Abstract
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and its sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) grapple with a diversity of contentious issues; reviews have noted poignant messages about animal cruelty, racism, capitalism, and colonialism (Hobson 2011). While these messages are certainly present in the Apes films, I do not mean for them to be my primary focus in such a direct and unsubtle fashion. For I believe, and argue throughout this chapter, that the Apes films’ most political message is their performance of a posthuman narrative. Furthermore, I assert that this narrative, while critical and fraught with nuances, is haunted by humanist dispositions. I suggest that even these promising films may be too residually humanistic to offer emancipatory visions for our posthuman imaginary. To these ends, I deploy the posthuman lens to read these films, first along the fractious lines of the ostensibly rigid animal/human dichotomy, then in light of potentially unbridgeable histories of violence and oppression, and finally to understand the political vision implied by the films. Prior to this I provide a brief outline of the position of posthuman thought, and a rough storyboard for both films.
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© 2015 Phil Henderson
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Henderson, P. (2015). The Sun Never Set on the Human Empire: Haunts of Humanism in the Planet of the Apes Films. In: Hauskeller, M., Philbeck, T.D., Carbonell, C.D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137430328_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137430328_32
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57701-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43032-8
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