Interspecies Connections in The Planet of the Apes Trilogy. Caesar and Nova as Mediators between Humans and Apes

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Göttingen (Seminar für Englische Philologie), language: English, abstract: This term paper deals with The Planets of the Apes trilogy and especially the characters of Caesar and Nova. Focus is set on the interspecies connections between humans and apes. Its approach is to, firstly, embed the franchise in the scientific background. I will focus on my methodology and briefly introduce the framework of recent findings in primatology. For that, Darwin¿s The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex as well as papers by Borkfelt and Call and Tomasello, regarding the concepts of othering, speciesism and the influence of humans on apes, will be included. To prove my hypothesis regarding the characters of Caesar and Nova, seven scenes which demonstrate their special roles as mediators across the species will be analyzed. Contrary to novels or texts, films use a variety of techniques in order to illustrate the storyline instead of relying on the imagination of the reader. My major aim in the analysis is to examine, how certain techniques like facial expressions or sounds create a meaning, namely that Caesar and Nova can be considered mediators between humans and apes. A final conclusion will sum up and evaluate the main results.