Planet of the Apes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Planet of the Apes - Essay Example The film appeared five years later. The 60’s... On the one hand they were the years of recognition of the many immutable truths concerning freedom, conscience and human personality; that was the time of various anti-war movements, time when national, sexual and racial minorities started the fight for their freedom and rights; time of The Beatles, hippies; time when everywhere - in politics, economy, culture – everyone has felt the fresh breeze of changes. On the other hand, the Cold War, tense situation in Vietnam and Cuba, fingers of the leaders of the great powers on nuclear buttons... Time of the first steps in space exploration, when adults dreamed of the immense cosmos and all the kids wanted to become astronauts. The smile of Gagarin and the American flag in Neil Armstrong’s hands became the subject of peoples’ love and the apparent evidence of human omnipotence. This film is the essence of the 60’s: angry sarcasm and post-apocalyptic fiction; fight with restrictions, limitations, complexes and old authorities; space theme and prophecy of an imminent catastrophe, which will destroy human civilization. 1968 has forever changed the history of cinema. It was the year of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, War and Peace by Sergei Bondarchuk, Once Upon a Time in the West by Sergio Leone, Night of the Living Dead, George Romero, Rosemary’s Baby by Roman Polanski, Teorema Pier Paolo Pasolini and many others. The brilliant sci-fi picture of Franklin Schaffner came out the same year. The film, like all the above mentioned, influenced both the development of cinema in general and science fiction in particular. Now, more than 40 years after release, the film is becoming more and more prophetic. It up-ended the concept of the future progress of mankind. Schaffner’s film is not a total adaptation of the cult novel, but without a doubt, includes the main essence and meaning of socio-political satire of the author. It showed that human beings can’t overcome their animal instincts, their folly, â€Å"human nature† that pushes them to extermination of their own kind in brutal wars. We do not follow the path of evolution. A new-fashioned computer, cell phone, stylish outfit and even a red Ferrari will not make a human being a man, as makeup and Wu shoes will not make a human being a woman. Computers, inventions, machines are not civilization. They are the products of civilization. Civilization is a development of daily living that comes from the human brain, mind, heart and soul. The film shows that man in his development stuck in the Middle Ages. Not even in the times of ancient Greeks, who surpassed modern humans in spiritual development, but namely in the middle, dark ages. The Renaissance, it seems, was only a flash of light, when a man became aware that he was living wrong, but did not manage to keep on the right road and hit a loop road that leads to permanent self-destruction . The storyline is built around astronauts who get to an uncharted planet after an emergency landing of their spaceship. Initially, it seemed to them lifeless, but it was only at first glance. Soon, they find themselves in a strange, surreal world in which human beings, like slaves or wild animals, sit in cages of intelligent, talking apes. This makes one of them, Taylor, start a search for truth and answer many questions about the planet they landed. The film, masked as a science fiction one, in