Chaotic Masters

Caesar's ape insurrection was stirring to see, but how does he turn a skirmish with the SFPD into world domination? Suggestions of a human pandemic help, yet it will take more than people coughing blood to flip reality in the simians' favor. No matter. Rise of the Planet of the Apes briefly lifted my spirits, then it was back among humans and another level of knuckle dragging.

Some reviewers compare the new Apes film to Spartacus, both of which feature slave revolts. Apes is more radical because it's contemporary. It targets Big Pharma, animal abuse and human arrogance, inviting viewers to cheer on their own destruction. This is particularly refreshing given the endless alien invasion movies where humans always fight for survival. In Apes, we're the violent aliens. Our occupation starts to crumble as greed and cruelty consume us. We have it coming.

At present we're getting mauled by our own kind. Species-wise, that is. Our attackers may as well be aliens, their wealth and power far beyond our timid reach. The rich have not only won, they are rubbing our noses in their shit.

Nowhere else in the developed world does this go unanswered, except in the United States. A few friends believe that the debt deal will stir people to action. Our owners pushed too far. Again, I'm all for it. The Arab uprisings are a guide (Israelis clog the streets, too, moved more by real estate values than the occupation), and they have fewer openings in which to act. We have no excuse.

Tea Partiers are a theatrical distraction, funded to make noise about American folklore. If they were serious about our economic straits, they'd be more critical of corporate capitalism and the bipartisan arrangement that keeps it in place.

Instead, they rave on about Obama the Socialist Muslim. They cite the Founders as timeless seers whose 18th century social notions fit a 21st century global economy. They blast runaway spending but say little about corporate/military influence. That they didn't erupt when Bush expanded the state exposes their hypocrisy. Tea Partiers are no threat to the status quo. They espouse some vile opinions, but then so do many Americans.

Liberals pout and are equally locked down. Far from organizing grassroots resistance, liberals leap into Dem arms, afraid of the scary GOP. As I've said, it's a beautiful system for those who own it.

Proles beg the corporate parties for shelter, protection, recognition, rewards. Any crumb that falls excites and keeps them docile. Each side uses the other to justify their acquiescence. An obvious point, yet how often is it expressed in mainstream discourse? By those who seek a steady pundit gig, I mean. And even if it was, how would this undermine elite control?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes may be a CGI fantasy, but it does convey one realistic truth: A time comes when cages must be broken. If this isn't the time, I don't know when is.