Scientific Irony: Planet of the Apes

    Ape...the member of the primate family which is said to be closely related to man. In 1968, Planet of the Apes was made and portrayed what would happen if the lives of humans and apes were switched. 

    Once upon a time, three men crash land in a place they believe to be another planet. After being in a hyper sleep, they don't where they are or when they are. Eventually they are captured by what appear to be apes. One of them is killed, another becomes senseless and practically brain dead after experimental surgery. This leaves only George Taylor. Since he was shot in the throat by one of the apes, he is unable to communicate and is locked in cages with other humans. But these humans are different from the ones Taylor knows. These people are mute and less intelligent. A beautiful human girl is put into the same cage as Taylor. Being little different from the others, and attracted to him, Taylor soon names her Nova. With the help of Dr. Zira and her husband Cornelius, will Taylor and Nova escape and figure things out, or are they forever enslaved on the Planet of the Apes?   

      Being a great sci-fi film, Planet of the Apes switches the places of man and apes in society. Now the apes see man as evil and inferior. In our world, they way the apes treat humans is somewhat reflective of the animal cruelty that occurs now, and humans like Nova have no voice like the animals we know. During Taylor's trial, he is given no rights to defend himself, as he is supposedly inferior. Surely most of us can see the unfairness in that.   

        Multiple times in the film, Dr. Zira and Cornelius mention their scientific idea that apes evolved from something else. This represents the events in our history in which people have been persecuted, tried, and even killed for heresy because it contradicted other people's beliefs. Rather than punishment, our should operate in a way that we may choose what we believe in and what we don't. That's the scientific irony that crosses over from our world into Planet of the Apes. 

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