This old 1968 film, as the foundational work of the orangutan series, first set a view of time and space, secondly raised the question of species hierarchy, and then involved a philosophical theme: where do we come from?
Astronaut Taylor landed on an unfamiliar planet after seven hundred years of flight. This planet, at first glance, has no plants, the sky is lightning for a while, thunder for a while, clear sky for a while, and heavy rain for a while. He and his two teammates walked straight ahead and finally found the first plant.
"One makes two, and two makes three." They continued to move forward and saw a group of humans. These humans are speechless, clothed in animal skins, like monkeys. The masters of this planet are apes. The apes wear suits, speak English, and experiment with humans.
Taylor has been trying to speak since he was arrested, but his throat was injured. He snatched the sticky note from the doctor who was studying him and wrote "My name is Tyler."
The unfolding of the entire film presents a dislocation and distortion. And this distortion just puts the audience into the perspective of the protagonist Taylor: imprisoned, shackled, discriminated against, abused, and misinterpreted. Just like the orangutan in the zoo.
This got us thinking about the difference between humans and animals, we may have become the masters of this planet by some chance. We have similar genes to gorillas, but we are in suits and they are naked.
In the film, there is a "restricted area" where Taylor and the others landed. From the restricted area, they entered the gathering place of orangutans.
Taylor found that the doctor was very concerned about this restricted area and had always avoided the origin of ape-man. Two ape-men engaged in research helped Taylor to escape to the forbidden area and discover the birthplace of the ape-man.
In the forbidden area, Taylor found dentures, glasses, dolls... But at this time, he still didn't know where he was, thinking that it was a place very similar to Earth civilization. He proved that the ape-man was not born to dominate, and he tied the doctor who came to hunt him down, and took a beautiful woman who couldn't speak, at least far.
He walked along the beach, and walked...until he saw the familiar Statue of Liberty, half buried in the sand. He sailed for seven hundred years and returned to the future earth.
Everything seems very funny. Taylor embarked on a journey of no return because of despair of human nature. He mocked his teammates for believing in human nature - seeing teammates plant the American flag on the planet and pile it up with small rocks, the serious sense of ritual and belonging made him laughable.
He also laughed at his teammates saying, "I'm here and I'm ready to die for it."
He thought he had left the place that he hated, but he came back fatefully, and found that not only did it not get better, it even became a desert. The same kind became animals that could not speak, and the apes became symbols of civilization.
We humans have always claimed to be the masters of the planet, thinking that we have been like this since ancient times, but do we also live in some kind of illusory confidence like the apes in the movie?
We have also unearthed many prehistoric civilizations, some of which have not been scientifically verified until modern times. Those myths and legends about Dayu controlling the floods and Nuwa mending the sky, isn't there a truth that could be passed down by word of mouth? Couldn't the legends about Atlantis be true?
We were unable to verify. The theory of evolution is just a hypothesis. Although there are many fossils, there are still contradictory and unreasonable evidences. So where do we come from?
Is the previous civilization buried in the dust? Every generation of "people" and every "civilization" once withered for some reason we don't know. The earth began to purify itself, allowing the land, water, animals and plants , weather, and various elements rearranged and combined? After the Earth's long self-healing, a new generation of humans was born.
So what are we talking about pride? We are likely to be destroyed by an epidemic, a natural disaster. The bad parts of our human nature have also been leading us in the direction of withering.
In fact, one of the most important questions we should reflect on is not to protect the earth, but how to make our species continue for a long time, find its place in nature, and live in harmony with other species.
Behind the industrial civilization is the extinction of many species, and we can only see their afterimages in video data. A wildfire in Australia this year has caused many butterfly effects. What we are facing right now may just be the beginning.
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