Artifacts of popular culture are fabricated and developed through popular culture's tacit connection with the political world; a concept hypothesized by contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei who states: “Everything is art. Everything is politics. As such, it could be suggested that this tacit construct between society and popular culture produces artefacts that thematically construct contextual political, cultural and social ideas within a fictional representation; ultimately, this extratextual representation of social values ​​allows popular culture to generate political implications. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A product of popular culture, the original Planet of the Apes quintet build on the values ​​of the 1960s and 1970s, echoing the racial tension, moral turbulence, and nuclear anxiety that defined the time. The series utilizes the moral complexities of its context, as such this essay will focus on the political implications produced through the portrayal of racial tensions in Planet of the Apes and Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the themes of nuclear war which are elucidated in Below Stanley Kubrick's Planet of the Apes and Dr. Strangelove. Ultimately, the use of extratextual themes within popular culture artifacts can influence social discourse that produces political implications. Consisting of five films: Planet of the Apes (1968), Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) and Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) - the Ape franchise was released during the 1960s and 1970s, decades marked by titanic conflict and terror - the Cold War, the Vietnam War, civil rights - as such, it was a time of public conflict regarding the character and ideology of the United States; with these events producing a rhetoric of desperation and helplessness that pervades the Apes series. Not only were the chaotic years characterized by conflict and terror, but they were also embodied by political and cultural crises due to events such as Kent State and Watergate that challenged perceptions of integrity and morality within the United States. This morally turbulent time and the perpetual moral displacement of American citizens is reflected throughout the Apes series through the audience's continually transforming point of identification; with the viewer's sympathies transferred between chimpanzees, apes and humans. Consequently, it could be suggested that the Apes series utilized and extrapolated the moral crises of the United States to imagine a radical reorganization of power dynamics, incorporating conventions and norms of science fiction to extend contextual racial tensions to a dystopian, apocalyptic and scary. .To further clarify how the Planet of the Apes series generated significant political implications during its tenure; it is essential to explore how the conventions of science fiction propagate and influence political and social issues in the real world. Although popular culture and contemporary politics are intrinsically linked, science fiction as a genre uses conventions that allow for the construction of a world that directly criticizes or comments on tangible political issues; consequently, it is the use of this built environment that allows for contemporary political implications. Science fiction's success in constituting political implications is rooted in its construction of “possible worlds developed syntagmatically, as models. As such, thescience fiction is grounded in the discourse of possibilities, allowing individuals to realize real-world issues through “metaphorical strategies and metonymic tactics.” Therefore, the genre of science fiction allows the Apes franchise to use real-world fears and concerns to generate discourse on social issues which consequently leads to political implications. At the heart of the Ape franchise is the ongoing power struggle that exists between humans and apes, with the series exploring the potential ramifications that could be produced as a result of the reversal of racial supremacy; and it is this extratextual futuristic representation that opens up the discussion on racial issues as it presents contextual concerns from a new perspective. Consequently, the quintet exposes how the physical differences between a racially dominant oppressive group and a racially subordinated oppressed group generate enormous conflict. Planet of the Apes uses its contextual history and prevalent racial fears within society to explore how the reversal of race relations – a pervasive fear in the United States since colonial times – would propagate an apocalyptic end to society as we knew it . Evidence of the real fears gripping the Western world is evident in British politician Enoch Powell's Rivers of Bloods speech in which he stated: “In this country in 15 or 20 years the black man will be in control of the white man. ”It is evident that the themes of Planet of the Apes are undoubtedly dictated by the morals and values ​​that define its context and, through a reformulation of these values, Schaffner is able to have a positive impact on authentic relationships between whites and blacks; an idea supported by African-American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. who described the film as the best allegory of race relations he had seen. While Planet undoubtedly has political implications as a result of its depiction of contextual issues, it could be suggested that the first two films - Planet and Beneath - simply respond to their context, while the last three films - Conquest, Escape and Battle - more directly reflect the conditions of contemporary America and project a growing sense of danger and terror. Conquest, the quintet's third film, directly resembles the audience context, with director J. Lee Thompson conveying a heightened sense of relevance and danger through his decision to ground the film's thematic concepts in extratextual social pressures. Thompson establishes Conquest in the Watts Riots – which occurred in 1965 – yet reimagined in an ape perspective that conveys racial tensions through the film's depiction of the vivid images of dark-colored rioting monkeys fighting light-colored human policemen and the destruction of shops and fires that they fill the frame. The second film in the Apes series, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, recontextualizes the anti-war sentiment that pervaded America in the 1960s and 1970s. At the heart of Beneath is director Ted Post's depiction of a society, made up of mutants and apes, that finds itself embroiled in a war against an unseen enemy in an alien territory, a conflict supported by the hegemony but equally rejected by intellectuals and young people; a war that undoubtedly refers to the American war in Vietnam. Ted Post further parallels the similarities between the two by exposing how mutants - who allegorically embody the United States - base their war on illusions and distorted facts. Furthermore, both the United States and the mutants are unable to use their ultimate weapon - the nuclear bomb - due to its impracticality and disastrous connotations. As a result, Beneath the Planet ofApes allegorically criticizes the entire Vietnam War through its fictional depiction of mutants and apes. Utilizing the pacifist sentimentalism that has permeated American culture allows Beneath the Planet of the Apes to heighten the conversation about anti-war rhetoric. Through the construction of an alternative world, Post is able to directly criticize and criticize the Vietnam War; and it is this retelling of the impact of the war that allows the public to evaluate the impact of the Vietnam War politically and socially. As such, it could be suggested that the allegorical depiction of the Vietnam War in Beneath allows the film to have political implications as it allows for the proliferation of anti-war discourse in America. While Beneath the Planet of the Apes undoubtedly propagates political implications through its use of context and its allegorical depictions of the Vietnam War, it also uses its contextual conditions to fictionally explore and convey the apprehensions and terror associated with the Cold War and l looming threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD). How the MAD policy, administered by both the United States and the Soviet Union, instills a delusional state in supporters of that policy is symbolically explored below. Post bilaterally criticizes and mocks MAD's ploy through mutants worshiping the nuclear bomb – the same artifact that left them severely disfigured – while simultaneously exploring how mutants' deification of the bomb as the "sacred weapon of peace" is in definitively a monumental work. implication of self-delusion. It is this retelling of the morality that saturated the 1960s and 1970s in an alien context, which allows Post's film to have political consequences thanks to its fictional interpretation of American values ​​and ideals that allows for broad introspection into the values ​​and in American morality. The conclusion of Beneath portrays the apes engaged in a race war against the mutants who in Taylor - the symbolic representation of the white Western world - use the last dying forces to detonate the nuclear bomb and destroy the earth. As such, Taylor's death presents bilateral symbolic significance. Not only does it describe the finality and destruction achievable with MAD politics, but it further highlights the influence of racial rhetoric present within the civil rights movement; Rather than advocate for a change in racial hegemony, Taylor destroys the land. In Beneath Taylor symbolically and systematically criticizes the foundations of the psyche that pervaded America during the Cold War; ultimately allowing the Apes series to have a significant political impact due to its re-examination of American values, thus allowing for an introspective perspective that allowed for meaningful discourse. Although the Apes series covers a vast number of themes that have been reimagined in a foreign context thus enabling a proposed political discourse, it is essential to recognize the significant impact of the Cold War on all literary forms and its political implications. Stanley Kubrick's political satire Dr. Strange-love uses the dangers associated with the Cold War - the impeding threat of nuclear war and the total annihilation of humanity - to criticize and criticize the idea of ​​MAD while simultaneously provoking an genuine political action and discourse. As such, Kubrick conveys the atrocious principles that governed the Cold War through the character of Turgidson - who as a representative of the US Air Force - advocates an initial nuclear strike against the Soviet Union while stating how retaliation - 10 to 20 million..