(This blog was originally posted on July 11, 2014)
(Warning: this blog
may contain spoiler information about the film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Please do not read any further if you have not yet watched and plan to see the
movie.)
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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
I remember the
day a science teacher told my high-school physics class that mosquitos can see
colors on the light spectrum that humans can’t ever imagine and certainly are
not capable of seeing themselves. I don’t know how Mr. Kirby knew this fact, or
even if it was true. But the comment has stuck with me all these years and even
created a great context for tonight’s blog.
The entire time
I watched the movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,
I couldn’t help but consider the cinematic and dramatic themes of the film in
the context of John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory
of Mind. To be honest, my curiosity about the ways in which this theory
would apply to Dawn was the primary
reason why I wanted to watch it. When I was very little, my family used to watch
the Planet of the Apes television
series, but I never saw 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and
knew very little about it except James Franco starred in it. Therefore, I was
able to watch to the sequel with no (well, few) expectations about what it
would be like except for the suggestions of the plot that had been featured in
countless television advertisements. Let’s just say that my expectations about
what could/might/would happen—and why—were
very consistent with the knowns in my subconscious mind.
According to
Dr. Kappas, the subconscious part of the mind is uncomfortable about and resistant
to doing new or different things even when the conscious mind (logic, reason,
will-power/free-will and reasoning) says that it’s okay to do so. The SCM likes
and wants to stick to what is familiar, comforting and safe: i.e., what it knows. Going back to my science
teacher’s comment about mosquitoes’ visual perception, it is very difficult if
not impossible to even imagine doing
something that we have never done before. The writers, director and producer
used plenty of imagination and computer-generated effects to bring the story to
vibrant life on the screen; however, they were still limited by the scope of
their own “known” experiences.
Long story
short: as humans, we have no real experience or idea what apes feel or think
beyond what biologists have already observed these sentient creatures doing. Even
then, how much can and do humans really know and understand about these
animals’ emotions and motivations? Since apes do not speak English—or any other
human language, as far as we know—the sound of their “voices” could only be as
realistic or fantastic as the imaginations of the cast and crew that created
the sound of those words.
Dawn also emphasizes the importance of
trust in the human-human, ape-ape and human-ape bonds. As I described in a
previous blog titled, 7
Keys to a Successful, Long-Term Relationship, this concept is a very
important part of successful human partnerships/relationships. However, it is a
human word. I am not saying that apes (or any other non-human animal) do not
have trust or a similar construct in their social relationships; but why should
our word be theirs? Once again, consider Dr. Kappas’ Theory of Mind: trust is a
known in the SCM of the humans who made the film; but, also, the apes in the
film who say this word were the ones who apparently had the most contact with
humans in the previous film.
In another
example, the animals that had experienced non-violent relationships with humans
in the past were willing to trust the people currently in their midst because
their known was a positive association with people. Conversely, those who had
negative experiences with humans expected to receive pain and be tortured or
killed because that was the mental script (known) of these animals. The same is
true of Dawn’s humans: the people who
associated the apes with causing a pandemic that decimated the world’s
population (and their families) with danger. Those who knew and understood the biology/science
about the virus seemed to empathize with the simians’ point of view and just
wanted both species to get along.
I will probably
revisit the themes in Dawn of the Planet
of the Apes in a future blog. Meanwhile, please let me know what you think
of these observations when you have seen the movie. What do/did recurring
characters seem to learn from their old and new relationships and circumstances
in this movie and in Rise of the Planet
of the Apes? I would love to read and learn about other connections you
find between this film and the ways characters in this film respond to the
relationships and circumstances in each of these movies.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern
California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in
2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®
and to set up an appointment, please
visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2017
