Blowhard, Esq. writes:

In 1972, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the fourth installment in the series, was released. When the film begins, humans have enslaved the apes but eventually the apes rise up in revolution against their oppressors. There may be some deeper moral or subtext about racism and bigotry, but I can’t be sure. All I know is, when they needed some buildings to portray a sterile dystopia, they logically chose the recently-completed University of California Irvine campus, which happens to be my undergraduate alma mater. I took some screencaps from the movie then went over there today for a then-and-now comparison.

First, here’s the plaza between the two main libraries. The buildings on the left and right are real, while everything else in the background is a matte painting.

If I walk forward from the picture immediately above and turn the corner left, this is the view.

West of the two libraries is Murray Krieger Hall. I had many classes in this building.

Back east are the two main Social Science buildings.

If you go down the stairs and turn to the right, you’re in the Social Science Plaza, which faces the libraries.

Now, if I turn to the right, we see the Social Science Plaza itself. You can see that the ape is chained to a concrete pylon in the middle of a planter that is now occupied by trees.

Thank God for those trees, right? They add shade, interest, and hide the aggressive ugliness. The above collection of buildings, designed by a team headed by William Pereira, were built in the mid 60s. They were so delighted with what he came up with that they named a road after him.

A couple decades later, though, trends had changed so a new style was called for. I believe this was built sometime in the 90s.

And here’s the new Student Center that was completed just a few years ago.

The new buildings are better, but considering where the school started, the bar was set pretty damned low. Anything that showed the slightest respect for people was bound to be a vast improvement.

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