Which historical figure does Dr. Zaius portray in Planet of the Apes?

Question

question to an anthropology test

Answer 1

Not sure it this is who he represents but I'll give it a try...Jane Goodall.

Looked all over the Internet but couldn't find much, her named just occurred to me while searching.

Answer 2

It can't be anyone who was famous after the early 1960s because that's when the script was written and the original movie was made (so Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey, Louis Leakey, and Franz de Waal are all not good possibilities).

When you think about Planet of the Apes, think about what ideas Zaius  represents and that might help identify a particular historical figure the character was based on. I'm not sure, but I don't think that he represents a primatologist. Zira  might, but Zaius is not a scientist by any means. My best guess is that Zaius represents Senator Joseph McCarthy (if he represents any one particular figure). McCarthy fits into the time frame correctly, with the added bonus that his communist witch hunts and blacklisting significantly impacted many people working in Hollywood at that time, including one of the scriptwriters on Planet of the Apes who had been blacklisted previously. Zaius, like McCarthy is a fascist ideologue who wants to control society and information from the top down. Actually, I might say that Zaius is a composite representing two historical figures (or representing what those figures represented--McCarthyism and racial segregationism in the US): Joe McCarthy and George Wallace (you can look them both up on Wikipedia).

Like much science fiction, Planet of the Apes is at least partially about commenting on contemporary social problems within a  fantastic or futuristic narrative framework. Much of what the characters say and do actually comments on relevant social problems at the time the film was made. So think about American society, and think about the ideas that characters might represent, and it'll make it easier to identify figures that the characters may be modeled on.

Sorry that there isn't a more concrete answer. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Louis Leakey?  He gave women charge of ape studies like Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall.  Dr. Zarius gave the woman doctor the chance to study the captive humans.