Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The interaction of human beings and the natural world has always been one of conflict because of the inhumane way that people can behave. Animal have been used by human beings as pets, as entertainment, and in the course of scientific research. Fictional depictions of this interaction have reflected the nature of this relationship between man and animal. Some people value animal research as a means of curing human ailments and others decry it as animal cruelty. This is not a clear cut issue, but rather one of many different viewpoints. This document will show various attitudes toward these interactions; the positive aspects of animal testing, the negative attitudes towards testing, and finally how both these attitudes are fitted into the context of the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a film which shows exactly how society feels about this complicated issue.
The film series which began with The Planet of the Apes from the year 1968 tells the epic tale of a future Earth wherein primates have evolved into intelligent beings and human beings have devolved to become nothing more than pets. Subsequent entries in the series led to two characters going back in time to actually create the series of events which would lead to the revolution and overtaking by the apes due to the cruel nature in which humans treated them. In the reboot of the franchise, the origin of the intelligent evolved chimps was reevaluated to incorporate the immorality of scientific testing on animals and the inhumane way in which such creatures are treated by those interested only in helping humanity. The plot of the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) deals with a potential future wherein mankind has inadvertently created a breed of hyper-intelligent chimpanzees that have the ability and the desire to eradicate man and take over the world. Although this seems to be something...
There are those in the scientific community however who declare that testing on animals is absolutely necessary as a means of finding and advancing medical discoveries. Starting with the British Royal Society in the 1660s those interested in the sciences have used animals as the basis for testing medications and procedures which are not yet safe to attempt on human beings. The argument is that only by testing on lower life forms can researchers distinguish the potential effects of a course of action on higher life forms such as humans. Claude Bernard who is credited as the father of physiology claimed that "experiments on animals are entirely conclusive for the toxicology and hygiene of man. The effects of these substances are the same on man as on animals, save for differences in degree" (Hajar 2011,-page 42). This opinion is reflected in much of the past and present scientific community who insist that animal testing is the only way to ensure that medications are alright for testing and then later use by humans. Rachel Hajar (2011) states that the tradition of animal testing goes back even further to the great Greeks philosophers such as Aristotle who used animals to better understand anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology. From such an early period, the philosophy of man was made clear, that in order to understand the universe it were better to…
