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Join this week’s guest ringleader and I on the fourth episode of In Kino Veritās— a podcast where the guest picks a film, we both watch, and discuss.
We don’t simply review films but dive deep into their themes, characters and cultural context. In this episode we explore the 1968 Sci-fi film The Planet of the Apes. Released in the tumultuous year of 1968, the film captivated audiences with it’s depiction of a far-away topsy-turvy world wherein apes rule & man has been reduced to a mute yahoo. Through this lens, we’re challenged to reconsider our prior notions and recontextualize our place in the world.
Be sure to check ringleader’s new book!
Where you can stream The Planet of the Apes
(Use your local library to get a physical copy for free)
Main Points
* Who’s ringleader? Author of the Dog and Pony ShowSubstack, Tortuga Society member, debut book The Aping American now live on Amazon.
* Ringleader’s film choice: Planet of the Apes (1968): opened 1 day before MLK’s assassination, a timing that sharpened its “race-war on the big screen” reputation.
* Quick synopsis: Astronaut Taylor crashes on a wasteland where apes rule and mute humans are hunted. Proving he can speak brands him a heretic; the final Statue-of-Liberty reveal shows mankind nuked itself into oblivion.
* Spoilers past this point
* Slow-burn prologue: 30 minutes of desert trekking, time-dilation angst, and Taylor’s cynical flag-plant gag (“the U.S. is 2,000 years dead”) set the tone.
* Practical-effects love: latex ape masks beat modern CGI; Utah vistas sell the hard-sci-fi horror. Budget constraints (no high-tech ape metropolis) accidentally intensify the post-nuclear vibe.
* Race allegory vs. nuclear cautionary tale: Boulle’s novel leans racial; Rod Serling’s rewrite shifts to hubris-of-man and anti-fundamentalism themes.
* Order vs. Truth: Cornelius & Zira’s youthful scientism collides with Dr. Zaius’ “stability at any cost” conservatism. Is Zaius villain or sorrowful guardian?
* Religion subplot: orangutan priest-class uses myth to keep society calm; film critiques fundamentalism without caricature.
* Reverse-Genesis frame: humanity falls from Edenic dominion to hunted beast; Forbidden Zone = inverted Garden banishment.
