Gorillas are primates typically divided into four subspecies, Western Lowland, Cross River, Mountain, and Eastern Lowland gorillas. The Bwindi population is also being considered for being a fifth subspecies. (https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/primates/facts/fact-gorilla.cfm) Gorillas are primarily herbivores, meaning they feed on plants. (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/herbivorous) Their diet consists of a variety of shrubs and vines, along with fruit. They will also occasionally consume invertebrates found on the plants they eat, in order to gain protein. (https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/primates/facts/fact-gorilla.cfm) Gorillas are fairly large mammals, being 4-6 feet tall while standing, and weighing 300-485 pounds. (http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/mountain-gorilla/ ) Gorillas live in the tropical rainforests of Africa, where there is a large amount of edible greens for them to consume.
The presence of the gorilla in western media has existed for many decades. The first scientific description of a gorilla came in 1847, where a skull found in Gabon allowed their differentiation from chimpanzees. (https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YgGzvE5QfUcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=gorillas&ots=ke2Qmw_Uv2&sig=BU51zsJ4kaS59Iia0SZTXBoDpnE#v=onepage&q=gorillas&f=false ) Soon after, gorillas started appearing in art and sculpture, already depicted as dangerous and powerful. French sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet is often credited for starting the trend of gorillas being monsters in his “Gorilla Carrying off Woman” sculpture from 1887. The piece has received much criticism, yet made a lasting cultural impact. () This “King Kong” motif still persists today, and the gorilla has permeated heavily into popular culture. The animal has appeared in modern television, film, comic books, and music, and is frequently depicted as a savage and scary animal. Like any wild animal, gorillas can of course be dangerous when provoked, but it’s important to note that they are also highly intelligent individuals and a troop of gorillas work together to create a thriving and synchronized life, much like their human counterparts. Koko is a notable gorilla who has received very positive media attention, mostly due to her ability to communicate with sign language, and adoption and care of kittens. She shows that the media can also choose to portray gorillas in a good light, but often choose to only cover attacks and other bad things that happen related to the species. Public opinions of gorillas can be good or bad, depending on what is chosen to be shown in various forms of media, and these opinions can have deeper impacts on gorillas themselves, so it’s important to consider this when making assumptions about the animal.
The sociozoologic scale is a way that humans categorize animals by their benefits to our society. (textbook) This idea closely relates to how humans are often stratified on the basis of class, race, or caste. Human stratification tends to give privileges and opportunity to those are the top of the scale, and the sociozoologic scale is no different. Animals such as tigers, dolphins, and gorillas occupy a high level on the scale, as opposed to rats and cockroaches at the bottom. Humans recognize the beauty, intelligence, and relative rarity of gorillas over other animals, so for that we value them highly. Despite this value, gorillas occupy an interesting space in public opinion. They are recognized for being special and important animals, yet are constantly depicted negatively in media. The classic Hollywood film “King Kong” built off the long-standing idea that gorillas are dangerous animals with an inherent desire to carry off a human woman. Other films such as “Bride of the Gorilla” and “Gorilla at Large” have posters showing a scared, hyper-sexualized woman being carried off by an oversized gorilla. () These films came out in the 1950s, a time where media was permeating more and more into American culture, and horror films were especially popular. Eco-horror films were a genre that popped up showing the dangers, albeit fictional, of being in the wild. These films took particular interest in gorillas, and how their similarities to humans made them threatening, even though this wasn’t true. This portrayal of gorillas has even continued into the 21st century, with films such as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” depicting human-hating gorillas who have a drive to overtake humanity. All of these films may make for fun entertainment, but are overly-dramatic portrayals of an animal that is not any more dangerous than any other.
To analyze why these negative portrayals matter to the well-being of gorillas, we must look at a real-world example. In May 2016, a Western Lowland gorilla named Harambe was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo after a 3-year old boy entered the gorilla’s enclosure. This incident sparked a media firestorm, with people arguing whether or not it was right to kill the gorilla. Looking back at previous examples of gorillas in media, there may be some context to explain a predisposition for zoo officials to believe killing the gorilla was the best option. Our culture has been told for years that gorillas are dangerous animals with little mercy for human life. Zoo officials obviously had more knowledge of gorillas and their behaviors than what they’ve seen in movies, but an unconscious bias could still exist. The entire situation is complicated and hard to argue one side over another. Some media outlets chose to blast both the zoo for killing the animal, and the mother of the child for not paying attention to her son. Others chose to defend the zoo for being proactive and not putting the young boy’s life in danger, while also saying that many parents make mistakes and the child just slipped away from his mother. The fact that some new reports showed one side of the situation, while others showed the opposite proves the media’s ability to manipulate public opinion. People form opinions based on the information they know, and if they read one article saying the gorilla was dragging the boy around the enclosure, then they would believe that, and demonize the gorilla. If someone read that the gorilla was simply trying to play with the boy, then they would be angered that the zoo shot Harambe. This one instance shows that the media is not all truth, and this is important to keep in mind when seeing depictions of gorillas in movies and TV, because just because you see it doesn’t mean you should believe it.
Gorillas are also often tied to negative racial stereotypes in media. Blacks are often given the title of being a primate by racist individuals. “Unbelievably, even in the twenty-first century, the association of black with monkeys and apes still has not disappeared.” (textbook, pg. 266) This stereotype draws from the idea that Blacks were more likely to engage in violence or rape, which matched the negative stereotype for apes. It it degrading to both gorillas and African Americans, for depicting both in ways that are untrue. The original “King Kong” film, released in 1933, serves more than just a purpose of being a horror film. The gorilla’s attraction to the white female in the movie can be compared to national attitudes toward black men being sexual savages. (http://gaildines.com/2009/09/king-kong-and-the-white-woman/ ) The gorilla in the film is a symbol of how black men were viewed in the 1930s, and it was up to the white men in the film to save the innocent white woman from violence and rape at the hands of the negatively portrayed gorilla. This idea still persists today, with images of the Obamas being compared to primates surfacing during the 2008 presidential election. Other films of the time, such as Blonde Venus, utilize anthropomorphization of gorillas to portray sexuality in the main character. Anthropomorphization is when human characteristics are given to animals. (textbook) In the case of Blonde Venus, the main character dances in a gorilla suit in a way a gorilla couldn’t, then removes it to show herself in sexualized clothing. () This is clearly making a relation between her sexuality, and that of a gorilla.
Extensive research has found that “man’s closest living relatives are the great apes, the African chimpanzee and gorilla, and the Asian orangutan.” (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1978Natur.276..264B ) Humans are so similar to them, yet many fear them and underestimate their abilities. George Schaller studied gorillas extensively in the 1960s, and found them to “one of the most passive, gentle and placid animals in the wild kingdom.” (trps-12-80-01-063 – see pdf) Perhaps we hear them because of how similar to us they are. Gorillas such as Koko have been taught sign language in order to easily and directly communicate with humans, a feat that goes beyond communication with any other animal on earth. Yet, we still portray them as monstrous, and most see them as such. In a survey of 1,000 people, “52% agreed that they enjoy television commercials with chimpanzees because they are funny when they act like humans, but only 37% agreed with that statement regarding gorillas.” (JEE – GAH visitor survey.pdf) The same group also reported a generally more negative attitude towards gorillas. This is interesting to think about since gorillas resemble humans more closely them chimps, with a height and weight very near the average man. People typically identify more closely with chimps than gorillas, and chimps are much less likely to have a negative portrayal in media.
Despite many negative portrayals of gorillas in media, positive portrayals exist as well. When discussing how humans relate closely to gorillas, a certain individual named Koko is often brought up. Koko is a 44-year-old lowland gorilla who is notable for knowing 1,000 words in sign language, and understanding over 2,000 words of spoken English. (http://www.koko.org/koko-0 ) She gained widespread media attention for her skills, and became a celebrity, being featured in the news, and getting to meet numerous celebrities. Perhaps Koko is so well liked because her communication skills bring her as close to being human as possible, and that removes the sense of danger that people falsely feel with gorillas. “Language has long been viewed as the evolutionary hallmark that distinguishes man from other animals,” and Koko breaks that idea. (Koko2 pdf) Her abilities open up a whole new way humans can look at animals, and make them see that they aren’t something that far removed from us. Koko enjoys watching movies, and has adopted kittens that she cares for, which are very human-like things to do. She is not kept in a cage, and doesn’t live in a natural forest habitat, and it’s likely that these distinctions are the reason she is one of the few times you hear good things about the gorillas in media.
Also worth discussing in terms of positive media portrayals are nature shows on television. Reality television is a popular fad in T.V. at the moment, and shows covering animals are no exception to this genre. Viewers of reality television desire authenticity deeply, yet “revel in the ironic mixture of the factitious and spontaneous.” (Paradox and the Consumption of Authenticity through Reality Telev pdf.) It’s hard to force animals in the wild to do something just for the sake of entertainment, but it’s important to remember that clever editing and camera tricks can create a false story for the viewer. Although some things you see in natural history T.V. may be exaggerated, they can also provide a lot of information to viewers. Looking past attempts to make everyday live in the wild dramatic, watching a show about nature “allows many of us to view animals that we would generally never get the chance to see.” (textbook) Seeing a gorilla in it’s natural habitat on Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel could open people’s eyes to challenges they face as an endangered species. Many children’s shows focus on animals as well. Relaying educational information about animals in a kid-friendly way, without the violence and sex sometimes seen in more adult nature shows. Both types of animals shows provide education and appeal to people of all different ages. Seeing how gentle gorillas are, and that they generally only eat plants and don’t hunt for food, could greatly shift individual attitudes toward gorillas. This one media portrayal of gorillas could work wonders to shifting attitudes and breaking the “King Kong” stereotype.
As often as we see incidents tied to gorillas being shown in the media, we should expect to see the plights of gorillas shown to us often as well, yet we don’t. Ebola is a virus that can impact both humans and animals, and carries a 50% fatality rate. (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/ ) The 2014 outbreak of the virus was the worst in history, making global headlines and creating a large panic. What many don’t know about Ebola is that it killed an estimated 5000 gorillas in 2002 and 2003. (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/314/5805/1564.full.pdf+html ) This was massively underreported, as generally only the human impacts of the disease have been seen in the media. This is just one example of problems that gorillas face, yet we don’t often hear about. As of 1994, moist forest was being lost at a rate of nearly 2% in West Africa, a rate that hasn’t slowed since. (gorilla tourism pdf) This loss of habitat for gorillas is greatly damaging, as a decrease in the already limited habitat of gorillas drives them closer to human-occupied territory, and out of their natural habitat. Population rates in Africa are also skyrocketing, further depleting forest area for gorillas to thrive in, as booming populations spread over land. Gorillas are also hunted extensively. Bushmeat is traded more and more in recent years, and it’s commercialization has created levels of demand that cannot be met. This issue also ties back to the 2003 Ebola outbreak, where humans began to contract the virus after consuming infected carcass. (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10393-007-0096-2 ) So this hunting is bad for both gorilla and human populations.
It is important for us to question why we hear the things we do from media. We hear for weeks about a tragic incident that involves a gorilla in captivity and a human boy, but never about habitats being damaged or numbers to innocent gorillas being hunted down for sport. In the case of Harambe at the Cincinnati Zoo, we heard about this because it directly involved a human, and that human could have been hurt. We don’t hear about other issues gorillas face because humans aren’t also threatened by these issues. As media continues to evolve, we need to remember many things we hear are biased and unfear, and that humans are not the only living animal on this planet.