{"id":13142,"date":"2018-03-05T16:03:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T21:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=13142"},"modified":"2018-03-05T16:03:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T21:03:35","slug":"50th-anniversary-christian-themes-planet-apes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/03\/50th-anniversary-christian-themes-planet-apes.html","title":{"rendered":"50th Anniversary of the Christian Themes in \u201cPlanet of the Apes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2018\/03\/6078427110_5686c452e9_z.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-13143\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2018\/03\/6078427110_5686c452e9_z.jpg\" alt=\"6078427110_5686c452e9_z\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" \/><\/a>The Planet of the Apes movie series has long been associated with blockbusters, CGI and dystopian science-fiction. The franchise has also, however, always had a number of Christian themes woven through the films. With the 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary edition of the original \u201cPlanet of the Apes\u201d now available, it is the perfect time for Christians to revisit the movies and find the spiritual themes that are present in the most unlikely films.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Original Series<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The original series of the Planet of the Apes began in 1968 with the now-famous \u201cPlanet of the Apes,\u201d the post-apocalyptic story of space travelers crash-landing in a future where intelligent apes have become the dominant species. \u201cPlanet of the Apes,\u201d \u201cBeneath the Planet of the Apes,\u201d \u201cEscape from the Planet of the Apes,\u201d \u201cConquest of the Planet of the Apes\u201d and \u201cBattle for the Planet of the Apes\u201d are the five movies that make up the original series.<\/p>\n<p>The ape society found in the first movies of the original series has been compared to the Greco-Roman society that the Apostle Paul attempted to convert. Within this society, Dr. Zira and Cornelius do not believe the lies that they are fed and instead seek a whole truth just as early Christian converts left behind idolatry.<\/p>\n<p>The events of \u201cEscape from the Planet of the Apes\u201d and \u201cConquest of the Planet of the Apes\u201d will tell a story that is very familiar to Christian viewers. Cornelius and Zira travel back in time to escape the destruction of their world in \u201cBeneath the Planet of the Apes,\u201d but the humans of the past want to kill their infant, Caesar. Zira and Cornelius are killed, but they manage to switch Caesar with another infant before his death allowing him to survive in secrecy. During \u201cConquest of the Planet of the Apes,\u201d Caesar lives secretly with his human foster-father before becoming angry at the treatment of the ape slaves that surround him. Caesar begins a revolution that leads to the apes escaping and defeating their captors. The parallels with the story of Moses are impossible to miss.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rebooted Series<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The rebooted series also contains noticeable Christian themes. The first movie, \u201cRise of the Planet of the Apes,\u201d is largely a warning tale about the dangers of humans playing God. The third movie of the trilogy, \u201cWar for the Planet of the Apes,\u201d is similar to \u201cEscape from the Planet of the Apes\u201d and \u201cConquest of the Planet of the Apes\u201d in that it mirrors the tale of Moses. \u201cWar for the Planet of the Apes,\u201d however, more closely echoes the latter half of Moses\u2019s tale and the Exodus instead of his beginnings. In \u201cWar for the Planet of the Apes,\u201d the leader of the apes, Caesar, has to lead his people across the desert to a new home when they are threatened by human military forces. Caesar leads his people to safety, but, like Moses, Caesar dies before he can truly enter his people\u2019s new home.<\/p>\n<p>Most people do not think of post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies as being heavily Christian influenced, but both Planet of the Apes series have some surprisingly Christian threads. Check out the 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary edition of this classic movie series and enjoy discovering its spiritual roots all over again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Planet of the Apes movie series has long been associated with blockbusters, CGI and dystopian science-fiction. The franchise has also, however, always had a number of Christian themes woven through the films. With the 50th anniversary edition of the original \u201cPlanet of the Apes\u201d now available, it is the perfect time for Christians to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":616,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[3432,3656,3655],"class_list":["post-13142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","category-pop-culture","tag-anniversary","tag-christian-themes","tag-planet-of-the-apes"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>50th Anniversary of the Christian Themes in \u201cPlanet of the Apes\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most people don\u2019t think of post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies as having Christian themes, but both Planet of the Apes series contain a number of Christian threads.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/03\/50th-anniversary-christian-themes-planet-apes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"50th Anniversary of the Christian Themes in \u201cPlanet of the Apes\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most people don\u2019t think of post-apocalyptic sci-fi movies as having Christian themes, but both Planet of the Apes series contain a number of Christian threads.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2018\/03\/50th-anniversary-christian-themes-planet-apes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" 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