The movie that I have chosen to watch was Planet of the Apes. In this movie, I noticed a lot of dystopian aspects and common themes among dystopias. In the film Planet of the Apes 1968, the President of the assembly acted to conceal the truth from the public as most leaders do, to “protect the citizens” from the history of the planet. He was controlling and willing to do anything to anyone to maintain control of what people knew, like most dystopian leaders. He went to remove the other astronauts’ memory from their brains or kill them to maintain order. It wasn’t until Cornelius met Dr. Zira and Dr. Zaius that the truth of where he was, was revealed. There were countless times where the President tried to silence or discredit Cornelius to maintain the secret, like when he was spelling out his name in the dirt, and the President wiped it away. A common theme in dystopian societies is a leader stuck in their ways and wants to keep everything the same and his citizens limited. An example of this is while Cornelius was in court, the President kept discrediting Cornelius because his beliefs were not cohesive, which demonstrates how close-minded he is.
This film reminded me of when I learned about slavery and the different tactics used to maintain control over the enslaved people. Fear and inferiority were commonly used amongst slavemasters to ensure enslaved people’s obedience and cooperation. The ape’s constant mistreatment of Cornelius over the minor infractions indeed demonstrated this, as well as removing the other crew members’ brains was a means to instill a sense of fear in Cornelius.
