Apes in Science Fiction

*Watch Online/In person*: Science fiction has used apes as a mirror in which to view ourselves. The philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau saw in orangutans the original, natural man, uncorrupted by society. Meanwhile most of his contemporaries used apes to embody racially charged fantasies of bestial brutality. These conflicting views shaped the numerous versions of King Kong and the Planet of the Apes films, which the lecture will use to look at evolving images of humanity.

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Speakers

Jim Endersby is Visiting Gresham Professor in the History of Science. He is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Sussex and specialises in Victorian natural history and the modern genetics and has presented programmes for BBC Radio 4.

Location

Gresham College Barnard's Inn Hall Holborn EC1N 2HH

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