The Social Cry in Planet of the Apes

After watching The Planet of the Apes, everyone seemed to leave the movie with a message in mind. Be it the controversial subject matter of Science vs. Religion, animal cruelty, or the cries of the extremeness of war and nuclear weapons. The makers of this film clearly felt the importance of illustrating to the viewers how unjust this society of “superior” apes were towards the humans. It allows the viewer to leave the movie thinking about our own society, and the similarities in how certain people have been severely mistreated here in America.


There are many controversial subject matters in this movie.   Although each issue is essentially as important and argumentative as the next, the one that seemed to be screaming out was the matter of discrimination. There are many references to discrimination in this film. Some were subtle, while others more palpable. Taylor, and his fellow astronauts, stumble across a society of mute humans being ruled over by apes. The movie mostly used black apes.   The fact that the movie was made in 1967, most likely, accounts for this. During that time, a substantial amount of racism was being displayed towards African-Americans. In the movie, the white humans were discriminated against. The directors did this to represent the racism being practiced in America. The idea of that casting choice was to get viewers to sympathize over how the humans were treated in the movie, and then later realize what it was really directed to. Also in the movie, the lighter apes were leaders and carried the most power. This can be viewed as a reference to our society at the time. People of color normally got the lower ranking jobs. Another matter is that the humans were enslaved in the movie; a major reference to the slavery and cruelty towards the people of color around that time. The filmmakers were sure to make these messages subtle, but also to make sure that they were heard.


The filmmakers made the movie so that it was...