Oliver (chimpanzee) - Oliver in Popular Culture

Oliver in Popular Culture

The decades long speculation about Oliver's origins and the possibility that he was a human-chimp hybrid have led to numerous references in popular culture. Many of these are satirical in nature or at least intended to be humorous. For example, the popular Church of the SubGenius assigns a feast day or holy day (sometimes several) to every day of the year and has seen fit to assign October 20 as The Feast of Saint Oliver the humanzee.

In addition, there are musical outfits appearing in North America referencing Oliver's legacy, such as The Humanzees from Ontario, as well as a New Mexico Jam band calling itself Oliver and The Humanzees. Pop culture depictions like these generally ignore or predate the more recent proof that Oliver is not a hybrid. Oliver has been regularly talked about by Karl Pilkington on The Ricky Gervais Show on a feature called "Monkey News".

The character Caesar in the 1972 film "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" is actually based on Oliver, according to the actor Andy Serkis who played the character in a 2010 remake.

Read more about this topic:  Oliver (chimpanzee)

Famous quotes containing the words oliver, popular and/or culture:

    I have seen in this revolution a circular motion of the sovereign power through two usurpers, father and son, to the late King to this his son. For ... it moved from King Charles I to the Long Parliament; from thence to the Rump; from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell; and then back again from Richard Cromwell to the Rump; then to the Long Parliament; and thence to King Charles, where long may it remain.
    Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)

    Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers another.
    Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)

    When women finally get liberated, they’ll do the same that men do—dog eat dog— that’s what our culture is.... Not cooperation but assassination. Women will cooperate until they attain certain goals. Then one will begin to destroy the other.
    Alice Neel (1900–1984)