At first glance the obvious and immediate conclusion that will be drawn upon watching Planet of the Apes is that it is an environmentalist piece, decrying humanity's mistreatment of nature and the animals within it. By the end of the movie, however, it becomes apparent that the driving force behind the movie's theme and plot is the separation of science and religion. In our world, science and religion are separate forces, worlds apart, that only grow farther and farther apart from each other as time goes on. On the Planet of the Apes, however, science and spirituality are one ministry; the religion based on factual events, twisted to support evolutionarily beneficial practices. Namely, the oppression of humans (who, it is revealed at the end of the movie, have driven themselves to near extinction).
The message of Planet of the Apes seems to be that humans died because their religion did not properly reign in their destructive tendencies. They allowed science to rule unchecked and unchallenged, and paid the terrible price. The apes, on the other hand, have kept science on a tight leash. And while their progress and technology may be stagnant and at a standstill, they at least are surviving. Their cycle is self-perpetuating. So the message seems to be that both science and religion are necessary halves of one whole; that one without the other is destructive.
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Jackson,
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point about something I did not think of. The humans had "too much" science, in the sense that it was not reigned in by morality. The apes had "too much" religion, in the sense that it kept them from exploring the truth of their origins.