Paper Plane
The paper plane that Taylor folds and tosses through the air to prove to Cornelius and Zira that flight is actually possible becomes one of the many simple objects laden with deep symbolism which instills great fear in Dr. Zaius that the secret of man may one day be made public. The most simplistic of flying machines—mere paper folder in an aerodynamic manner—becomes heavy with meaning for Zaius for several reasons. One, it become conclusive evidence that Taylor’s wild tale of “falling out of the sky” is true. With that knowledge apparently comes an intuitive understanding—Zaius is no idiot—that Taylor also comes from another time as well as another place.
Clothing
Clothes make the man. Or, in the case of a planet rule by apes, make the man something he was never intended to be. Several times throughout the film is clothing laden with a symb0lic meaning beyond mere coverage. Many of those times, of course, they are both: Taylor is stripped naked at his tribunal and he is denied clothing for most of his captivity. To put clothes on a human is the same as putting them on monkey in our world: is pure illusion that has no real necessity. The humans who are native to the monkey planet wear the barest minimum of clothing for the sole purpose of protection against the elements (although the lack of bare breasts among the women indicates a certain amount or prurience as well). At other times, Taylor is made to feel foolish by the apes for complaining about a lack of prope clothing. Finally, there is the moment he is hand scraps and immediately rejects them on the basis of their stink. To which Zira replies he stinks just as badly. That tears it.
The Talking Doll
The talking human doll found in the caves in the Cornelius’ archaeological dig in the Forbidden Zone is yet another simple object that becomes a symbol of terror for Dr. Zaius. There is a bit of a disconnect among modern audiences here: the terror for Zaius lies in the fact that a human doll constructed on the basis of the humans the know would not speak. Anthropomorphic dolls in our world are given the chance to speak without it having any particularly deep meaning, but this points to another bit of value in director Franklin J. Schaffner’s decision to limit the evolutionary scale of the ape society from one that was technologically advanced to one just bare past the Stone Age. Of course, another way of looking at it would be in terms of a Medieval dollmaker giving voice to a wolf or cat. Such a decision made under the heavy authority of the Church would be deemed heretical. Which, of course, is exactly how Zaius sells the idea of a talking human doll made in a society where humans have never spoken.
Stewart, the Dead Eve
Stewart is a rather bizarre symbol. Her role as a new Eve for the men accompanying her on the voyage is made perversely clear by Taylor. The fact that the new Eve for a new generation of man is killed before she could even start serving out her rather tasteless role as a procreating machine is filled with a symbolic darkness that every viewer can feel free to interpret for themselves, of course, but her death most assuredly should be taken as a foreshadowing that a new Eve is not necessarily since Taylor has merely circled through time to come right back to where the old Eve already got things started.
The Statue of Liberty
And, of course, the most famous symbol of the movie. The decapitated head of Lady Liberty overflows with symbolic meaning. It immediately tells the audience where Taylor has been this whole. Its destruction is shorthand for the nuclear future awaiting us all. And, less obvious perhaps, the Statue of Liberty is also symbolic of the failure of 20th century geopolitics. Competition gains us nothing and lack of cooperation loses us everthing.
