The last scene in “Planet of the Apes” makes a strong statement about American’s ideology of consumerism. In this revealing and tragic scene, Taylor rides off with Nova into the “Forbidden Zone” and discovers the statue of liberty, half buried and in ruins. This indicated that this strange planet he has landed on is not a strange planet at all, but a post-humanistic earth. Upon this devastating realization, Taylor drops to his knees and pounds the ground screaming “We finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! God damn you all to hell!” He determines that the past human population wrecked planet earth. Americans are greedy and take what they need and want regardless of the long term effects. Dr. Zaius even claims that one of the reasons why he kept the truth of the human-dominated past a secret is because humans eat up everything they encounter. This is the reason why the earth was destroyed. All of its natural resources were drained and polluted because of human greed. Humans are responsible for their own downfall. They became virtually extinct and now exist only as animal-like barbaric mute creatures who are dominated, hunted, and enslaved by different species of monkeys. Taylor’s statement that they “blew it up” suggests the possibility that there was another world war of some sort and humans blew up the earth with nuclear bombs. Now it is just a wasteland, all thanks to the stubbornness and greed of humanity and, more specifically, Americans. Rather than try and solve their problems in a civilized manner, they decided to go to war and set off bombs that would lead to the destruction of the planet and the downfall of man.
In addition to showing American greed and consumerism, this final scene also shows American’s stereotypical gender roles. Nova was given to Taylor as a gift, just as an inanimate object would be given as a gift. She was intended to be used as a sexual object and for the purpose of mating. The fact that she cannot speak symbolizes the oppression and belittling of women and their opinions. The fact that a female is involuntarily given to a male shows the males superiority as well as his sexual power over her. Nova blindly follows Taylor, even though she has no idea who he is or where he is going. She must leave her home and her people and go with him to the “forbidden zone.” Throughout the movie, Taylor is the one who protects her and helps her escape etc. She is portrayed as an invalid incapable of fending for herself. This displays and example of the stereotypical notion that women are helpless and cannot survive without a man to take care of them. She has a constant blank look on her face as if she were always completely clueless of what is going on. While Taylor is practically on his knees weeping for the downfall of his people, Nova sits staring blankly at the statue, knowing and feeling nothing as far as we can tell. This scene portrays stereotypical gender roles of American men and women at the time.