McGeary 1

Marianne McGeary

Dr. Nelson Hathcock

English 434: Literature and Film

4 May 2004

The Year of the Ape

Tied to his chair, his mouth covered with a cloth, Bobby Seale sat in a Chicago

courtroom, belligerently listening to testimony on his culpability in a conspiracy. It was

1968. The courtroom where Seale sat bound and gagged was, for three months that

summer, the eye of a national hurricane of protesters versus the establishment. The

Democratic convention that year attracted far more than delegates to Chicago. The

youthful war protesters known as “yippies” evolved from the peace- loving hippies who

had so entranced the nation since 1967’s San Francisco “Summer of Love.” The yippies

wanted more than daisy stickers and flowing robes. They wanted, they demanded, peace:

now. Their agenda began with an end to the draft and the war in Viet Nam and spread

out to include the Women’s Liberation, Black Power, and Gay Rights movements. They

spoke for the disenfranchised, and wore their youth as a badge of honor. They were in

the face of the nation. They were loud, demanding, and unreasonable. “Hell no! We

won’t go!” they screamed at the generation of their parents, who survived the Depression;

and the same generation who unquestioningly served in the Second World War and had

unquestionably changed the world by doing so. This generation wanted to change the

world as well, but by refusing to support a war they did not believe in. They were the

best educated generation in America’s history, already known as the Baby Boomers, well
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fed and pampered, raised on television, and used to having their say. They were “anti-

establishment,” and proud of it. “The whole world is watching,” they said, and it was.

Many Americans watched in fear and anger. This was the condition of the American

psyche when the movie Planet of the Apes opened, and that is why this science fiction

adventure film, adapted from the novel by Pierre Boulle, was raised to iconic status, and

came to symbolize the uproar in America.

Pierre Boulle served with the French army in Indochina in 1939 and the French

Resistance in Malaysia before he was captured by the Japanese. As a prisoner of war,

Boulle experienced forced labor until his escape in 1944. Boulle turned his six years in

southeast Asia in World War II into a major work, The Bridge on the River Kwai (Le

Pont de la Riviére Kwai) (R.J.A.C. 1). Like Graham Greene, he used the frame of an

adventure, war or spy story to study themes of false ideals and human destructiveness

(R.J.A.C. 5). Boulle combined in his works a captivating story with a pessimistic view of

human endeavors and absurdities. His novel Planet of the Apes (La Planéte des Singes)

is an ironic tale about the relationship between men and animals. It transferred the basic

relationship between the Japanese soldiers and Allied prisoners—the repression of a

weaker group by a stronger and its moral effect on both sides—into the distant future.

Boulle depicts a world where humankind has lost its position as the dominant species,

and apes rule over human savages (R.J.A.C. 5).

Boulle’s Planet of the Apes is a frame story, beginning and ending with Jinn and

Phyllis, “a wealthy, leisured couple” (Boulle 3), traveling through space while on

vacation. They discover a note in a bottle floating outside the ship, and the reading of the
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message begins the story of Ulysse Mérou, a man who resembles many classic heroes of

literature. Like Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver, he is a man shipwrecked among creatures

strange to him. Like Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe in that novel, he is cast adrift and

lands in an alien place. It is clear from the name Boulle gives his hero that he intends a

comparison to Ulysses (Odysseus) in Homer’s The Odyssey, who for twenty years tries to

return home over the seas only to find that his world is much changed.

Mérou lands on another planet, where the apes are intelligent. Humans, who have

lost the power of language and thought, are exhibited in zoos. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and

orangutans all have equal rights. Humans are used as guinea pigs in laboratories. Some

of the planet’s scientists refuse to acknowledge that an animal has a soul, while according

to another view there is only a difference of degree between the mental processes of

beasts and those of apes. Mérou speaks at a scientific congress and tells the astonished

audience (R.J.A.C. 6): “I come from a distant planet, from Earth, that Earth on which, by

a whim of nature that has still to be explained, it is men who are the repositories of

wisdom and reason” (Boulle 174). At the end of the book, Mérou finally returns to

Earth, and is received at the airport by a gorilla. Another twist of the tale is that Jinn and

Phyllis are chimpanzees, and consider the story incredible (R.J.A.C. 6): “Rational men?

Men endowed with a mind? Men inspired by intelligence? No, that’s not possible; there

the author has gone too far. But it’s a pity! (Boulle 268)”

Boulle’s novel explores the cruelty of man toward animals, starting with the hunt

into which the travelers are caught, reminiscent of the 19th century hunting parties of the
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European aristocracy (Hladik 2). But on this planet, Soror, men are among the prey.

Beaters drive the human game toward the ape hunters, who shoot the helpless men and

women, and capture some of them in nets to be transported to labs for experimentation.

The relationship between captors and captives is examined in the way Mérou is treated in

the labs of the Ape society. Experiments in conditioned response are performed on the

captives, and their mating practices are observed. “The only surprising element in these

displays was the scientific ardor with which the apes followed them, never omitting to

make copious notes on the procedure” (Boulle 112).

Boulle also examined class systems through the roles assigned by species in the

ape society:

“There are three distinct families, as you have noticed, each of which has

its own characteristics: chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. The racial barriers

that used to exist have been abolished and the disputes arising from them have

been settled thanks mainly to the campaigns launched by the chimpanzees.

Today, in principle, there is no difference between us.”

“But most of the great discoveries,” I persisted, “were made by the

chimpanzees.”

“That is true.”

“What about the gorillas?”

“They are meat eaters,” she said scornfully. “They were overlords and

many of them have preserved a lust for power. They enjoy organizing and
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directing. They love hunting and life in the open air. The poorest of them are

engaged on work that requires physical strength.”

“And the orangutans?”

Zira looked at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“They are Official Science,” she said. “You must have noticed this already

and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to confirm it. They learn an enormous

amount from books. They are all decorated. Some of them are looked upon as

leading lights in a narrow specialized field that requires a good memory. Apart

from that…”

She made a gesture of contempt (Boulle 127-128).

In the orangutans, Boulle demonstrated scientific close-mindedness, and the fear of a

change in the status quo. At an archeological dig, a human baby doll is found. Mérou

deduces that humans used to rule over Soror, but gradually allowed the apes of the planet

to take over. The humans devolved, and the apes took dominance of the globe (R.J.A.C.

4). Zaius, an orangutan, plots the downfall of the upstart human:

“Needless to say, the Council knows perfectly well how little that old

fool’s scientific views can be trusted, but they are pretending to believe he is more

qualified than I am to study this exceptional subject, because the latter is regarded

as a danger to our race. They are counting on Zaius to make it impossible for him

to do any harm” (Boulle 255).

“The orangutans hate you because you are the living proof of their

scientific aberrations, and the gorillas consider you too dangerous to be allowed at
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liberty much longer. They are frightened you might found a new race on this

planet. But apart from this eventuality, they are frightened that your mere example

might sow unrest among the men” (Boulle 256).

The idea for a movie version of Boulle’s book was relentlessly promoted by the

producer, Arthur P. Jacobs, who came up with the original concept (Nichols 1). Jacobs

saw in the book a compelling, original, and visually exciting film. Hollywood, however,

found the idea of costumed apes uncomfortably close to Saturday-morning cartoons.

Only Richard D. Zanuck, the head of 20th Century Fox, was willing to make the film:

“We chose it strictly for its entertainment value. It was something that

we’d never seen before. I didn’t read any kind of message. I saw it as an

interesting, unique piece. The later films got into message, but I wasn’t trying to

make a statement” (Nichols 2).

The script was co-written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling. Wilson, a

screenwriter who was blacklisted during the 1950’s, ghost-wrote the script for River

Kwai. Serling became a genre legend as the creator, host and principal writer of TV’s

landmark The Twilight Zone (1959-63). After that show’s cancellation, Serling began to

take on film script work, delivering works with strong and ardent political views. The

early scenes in the film with Charlton Heston delivering a series of lengthily embittered

comments on the human condition are pure Serling (Scheib 1).

Among the major issues that drove the 1968 film was nuclear proliferation, and

man’s escalating violence (McEver 3). In the film, Mérou is called Taylor, and he is so

fed up with humanity that he opts for a space mission that endures for years (McEver 3).
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A harsh, bitter man, Taylor is a refugee from a human society he suspects has long ago

destroyed itself with hate and nuclear warfare (Nichols 2).

“He’s a misanthrope,” said Heston in an interview. “He’s disgusted with life and

the human race.” In the famous last scene, with a twist worthy of The Twilight Zone

(Endelman 3), a half-buried Statue of Liberty not only reveals what planet Taylor has

crashed on, but what fate it suffered hundreds of years earlier (Nichols 2).

“You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!” screams

Taylor as he falls in the sand in horror at what his contemporaries have done (Planet of

the Apes). Man’s violent nature seems to have caused the present conditions on the

planet; that is, that apes rule.

Wilson’s experience testifying before the McCarthy commission inspired the trial

scene in the film. Taylor is naked, bound, and not allowed to defend himself. His

accusers smugly judge him guilty until proven innocent.

Taylor argues that Zaius’ dual positions as “Chief Defender of the Faith” and the

“Minister of Science” have given him the dangerous power to dictate however he sees fit.

Like the Catholic Church before the Age of Enlightenment, Dr. Zaius vehemently

enforces the laws of the Holy Scrolls, and dismisses the observations of science (Meyer

2).

There is a greater truth that seems to intrigue both Zaius and Taylor. Zaius fears

this unknown Truth, afraid that it will shatter all that he believes in. Taylor, on the other

hand, has nothing to believe in anymore. He took the space flight to explore the
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possibility that “somewhere in the universe, there must be something better than man”

(qtd. in Meyer 2).

When the film opened, the public was acutely aware that some of the action

seemed to reflect the images they saw on the nightly news: people getting hosed down on

the street, people being beaten (Meyer 1), and a man restrained with ropes at his own

trial.

Planet of the Apes depicts an upside-down world—a brutal, primal place where

apes are in charge and humans scavenge for subsistence, hunted and enslaved by the

tyrannical primates. The sudden appearance of one man, alien to the present order and

unaffected by its oppression, serves as a challenge to the status quo and a catalyst for

revolutionary social change (McEver 2). Several revolutions were well underway in

America in 1968. The Youth Movement contained a variety of movements: war

protesters, Black Power, the Women’s Liberation Front, and the demand for gay rights.

Heston, one of the most powerful and influential actors in the world at the time,

was wooed by Jacobs just as producers today woo stars like Tom Cruise or Russell

Crowe. According to Eric Greene, author of Planet of the Apes as American Myth, Race,

Politics, and Popular Culture, it was no coincidence that Heston “a film icon of white

heroic strength and Western indomitability” (qtd. in Browne 1) was cast in the role of

Taylor. But Greene has put the cart before the horse. Heston was cast by Jacobs in order

to ensure that other “name” stars as well as a big studio would be attracted to the project

(Planet of the Apes Disc 2). He was not placed in the film as a symbol of white strength.

He took the lead role, and in that role, came to symbolize the American upstart. Taylor’s
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cynicism mirrored that of America’s youth movement. He refuses to go along with the

path chosen for him by the ruling elite. This struck a chord.

“Why don’t you all just fade away?” sang the Who (The Who), and a shiver of

fear, or perhaps premonition, swept up the spines of the older generation. The themes

inherent in the original story by Boulle, and added to by the screenwriters, were

interpreted by the film-going public as dramatizing the convolutions of American

attitudes toward the civil rights movement, Vietnam, imperialism, and student revolt

(Mackie 2).

Planet of the Apes’ tremendous success in 1968 spawned four sequels, and

became one of the most successful franchises in cinema history (Aushenker 1). The

sequels, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Escape From the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of

the Planet of the Apes, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, were increasingly

politicized manifestos about America during the turbulent late 1960’s and early 1970’s

(Browne 1). The succeeding films follow the adventures of Zira and Cornelius, the

chimpanzees who help Taylor in the first film, and eventually, their son Caesar. Because

the first film stirred up such strong recognition of the various movements in the US, and

because Heston adamantly refused to take part in any further sequels (Planet of the Apes

Disc 2), the chimpanzees had to take on all of the symbolic weight of rebellion, and

became “a metaphor for the suppression of the Left by the Man” (Browne 2).

The films finally ran out of steam, and ended with “Battle” in 1973. The three

sequels “constituted an extended and notably pessimistic examination of American racial

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politics during the volatile historical period of their original production and reception

(Creekmur 1). “Bring the war home!” was the slogan of the Weathermen, a group

devoted to the violent overthrow of the American government, and as the Vietnam War

escalated, each Ape film became more violent. The films continued to speak for the

disenfranchised and enjoyed wide appeal.

Today, films are sometimes planned with sequels. Successful film series such as

The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and Kill Bill were filmed continuously, including

sequels. Planet of the Apes was not. The film was planned and filmed as a complete

work. Because of the turmoil of the times, the public saw Planet of the Apes as an

allegory. Taylor was the symbol of rebellion in all its forms. It was the succeeding Apes

movies that were truly a mirror of the times.

When discussing the fidelity of an adaptation, one question should be: to what

extent has a different historical or cultural context altered the original (Corrigan 20)? The

filmmakers planned only an exciting science fiction film, and did succeed in reviving the

genre, but the immense success enjoyed by the story itself was due to the time and place

in which it premiered.
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Works Cited

Aushenker, Michael. "Apes as Allegory." The Jewish Journal 2004. 26 Apr. 2004

<www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=7294>.

Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. New York: The Ballantine Group, 1963. 1-268.

Browne,David. "Monkeyshines, No joke: 'Planet of the Apes' teems with political

subtexts." Entertainment Weekly 26 Apr. 1996. 26 Apr. 2004 <theforbidden-

zone.com/myth.html>.

Corrigan, Timothy. Film and Literature, An Introduction and Reader. Upper Saddle

River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Creekmur, Corey K. ”Monkeybusiness.” Science Fiction Studies Nov. 2000 Vol. 27,

Part 3.

Endelman, Michael . "Still Going Ape Tim Buton's Remake Will Find There's a Cult

Following in Place." Boston Globe 22 July 2001, Third ed., sec. L: 7. ProQuest.

30 Apr. 2004. Keyword: Planet of the Apes.

Greene, Eric. Planet of the Apes as American Myth Race, Politics, and Popular Culture.

New England: Wesleyan UP, 1996.

Hladik, Tamara I. "Planet of the Apes." Classic Sci-Fi 1998. 26 Apr. 2004

<http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue79/classic.html>.

Mackie, Rob . "The ape man." The Guardian 3 Aug. 2001. 26 Apr. 2004

<film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,531390,00.html>.

McEver, Matt. Hollywood Jesus. 28 July 2001. 26 Apr. 2004

<http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/planet_apes.htm>.
Nichols, Peter M. "Film; In a Social Mirror, The Faces of Apes." The New York Times

30 Aug. 1998, Late ed., sec. 2: 22-22. America Online. 27 Apr. 2004

Planet of the Apes. Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner. Perf. Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell,

Kim Hunter, and Maurice Evans. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 1968.

R.J.A.C., . Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, The Visitor. 30 Apr. 2004

<http://planetoapes.tripod.com/peeps/boulle.html>.

Scheib,Richard. The Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review. 1991. 26 Apr.

2004 <http://www.roogulator.esmartweb.com>.

The Who. “My Generation” By Pete Townsend. Rec. Dec. 1965. My Generation.

Brunswick, 1965.