ideolgy and planet of apes 1968

Well, you can’t make a movie where apes rule the planet without touching upon Darwinian evolution. Clearly, when the humans race that Taylor left behind got into global nuclear war that destroyed all their civilization a vacuum was created in which more simian cousins took the quicker path to evolutionary advancement. Ah, but then that conclusion ignores a very important element of Planet of the Apes. Simply not enough time passes for all humans to have been wiped out, thus setting the stage or an equal race. So, in other words, Planet of the Apes is not merely about the evolution of chimps, gorillas and orangutans, but it is also about how the human beings underwent a serious case of de-evolution following nuclear winter. Are they not men? Yes, they are...but significantly de-evolved men. This thematic layer speaks to another—somewhat surprising—theme of the movie.