Planet of the Apes, or how a fable became a cinematic franchise… losing along the way its subversive edge.

The fable beneath the fur: what Planet of the Apes was really about

In his novel Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle doesn’t merely tell a story about the reversal of roles between humans and animals. He uses that reversal as a symbolic device to explore three major philosophical and social themes:

1. Human arrogance exposed

Boulle presents a fallen humanity, reduced to the status of lab animals, to highlight the quiet arrogance with which we treat other species.
The apes’ domination acts as an ironic mirror of our own behavior: experimentation, confinement, pseudo-scientific amusement in the face of suffering.
This isn’t revenge — it’s a staging of our unconsciousness.

2. The failure of transmission

The novel describes an advanced simian world, yet incapable of true progress. Everything is based on rigid dogmas, pseudo-intellectual rituals, and a deep mistrust of the unknown.
It’s a thinly veiled critique of sterile scientism, of knowledge reduced to bureaucracy, and of education turned into mere repetition.
Teaching is no longer meant to foster understanding, but to preserve the status quo.

3. The fragility of culture in the face of comfort

Human degeneration stems from a gradual abandonment of thought in favor of convenience.
Everything was delegated, everything automated — until even the use of language was lost.
It’s a visionary warning: what we no longer practice, we eventually lose.
And that holds true for memory, speech, doubt… and even love.

4. AI and the new apes

Like the humans in the novel, we may be on the verge of outsourcing to machines what we used to do ourselves: thinking, searching, loving, doubting.
Are we about to stop thinking — as Boulle warned — and hand over to AI both the effort of reflection and the burden of decision-making?
If we do become the new apes, who will be to blame? The AIs… or ourselves, through surrender and neglect?

What’s your opinion, dear reader? Would you care to share it with us?