Boulle

Week 5

Boulle’s Planet of the Apes has a resemblance to our own civilization. This is most likely the reason why readers can relate to Planet of the Apes more than 1984. In Planet of the Apes, there are various topics explored; such as, Social Behavior, Self Identity, Power and Authority. And in the original film there are similarities in the book that are addressed and there are also differences.

Social Behavior and Self Identity are key topics in our own society because we are conscious beings that have the need to analyze why we behave the way that we do and the need to figure out our own existence. In Planet of the Apes, the apes experiment on humans to identify social behavior. At this point of the book, I wonder to myself if experimentation is the only real way to identify behavior? In my own interaction with people- I’ve experienced that we can also identify characteristics of behavior through friendships and ties built over time.

Power and authority are also huge topics in our own society. In Planet of the Apes, the Gorillas, Orangutans and Chimpanzees have a certain type of power. Power and authority makes me think of how all civilizations need to have some sort of control to be able to run a certain way. And with this notion- I think that types of labels will be put into effect because there is always going to be a need for someone with authority to lead and others to follow.

The Planet of the Apes book has one key difference to the original film that I’d like to address. In the book Ulysse still needs to learn the language of the apes to communicate while in the film Taylor talks English which is the same language the apes use. This is probably due to a limitation of the film perspective but I think is important as the complexity of language is used for communication. Overall, language being key factor to what makes us dominant from life forms that are not able to talk or speak.