Charles Dickens came up with the basic idea for The Planet of the Apes

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   Eric Calderwoodposted 11 years ago

   
   Read the following before replying:
   
   Did Charles Dickens come up with the basic idea for The Planet of The Apes before Pierre Boulle?
   Here is a selection from chapter 35 of the book David Copperfield by Charles Dickens:
   
   "If I had seen an ape taking command of a man, I should hardly have thought it a more degrading spectacle."
   
   Discuss.

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      ptosisposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thought Planet of the Apes was a movie about racist ideas. Even within the apes there were different species for different jobs.
      
      The black community was understandably distraught over the ape-African comparison, an insidious racist analogy to begin with. The derogatory association not only deepened stereotypes of the African-American, but increased fears of an eventual "Negro" takeover."
      http://www.metaphilm.com/philms/planetoftheapes.html
      
      
      Just like District 9 is an allegory about how the illegal Mexicans are treated in the SW, although some say it's about apartheid in South Africa.
      
      
      

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         Eric Calderwoodposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         ptosis, I never heard of before, or thought of the Planet of the Apes in this manner.  I have simply enjoyed the story.

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   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I don't think that is the basic idea of Planet of the Apes, it is just a 'topsy turvy' statement of something being reversed (an animal commanding a human).

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      Eric Calderwoodposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You may be right.  But wasn't the Planet of the Apes a topsy turvy world.  A lot of times writers will find a statement like this that starts the wheels in their brains spinning.  I'm just wondering aloud, so to speak, if Pierre Boulle may have come across this line in Dickens' work and spun off from there.

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         psycheskinnerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         No, because the creatures are not apes as we know them but species that evolved from them and developed full language and technology.  The basic idea is 'what if a new dominant species evolved on a post apocalyptic Earth'.

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   Pearldiverposted 11 years ago

   I believe Bubbles the Chimp said it better during his interview on how Michael Jacks conducted himself during topsy turvy encounters and what (from a Chimp's perspective) was considered to be acceptable behavior on Michael Jacks 'on' and 'off' days!

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      Eric Calderwoodposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      You are funny!

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   watcher by nightposted 11 years ago

   Although that new dominant species still referred to themselves as Apes (at least in the movie version).

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      Eric Calderwoodposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, that's what I thought as well.

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   Kathryn LJposted 11 years ago

   Love it pearldiver.  I think Dickens was just shoehorning in a bit of Darwin.  You have to remember that Dickens world was creationist, with the theory of evolution considered by some to be a revolting heresy. Apes controlling man would have been unthinkable, outrageous and against all reason, a bit like the Planet of the Apes re-make.  Like your thinking Eric.

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      Eric Calderwoodposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Kathryn!

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