Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with Paul McDonald and Caleb Butler

Written By Paul McDonald

Coming up on the Men at the Movies podcast, we enter the Planet of the Apes extended universe with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It doesn’t matter how utopian you think your society will be, someone will always screw it up. When we use fear and anger as motivation, we turn militaristic in our approach to others. And we see how busyness can blind us to the needs of others. Get your hands off you, you filthy ape, and join us as we discover God’s truth in this movie.

About Caleb

Caleb is a Michigan based videographer and visual storyteller residing in Traverse City. He is the co-owner and creative director of the freelance media company Magreel Media with his friend Anthony Carley. He also works as a digital content producer at Harvest Bible Chapel of Traverse City."

Quotes

  • When we use fear and anger to motivate us, we turn militaristic in our approach to others.

  • It doesn’t matter how utopian you think your society will be, someone will screw it up.

  • The world is moving faster than he can process.

  • Koba felt betrayed by Cesar first when he chose humans and dominance over understanding his pain. Similar in perspective to Judas feeling betrayed by Jesus (who did not look like his concept of the Messiah) before choosing to betray him.

 Themes

  • The concept of diminishment

  • The danger of holding on to your preconceived ideas in the face of contradicting evidence

    • Carver blames the apes for the disease

    • Cesar trusts Koba

  • The danger of taking past hurts to drive your actions

    • Koba was hurt by humans, so all humans are bad

    • Dreyfus lost his sons to the simian flu, so all apes are bad

    • The “other” is always the enemy

  • What happens when demands and information pile up faster than we can handle it

    • Decreases empathy (Cesar dismisses Koba’s suffering)

    • Emphasize dominance

  • The concept of betrayal

  • How busyness blinds us to the needs of others

  • The cost of victory

    • Koba sees apes dying around him, and he doesn’t care.

    • Malcom believes they can win, but doesn’t want to pay the price necessary in war

Resources

Questions

  • What beliefs do you hold on to, even in the face of contradicting evidence?

  • How do you respond when bombarded with needs and information faster than you can process it?

  • How do you respond when other’s share their wounds with you? What about when it comes into conflict with what you believe?

  • How do you respond when people question your decisions? How does it make you feel?

  • What has victory cost you, in both good and bad ways?

More info

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Edited and mixed by Grayson Foster

Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston

Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).

Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.

Links:

Paul McDonald
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Toy Story 3 with Paul McDonald and Corey Stumne