Why Planet Of The Apes' Premise Still Resonates

Planet Of The Apes Wasn't Just Monkeying Around With Sci-Fi

Beyond its racial commentary, the 1968 film (which turns 56 today and has spawned a mighty media franchise), had allegories about the struggles of minority groups too, writes Nathan Abrams

PLANET OF THE APES opened in US theatres on 3 April 1968. Inspired by Pierre Boulle's 1963 sci-fi novel La Planète Des Singes, the film went on to spawn a mighty media franchise that encompasses nine additional movies, a TV series, a video game and comic book tie-ins. (The tenth film in the franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, releases next month.)

Fifty-six years since the original movie, it’s worth remembering the racial conflicts and the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s that underpin the franchise thematically. In the franchise's universe, apes are superior to humans and humans (who are unable to speak) are viewed as mere animals by the apes. This treatment of the issue might seem heavy handed, and it did attract criticism.

The writer Ed Gonzales, for instance, noted in a 2011 essay that Planet of the Apes' "sly allegory was hatefully perverted by white supremacists, even deemed derogatory by some in the Black Power movement, but its provocation was unmistakable as one directed against the forces of institutionalised racism".

But there’s another element to this allegory: it can be seen in terms of the struggles of other minorities as well. The screenplay for Planet of the Apes (1968) was co-written by Rod Serling. Born in New York State in 1924, Serling was part of a Reform Jewish family.

In high school, Serling was the victim of anti-Semitism. He was excluded from joining a fraternity because of his ethnicity. In an interview in 1972 he said of this incident: “It was the first time in my life that I became aware of religious difference.” The experience fuelled a long-time desire to write about discrimination. In 1961, he said: “I’d like to do a definitive study of segregation – say from the (Black) point of view... what they feel about it.”

If you’re looking, the influences of Serling’s background on Planet of the Apes are obvious. Serling envisioned a society of the future in which elements of Judaism were clearly aped. The ape society is a theocracy, run by a priest-like caste of Orangutans. The Orangutans’ garments bear more than a passing resemblance to the breastplates and robes worn by the High Priests in the Temple.

The apes believe in God, and that His prophet the Lawgiver set out the faith and wrote the Sacred Scrolls. The apes revere “the Lawgiver.” The Lawgiver holds the position of a prophet in a similar fashion to Moses. Their religious laws, which are set out in the Sacred Scrolls, are the state laws. They combine the Old Testament with the American Declaration of Independence.

The film’s leading man, Charlton Heston, while himself not Jewish, had previously starred as Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), and essayed the title role in Ben-Hur (1959). These past roles add something to the idea of his character, George Taylor, as a wandering ancient Hebrew, lost in the wilderness of space, stranded from his home planet.

Beyond the simple ape vs. human allegory in the film, the caste system of the apes is also clearly racially motivated. So we have another layer. The Orangutans represent the ruling elites or the WASPs blinded by religion. The gorillas are hunters, soldiers, and menial labourers at the bottom, and serve to symbolise African Americans. (So the humans in the film actually represent our world's animals.)

But sandwiched in between are the chimpanzees – the professionals, scientists, intellectuals, and pacifists of the planet. They have also been discriminated against, denied power and influence through the use of quotas – a position analogous to Jews in America not long before the original film was made. This is illustrated by a conversation between two chimpanzee scientists:

Dr. Zira: You don’t sound happy in your work.
Dr. Galen: I’m little more than a vet in this laboratory. You promised to speak to Dr. Zaius about me.
Dr. Zira: I did. You know how he looks down his nose at chimpanzees.
Dr. Galen: But the quota system’s been abolished! You made it, why Can’t I?
Dr. Zira: What do you mean, made it? I’m an animal psychologist, that’s all. We have no authority.

The chimpanzees use their position to challenge the planet’s racial hierarchy and to champion the cause of the underdog, in this instance, the captured human, Taylor. Serving as his advocate, and ultimately freeing him from imprisonment, the chimpanzees’ actions recall those Jews, who assisted in the Civil Rights campaign of the 1950s and 1960s. This history is worth remembering when we head to the theatres to watch Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Nathan Abrams is professor of Film Studies at Bangor University. This essay originally appeared on The Conversation and has been republished under the Creative Commons Licence.

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