The Political Impact of the Planet of the Apes Films on American Society in the 1950s and 1960s
In 1968 a film was released in the cinema, which made motion picture history. It made a breakthrough in make up and audiences marveled at the talking apes. However, what the film succeeded in was how it dealt with the political issues that where relevant in that time. That film was Planet of the Apes and in this assignment there will be an analysis of how the film and its sequels dealt with political issues, which were relevant and sensitive of the 60s.
The original Planet of the Apes was one of the most popular films of 1968. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. It spawned four sequels, a short-lived TV Cartoon series, and a huge amount of merchandise. It also had one of the most memorable images of motion pictures of the 1960s; the half buried rotted Statue of Liberty at the end of the film.
The original film and its four sequels dealt with social and political issues, like Star Trek did in the late 1960s, which were of major concern in America at this time. It dealt with racial issues and class structures..
Planet of the Apes also appealed to many people because of its fantasy element and the representation of man’s continual obsession with life on other planets. In this film audiences saw that life on other planets is not be as expected. People were fascinated by this world in which apes evolved from man and where man was the lowest form of life on this planet, the reversal of the human experience.
The phenomenon began as a book written by French novelist Pierre Boulle in 1963 entitled ‘La Planete des Singes’ or ‘Monkey Planet’. Boulle also had written the novel of ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’, which had enjoyed big screen success.
Although Rod Serling had done the first draft of the script, it was Michael Wilson’s draft, which put the political nuances into play. Wilson himself was blacklisted during the McCarthy era and was accused of being a communist. Eric Greene, a film historian commented “Michael Wilson said film was more about the human predicament than apes.”
The film explored social and political issues. The fact that it is considered by many critics to be a political was not the producers’ intentions. The associate producer of the first two Apes films was Mort Abrahams, he stated that “Without saying it we were doing a political film. We never said it out loudly. At that time we had Vietnam and a political film was the last kind of film a studio wanted. The country (America) was having serious problems.”
Film historian Eric Greene also stated that with the assassination of Kennedy and Martin Luther king Jr. that were “a lot of shocks to America’s image and feel of it as a stable democracy.”
An interesting point behind the scenes was that there was a separation within the three ‘race’ of apes at lunchtime. The Orang-utans sat with the Orang-utans, the Chimpanzees sat with the Chimpanzees and the Gorillas sat with the Gorillas. The actors were not aware of this and actor Charlton Heston said that “there was no explanation for this.” Mort Abrahams stated that he didn’t think the actors were aware of this and that they just “went to their groupings.”
This was an interesting coincidence as in the original Planet of the Apes there was a Social class structure, which was relevant issue at the time. In the film the three types of Apes had different positions of power depending on their ‘race’. The Chimpanzees were the scientists and intellectuals, the Gorilla were the military and labourers and the Orang-utans were the politicians.
In this society the Chimpanzees would do all the important studies and treatments of humans but they would never get proper respect. The Chimpanzees would always be looked down upon by the Orang-utans, like Dr. Zaius. One scene in the original film is when Doctor Zira and a fellow chimpanzee ‘vet’ are treating the injured Taylor. In this scene the male ape ‘vet’ asks Zira that “you were going to speak to Dr. Zaius about me.” He was upset that he was merely a vet in this society and Zira states, “You know how he looks down upon chimpanzees.” Subtle lines like these get the message across about the class system.
This scene in the film is very much like the way people who were rich and had a lot of power would view people of lower classes and were not powerful, the rich would look down upon people who were not as well of. Also in the 1950’s and 1960’s racism was a major issue and people would, either look down upon the African Americans and they were given the jobs that ‘white’ people would not like to do, also black people were not allowed to use same toilets or buses or taxis as white people. This scene can make audiences think about how society had become at this time.
In the original film one of the most important scenes dealing with political nuances was the trial sequence. The trial was an inquisition against chimpanzees Zira and Cornelius and astronaut Taylor. Zira and Cornelius are being charged with heresy against doctrine, and that Taylor is a mutant that Zira and Cornelius created by experimentation.
The prosecution also asks Taylor why were all apes made equal, Taylor argues “it seems some apes are more equal than others.” Taylor can see that the orang-utans have the most power and despite all the intelligence and discoveries made by the Chimpanzees that they have no power. The orang-utan prosecution also tries to prove that Taylor cannot think by asking him about their laws but because Taylor does not understand, which he freely admits, the prosecution says he does not know because he cannot think. The trial sequence was very similar to what happened during the McCarthy era, which Michael Wilson got blacklisted in and this also destroyed the careers of many actors and writers, as in those trials the accused never got a chance to defend themselves as the prosecution would not give them a chance to present their case.
The McCarthy era was brought about from a combination of communism and political fear was at an all time high in the USA in the early 50s. Politician Joseph McCarthy blamed the increase in communism on certain ‘subversives’ who had infiltrated the government at all levels and disclosing secret information
Another interesting point in the trial sequence is when the three orang-utans represented Seeing No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil. Dr. Maximus covered his eyes, the Judge cover his ears and Dr. Zaius was covering his mouth as Zira was speaking in the defence of Taylor. This was the result of an idea between Charlton Heston and Franklin Schaffner.
Mort Abrahams said “Science Fiction can be a way of presenting controversial material without it being attacked as controversial because it has been slightly disguised.” This was the same with the Original Star Trek as its stories dealing with political and social issues had to be hidden from plain sight so that NBC would not notice and therefore show Star Trek, which had dealt with issues such as racism, overpopulation and also each season had an episode which was influenced by Vietnam war.
Eric Greene also made another good point about Science Fiction, “you can hear all humans look alike to apes or hear human say ‘human see human do’ and you can laugh it off but at the same time you can let it sink in as to how far humans interact with each other.” Greene is referring to how the film makes audience aware of how people with power viewed people who were not in power.
These political addresses did not end here; many of the sequels had some political messages as well. In Beneath the Planet of the Apes one of the plotlines in the film was the gorilla army going into a war into the Forbidden Zone to wage war on the mutants in response to strange occurrences in the area. With this there was a scene in which a group of young chimpanzees are making a protest with Picket signs and then the military move them away forcefully as Dr. Zaius doesn’t want martyrs.
“It’s the sense of this unnecessary war that they are being drawn into that liberal youth is opposed to and what the intellectuals are opposed to but there is political backing,” Eric Greene comments, he also says that this is very much like those Anti-Vietnam rallies. This was definitely not as subtle as the address in the original film but still a very effective address, as it was a direct contrast to what happened in America at this time.
Escape From the Planet of the Apes was set in the present and appeared to be a lighter film, like a fish out of water story for apes Zira and Cornelius as they got accustomed to humans of 1972 and becoming celebrities. However, in the second half a human Scientific advisor wants the unborn chimpanzee killed to prevent humanity from being dominated in the future. The response of Doctor Hesslein about Zira’s unborn child is similar to how military would respond to an alien threat by destroying the threat before it can happen, in this case by killing a unborn ape before a race of talking apes can exist.
There is a change in this film as the Apes are now the heroes of the film and the humans have now become the antagonists in the series. Greene calls it an “inverse of Taylor.”
As it was set in the present Greene says that, “it shifted its focus away from the future to present and opens the door to a more direct address to America of the time.” There is a scene in the film in which Doctor Hesslein states how much time humanity has got, he states that “some day we will do something about pollution, someday we will do something about the population explosion. We think we got all the time in the world” to make his argument. The points he made in this scene were very relevant at the time because at this time pollution was a big problem and overpopulation was a concern because of the escalating population due to longer life expectancy and new babies being born.
The next Apes film was titled Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, released in 1973 and directed by J. Lee Thompson. This film brought the Apes saga down a darker road. It was set in a city in the future resembling an oppressive Police State. Even humans wore black in this time period to convey a rigid and unpleasant society.
The Apes revolt against humans was based upon the Watt Riots in 1965, a civil rights movement of black people that lead quite an impression on America. J. Lee Thompson said that at showing in Inglewood Black people were cheering at the film. Frank Capra Jr. also stated that Black people were very vocal and had acted as though the ‘revolution’ had come.
Eric Greene said, “In 1972 no studio would release a film in which the hero was the leader of the Watt Riots but that you can release a film in which your hero is the leader of an apes revolt.” Greene comments that this would make the audiences rethink how they view events of the time. This is one thing science fiction can do very well if it is well written, by taking references from actual events and subtly address to the audience the hardship and bitterness that black people received and what made them rise against their oppressors, by making the apes the oppressed in the film we naturally and following them then the audience can have a better understanding of the side of the riots that they normally never think about.
The ending was re edited, the original ending had Caesar’s speech urging a militant call for revolution, to get a family audience so as the film would have a more hopeful ending. It still is the most violent of the Apes films. War, urban violence and racial violence influenced many of the films of 1972, like Dirty Harry and French Connection.
This was the last Apes film to have any political nuances. The final instalment Battle for the Planet of the Apes was basically made with a younger audience in mind; it was just an adventure film. The same can be said for the recent Tim Burton ‘re-imagining’ of Planet of the Apes, as there was nothing political in the new version.
Planet of the Apes was one of the most profitable and memorable film franchises of 20th Century Fox. They have been viewed on many levels, as an action adventure, a marvel in make up as well written stories, which were very clever. The political observations the film address, where relevant observations at the time of release. Racism and class were more serious in the 1960’s than they are today but still important issues to address to future generations. The issues were latent in the film but it was clear that the ape society mirrored human society very much at a much primitive age, so audiences can relate to the apes, the characters of Zira, Cornelius and Dr. Zaius were so compelling and so believable that you can believe these characters are really apes and you don’t laugh at them. Planet of the Apes was an adventure film, a great science fiction film but the fact that the film has very realistic characters and latent political undertones and memorable last shot of half buried Statue of Liberty Planet of the Apes, after 34 years, is still a true classic of cinema and will always be for many years to come.
I appreciate your analysis, and that a classic sci-fi film like this can still provide the intellectual muscle for a contemporary college course paper. Keep up the good work in cinematic and cultural reflection.
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