How the apes saved civilization: Antropofagia, paradox and the colonization of "La Planete des singes"

Abstract

The 1968 Hollywood film Planet of the Apes is an adaptation of the 1963 French novel La Planet des singes and the strategy used to transform the book into an American film reveals some contradictory tendencies. On one hand, the film effaces any evidence of the story's French roots, thus suggesting colonialist objectives. On the other hand, its subversive message, a reflection of the tumultuous political and social climate of the U.S. in the 1960s, seems to support the theory of antropofagia, a radical Brazilian approach based on the metaphor of cannibalism developed to counteract economic and cultural colonialism in Brazil. The inclusion of certain aspects of each of these two translation strategies creates a paradox that says a great deal about American hegemony, Hollywood's treatment of foreign works and marginalization.