I'm probably dating myself here, but I am old enough to remember when the "Planet of the Apes" science fiction media franchise first started with the 1968 film starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, and Kim Hunter. Okay, technically, I was too young to see the movie when it was first released, but I remember seeing a lot of the sequels that aired from 1970 to 1973, the live action television series, which aired in 1974, and the animated series which aired in 1975. I also remember all the action figures, lunch boxes, and other toys that were associated with the movies. I really enjoyed Tim Burton's 2001 remake, "Planet of the Apes", and I've seen at least a couple of the films in the most recent reboot. There are a lot of commercials out right now about the latest installment, "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes", due to be released in a couple of weeks.
I never realized, however, that the entire media franchise started with a 1963 novel by the French writer Pierre Boulle. Boulle also wrote the 1952 book The Bridge Over the River Kwai, which was made into a superb 1957 movie "The Bridge On the River Kwai" starring William Holden and Alec Guinness. I actually read his Planet of the Apes novel a month or so ago while at the beach. I have to say that it was excellent, even if the original movie didn't exactly follow the storyline (although I have to say that the movie mostly stayed true to the novel with a similar, though slightly different, plot twist at the end). There are a surprising number of lessons about leadership in both of Pierre Boulle's novels (and the movies based on them - see my previous post, "The Bridge Over the River Kwai Syndrome" for more on that novel and movie), which I guess is not too surprising given that Boulle was a French soldier and spy during World War II.
As it turns out, I am not alone in seeing the potential for leadership lessons in the "Planet of the Apes" media franchise. See, for example, Leroy Ford's Medium post "20 Leadership Lessons from Planet of the Apes" or Joel Eisenberg's Medium post "The Caesar Legacy: Politics and Leadership From Julius to Apes" for just two examples. Certainly there are a number of political themes in the series as well, as noted by Eisenberg in his post. I am also fascinated by how different leaders use power and politics to their advantage in the book and movies - not all powerful leaders are dictators, again as eloquently demonstrated in the movies. I am also deeply interested in the different ways that members of a group interact. I am reminded of several recent books on this topic, including Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society by the American sociologist and physician Nicholas Christakis (which I read during the same beach vacation and discussed in a previous post), Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes by the psychologist Irving Janis, who first coined the term and described the concept of "groupthink", and lastly the excellent book, appropriately enough for the present discussion, Chimpanzee Politics by the scientist Frans de Waal.
I've always believed (and stated on a number of occasions) that leaders can learn a lot about leadership by reading about other leaders throughout the course of history. The "Planet of the Apes" media franchise reminds me that we can also learn a lot about leadership through reading fiction or even through watching movies! It's a lesson that I need to remind myself again from time to time, and it was actually the point of my second ever blog post, "What can we learn about leadership from a movie?" The answer to that question is, a lot more than you think!
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