depicted in The Matrix is easily related to several different theories about the truth or reality that we’e learned about. One issue that the story of The Matrix can be related to is that of simulacra and the hyperreal. According to Baudrilliard, simulacrum is not exactly a copy or what is real but that it becomes rea in its own right. The concept of the matrix is that it is an entirely false reality that is built to inhabit the brains of people who are kept sleeping in pods and feeding the machines that run the real world. The concept of the simulacrum involved in the matrix is discussed several times in the film. One of the clearest of these moments is when mouse is explaining how he is not sure if he even really knows what food tastes like and whether what he thinks that food tastes like is actual truth or only a representation of how the machines have determined it may taste. The hyperreality of the matrix, however, has trapped all of the people who believe they are inside of it to accept the world they are being presented with as entirely real. To these people this matrix has become their entire reality. This reality is in fact one that is actually more appealing than the reality of the real world. One scene that exempifies how appealing this false reality becomes is when Cypher agrees to betray Morpheus for a chance to get to live in the matrix again, with no memory of what the real world is actually like. To cypher, the reality that the matrix provided was so much better than what reality actually is that he is more than happy to betray everyone he’s close to in order to achieve a place in that fake version of reality. Another idea that is relatable to the concept of the matrix is that of the pastiche. The matrix itself is created in order to be a representation of the world in as it was in the 1990s. The idea of a pastiche is described as a neutral imitation of something, specifically one devoid of satire. Therefore, the entire concept of the matrix as it is shown in the movie is basically a pastiche of the world as it was in the 1990s. The matrix recreates the world as it was in the 1990s as faithfully as possible, without making any noticeable deliberate changes. In one sense, the matrix acually becomes reality to the people who have spent their entire lives living inside of it. As these people have no knowledge of the true reality of the world as it actually is, they have no idea that the matrix is a pastiche on the reality of the 1990s. It is obviously a pastiche, however, according to all the people who have successfully freed themselves from the matrix because they understand the way reality actually is and see how the false reality of the matrix is not entirely real. The Matrix is excellent at portraying these ideas in a way that makes sense to the viewers. It is intriguing how The Matrix is able to create a literal interpretation of these philosphical ideas.
The Matrix, a cult classic movie that tells the story or Neo, Morpheus and the rest of the crew on the ship the Nebuchadnezzar. The story starts with Neo, then called Mr. Anderson, as a computer hacker and discontent with his life. As things progress, he sees things start to warp and change as his own reality is shown to him to be nothing more than a fake reality created by machines to control him and the rest of the humanity that exists in the Matrix to be used as a power source. The Matrix was a movie that presented near perfect examples of simulations and simulacra throughout its entire run from beginning to end; but the really interesting part was when the revelation was brought forth to Neo by Morpheus when they plugged him into the ship’s program construct and showed him exactly what was going on.
Neo questions where he is and whether or not it’s real or not; to which Morpheus retorts by asking him what he defined as real. He went on further to elaborate by saying that if Neo considered what he was seeing, tasting or feeling as real then all it took for something to be real were electrical impulses sent to his brain. Turning on a television that was placed in front of two red leather chairs, he continues to educate him on the two worlds and what their differences were.
He started with the Matrix, the world as Neo knew and had been living in and represents the world that we currently live in now. Morpheus even went so far as to call the Matrix a simulation of reality and that Neo had been living in a dream world, a faux reality that had never truly existed at all. Changing the channel, he went on to show him what was “the real world†even though they were still inside the computer program making what he was seeing still a simulation. This scene is crucial to telling Neo, and the viewer, that the world that he and we are so familiar with is a fake. That this world is nothing more than a computer generated simulated reality that had been created to keep humans under control so they could be used as an energy source for the machines. Again, the irony in all of this is that the real world that Neo was being told about was shown to him through a computer program the same way his former reality had been. Before he had been living a discontent life, but one that was familiar to him and to all of us because it had been all he knew. Now he’s being presented with the truth, was taken out of the cave and shown the light of day; or in their case the lack of light and no more day. This movie, and this scene can poke at the viewer’s brain by posing the question of which reality is the real one. Is the one that Neo had been living in a lie, the life we all have been living a lie? Or, was this all just a movie plot simulating a simulation?
“Imitation of Life†had an array of American cultural life beliefs that were all relevant and valid for its time. Aside from gender roles and its depiction of them between the characters Lora and Steve, one of the other large scale images of American culture came in the form of race and how it was dealt with. But instead of a struggling African-American girl/boy trying to make it in an culture that doesn’t understand them, we instead have one that denies her heritage completely. Sarah Jane is Annie Johnson’s daughter, a mullata as her skin pigmentation is so light that she can pass for a white girl in school and social circles. Both of these things were reflective in Sarah Jane’s external markers as well as her own internal markers of identity.
First off, even though she isn’t white, the physical features that would normally give that away were no where to be found on her. As a little girl growing up in a time in America when being different in regards to race was exceptionally hard due to the slow adjustment of society, she took her light skin tone very seriously and branded it as part of her own identity. She never saw herself as black at all, and instead referred to herself as white and nothing else.
A scene that reflects this in her childhood, though a lot more from her childhood to her adult years can equally reflect this, is the scene when they are celebrating Christmas before Steve Archer comes to try and sweep Lora off of her feet. The two mothers are trying to talk to Sarah Jane and explain to her that there’s nothing wrong with being who she is, but she just retorts that that she’s just as white as Suzie is. Not only that, but because her mother came to her school and blew her cover, she refused to go back and ran into her room crying.
This scene and it showing how it effected a child, not a grown adult but a child, shows us how our cultural and defaulted viewpoints on them at that time were twisted enough to possibly cause such an identity issue. These problems exist even still today as we still commonly use External Markers of Identity to classify people based on skin tone, eye shape and so on.
The film the Planet of the Apes is very symbolic and American ideals and notions of national identity and fantasy. The opening scene alone offers us something very familiar and representative of American identity. The main characters, Landon, Stewart and Dodge are in deep sleep until their ship lands on a land. The remaining astronauts find their way on shore and discover that the planet is sustainable and able to house life.
The very idea and notion of the uncovering the unknown is very paramount to American life. The whole idea of Columbus discovering America is a story that has be repeated and retold to young children grown up over and over again, however untrue it may be. A part of American identity that has also been preached and discussed very repeatedly is image of the rugged individual. Part of why America expanded so rapidly during its early days is because of the expansion of the American frontier. Americans must be curious explorers who want to strike it rich, and seek to get ahead in society. Those openly reject that notion or lifestyle are seen as deviant or countercultural. Their notions of identity are rejected, and those individuals are not allowed to live out their own version of American identity
Such is the case in the novel Giovanni’s Room. David is constantly at odds with uncovering and discovering himself as an individual. He decides move to Europe and abandon his expected lifestyle of finding a good job or career, and having a heterosexual relationship. He was constantly question by his father as to when he would come back and settle down in America again. This sense of rugged individualism, and getting ahead is a stereotype that is very entrapping and limiting.
Jack in White Noise also felt that he needed to live up to this ideal. When the airborne toxic event happened, he was constantly asking why him, or why this would happen to his family despite the fact that they are well off. Such disasters according to him, should happen to middle class individuals.
American identity is very unique to the individual. Although there are popular notions as to what it should be and what form it should take, it is very much something that depends on the individual. There are many gray areas in American identity, and just because a character is not living the typical individualistic, pioneer lifestyle, it should make them less American.