Comments on: Beware the Beast Man http://www.theofantastique.com/2009/11/02/beware-the-beast-man/ A meeting place for myth, imagination, and mystery in pop culture. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:50:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Carl Rosenberg http://www.theofantastique.com/2009/11/02/beware-the-beast-man/comment-page-1/#comment-1773 Carl Rosenberg Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:06:00 +0000 http://www.theofantastique.com/?p=1530#comment-1773 Yes, the scroll is "onto something," but the most significant part of this scene is the expression on Charlton Heston's face as he listens to the indictment of humanity in the ape scriptures. Surely he must be remembering his own earlier misanthropic attitude, expressed at the beginning of the film in the spaceship when he wonders if "man, that glorious paradox of the universe, still makes war upon his brother and lets his neighbour's children starve," and a little later, after the astronauts' arrival on the planet, when he tells Landon that "somewhere in the universe there must be something better than man." His situation changes dramatically when he is put in the position of having to be a defender and representative of his own species. In some ways this illustrates the problem with misanthropy--no matter how justifiably bitter we are about human failings, we can't escape being a part of humanity--its fate is still our fate. Yes, the scroll is “onto something,” but the most significant part of this scene is the expression on Charlton Heston’s face as he listens to the indictment of humanity in the ape scriptures. Surely he must be remembering his own earlier misanthropic attitude, expressed at the beginning of the film in the spaceship when he wonders if “man, that glorious paradox of the universe, still makes war upon his brother and lets his neighbour’s children starve,” and a little later, after the astronauts’ arrival on the planet, when he tells Landon that “somewhere in the universe there must be something better than man.”

His situation changes dramatically when he is put in the position of having to be a defender and representative of his own species. In some ways this illustrates the problem with misanthropy–no matter how justifiably bitter we are about human failings, we can’t escape being a part of humanity–its fate is still our fate.

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