“I am confiding this manuscript to space, not with the intention of saving myself, but to help, perhaps, to avert the appalling scourge that is menacing the human race. Lord have pity on us!”
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Those are the words of Ulysse Mérou, a young French journalist who traveled into space as the companion of a professor and a physicist in hopes of finding intelligent life on another planet. The story of La Planète des Singes – Monkey Planet in the UK and better known as Planet of the Apes in the US – was written by Pierre Boulle after a visit to the zoo that compelled him to question the relationship between humans and apes.
(image: Good Reads)
An inescapable irony
The three set off in a ship and disembarked on a planet that they called Soror, which is Latin for sister for it resembled Earth. To their disbelief, the planet proved to be inhabitable when they found humans who acted in a primitive manner as if they devolved back into apes. In a gruesome turn of events, the three were subjected to a hunting party led by a civilized group of gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees, killing the physicist and capturing Ulysse in the process.
The year is 2500. And in Boulle’s fast-paced science fiction tale, there is a switch in the hierarchy of beings. The distant planet looked like home, but intelligent apes run this world while men are caged and treated like primates. The genius professor turns into a savage and Ulysse becomes subjected to a series of Pavlovian experiments in which he proves his intelligence. He then learns simian language, and adapts to the way of this new society. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that humans once reigned supreme but their extreme dependence on technology and on apes to perform manual labor eventually created a paradigm shift. Ulysse gets the chance to escape Soror only to come back to Earth in a similar state of apes rising over savage humans.
Monkey Planet is a cautionary tale of creature hierarchy or dominance. Humans have a much more refined cognitive ability than their closest primate relatives, but the Smithsonian Magazine reveals that it comes down to a 1% difference in DNA. Everything else in terms of genetics is shared. Many dystopian novels use the reversal of roles as a main tool and Boulle succeeds in highlighting the stark difference between humans and apes. However, Monkey Planet also uses irony to demonstrate that no matter how evolved creatures are, there is still that danger of treating inferior beings to serve their needs to the point beyond abuse.
(image: IMDB)
A lasting legacy
Since its publication, Boulle’s compelling narrative has become a sensational media franchise comprising of nine films, television shows, comics, games, and merchandise. The 1968 film adaptation was an instant classic in the history of science fiction and began the enduring legacy of the Planet of the Apes. Film School Rejects explains that its success has to do with the way each film tackles issues relevant to its time such as animal abuse or societal dilemmas. Marvel even adapted the franchise into a comic series with different storylines, albeit all of them take place in the same imaginary planet and how the humans play a part in it. Similarly, the Planet of the Apes game on Slingo immerses players in the dystopian world by combining elements from Rise and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. And to add another mark to its longevity, plans for a theme park have been drawn up in honor of the franchise.
Of course, it pays to go back to the roots, and Monkey Planet is a story well worth taking the time to read. It becomes even more gripping knowing Pierre Boulle’s background as a soldier in WWII. He was a actually captured and subjected to forced labor just like the apes in his tale. In commemorating the author, Clement Pieyre cataloged Boulle’s manuscripts and explained his interpretation of the novel, saying that it’s a warning of the potential destruction of the human race. Although, it also represents the author’s hope for humans to use genetic superiority for the good of mankind, the planet, and all that dwell on it. In a much more simpler sense, it tells the reader not to take things for granted.
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Article written by Nathan Dixon