Race Relations In Planet Of The Apes

Planet of the Apes was masterfully able to incorporate several major themes reflective of American ideals and issues during the time of its release in 1968. As a science fiction film, screenwriters were able to weave themes of racism and religion throughout by taking these themes and placing it in what initially seems to be a completely different world. However, the way the film painted racism and religion in America in the 1960s came across very obviously to audiences and critics.

Planet of the Apes’s critique of race relations in America is present in both incredibly obvious and fairly subtle ways—the most obvious being role reversal between humans and apes as a metaphor for a changed relationship between white and black Americans. In the

When Taylor is brought before the tribunal, he is not given the respect or rights someone has while being tried under ape law despite being charged for breaking a law which do not apply to him as a human. When he tries to speak to defend himself, the tribunal silences him. Taylor even writes a note for Cornelius to read out loud, but the tribunal refuses to allow it into evidence because it was written by a human. These circumstances reflect the difficulties black Americans face in the justice system, a system in which racism paints them as unable to properly partake in the a white-dominated society and in which a special set of rules applies only to them (such as Jim Crow laws across many southern states of the

The top of the social class—thinkers, politicians, judges—is dominated by the most lightly-coloured of the apes, the orangutans. The chimps, darker in skin and fur colour, are a notch below. There’s even mention of a quota system, and Dr. Galen expresses his frustrations to Zira at how he wants to move up in position like she as (although she is quick to point out that despite her higher position, “we don't have any authority”). At the lower end of the caste system are the gorillas who, as the biggest and darkest of the bunch, have been resigned to roles in the military relating to physical labour (Atkinson, 1999).

This could be interpreted as a reflection of the racial divide between white and black Americans. But, it could also be seen as a critique of the difference in how black Americans with darker skin face more difficulties than those with lighter skin (Hochschild, 2007). Whether that was the intention or if this caste system was meant to only reflect racism between white and black Americans is