1. FLEEGLER opens his essay on the new Planet of the Apes films - Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011, Dir. Rupert Wyatt) and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014, Dir. Matt Reeves) - by stating that "the Apes saga has evolved from the racial conflicts and Cold War anxieties of the late 1960s and early 1970s to the fears of the early twenty-first century." What are these new 21st-Century fears? Both as you see them and according to Fleegler?
2. How do the new Planet of the Apes films build on the original series of films from the 1960s and 70s? How are the original films referenced and reinterpreted?
3. Fleeger sees Dawn of the Planet of the Apes as a commentary on how mistrust fuels conflicts. How is this presented in the film? What are some real world examples of this?
4. While Fleeger may see the new Planet of the Apes films as putting the racial conflict centered story of the originals behind them, Janell Hobson (Associate Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York) isn't so sure. How does Hobson see the issue of race and sex as still relevant to the new Apes films?
5. One of the taglines for Rise of the Planet of the Apes was "Evolution Becomes Revolution." According to Hobson how is Rise a "classic" liberation story? In which ways is the kind of liberation depicted in the film particularly progressive? Also think back on Chapter 3 from Eric Greene's Planet of the Apes as American Myth, what Biblical story of liberation does Greene see the Apes films as frequently referencing?
6. Hobson pays special attention to the issue of the ape's eye color in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, why is this important?
7. What metaphorical significance does Hobson see inherent in the fact that the Caesar of the new Planet of the Apes films is born as a result of an attempt to develop a drug to treat Alzheimer's in an aging white man (played by John Lithgow)?
8. As in KONG: SKULL ISLAND, Rise of the Planet of the Apes features an African-American man, CEO Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo), as the main villain. What does Hobson have to say about this? (It is worth noting that the villain in the next two films would be played by white male actors Gary Oldman and Woody Harrelson respectively).
9. Watch the trailer for this summer's War for the Planet of the Apes. What are your expectations for this film and how it continues the mythology of the Planet of the Apes series?