Summary
The dubbing of humans as “echoes” isKingdom of the Planet of the Apes’clever way of denoting humanity’s status on Earth. Set300 years after thePlanet of the Apesreboot trilogy,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesdepicts life on Earth through the eyes of Eagle Clan chimpanzee Noa. Whereas the reboot trilogy charts the rise of simian intelligence underthe messianic ape Caesarand the ape effort toward establishing a society beside the dwindling human race,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesreveals the distant aftermath, following Noa among a new generation of apes.
In Noa’s lifetime, apes keep to themselves, adhere to the laws of their elders, and, especially in the Eagle Clan’s case, are quiteremoved from the human race. As such,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’plot line centers on a conflict between apes over exploring a large-scale contention between humankind and apekind, as thePlanet of the Apesprequel trilogyhas done before. However, while Noa fights to retrieve his captured clan from the enslavement of a power-hungry false prophet called Proxima Casaer,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesstill sheds significant light on humanity’s narrative.
Planet Of The Apes: All Movie Timelines Explained
A complete guide to every timeline introduced in the Planet of the Apes franchise, from the original timeline to the prequels' timeline.
Apes Call Humans Echoes Because They’ve Devolved
The Simian Flu Virus Affected Speech And Brain Function In Humans
By the events ofKingdom, nearly every ape on Earth has evolved, and humans have regressed into a feral state, warranting their epithet of echoes.
As per thePlanet of the Apes’prequel trilogy, apekind’s evolution into intelligence arose with the development of an Alzheimer’s cure. A strain of the vaccine, which caused an outbreak nicknamed theSimian Flu Pandemic inPlanet of the Apes’modern lore, increased the intelligence of infected apes while simultaneously decimating the human population. The Simian Flu not only killed 99% of humanity but wreaked havoc on the consequent generations of humans who survived. By the events ofKingdom, nearly every ape on Earth has evolved, andhumans have regressed into a feral state, warranting their epithet of echoes.
Humans have limited brain capacity and cannot speak in the feral state. Presumably, becausehumans have devolved into echoes of their former selves, the ape population started to refer to them as such until the term became integrated into the simian language as slang. Granted, by the end ofKingdom of the Planet of the Apes,it’s revealed that there are a lot of humans who have not regressed to this state. Yet, apes use the term to describe the human race universally, indicating a dynamic of inequality between the apes and humanity.
Humanity’s Echoes Name Shows The Ape’s Dominance
Echoes Are Deemed Lesser Than
As instances inKingdomdemonstrate, apes judge humans as slow, smelly, and pest-like, even though intelligent andfluent humans likeKingdom’ssupporting character Maeexist.Generalizing the human race as echoes establishes apekind’s prejudice, which sees humanity as less than and apes as the dominant species. While, in many ways, apes have the upper hand, their prejudgment may come to be their downfall. Since humanity’s status is so low in their eyes, the apes might not foresee the humans who haven’t devolved coming together to reclaim dominance after the events ofKingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesis available to stream now on Hulu and Disney+.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Cast
Set several years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the next installment in the Apes saga. Ape clans have taken up residence in the oasis that Caesar sought to colonize, but humans have reverted to their animalistic nature in their absence. Now battling between enslavement and freedom, outliers in the Ape clans will take sides in a newly burgeoning society.
