Gorillas in popular culture

Representations of gorillas are common in popular culture in the Western world with the full range of electronic media having gorillas as mascots, gorillas behaving like humans, and humans behaving like gorillas.

Art

* The French sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet won a medal of honour at the Salon of 1887 for his masterly '' Gorilla Carrying off a Woman'' (''"Gorille enlevant une Femme"''). The sculpture depicts a gorilla abducting a woman, something totally alien to actual gorilla behaviour. The Frémiet sculpture had somehow caught the public's imagination, as witnessed by the repeated popularity of the ''King Kong'' theme.

Animation

* The 1942 Superman cartoon '' Terror on the Midway'' featured the Man of Steel fighting a gorilla that has escaped during a circus fire.
* In the 1944 Donald Duck cartoon ''Donald Duck and the Gorilla'', a gorilla named Ajax escapes from the city zoo and terrorizes Donald Duck.
* Magilla Gorilla is a well-known Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960s.
* In the '' Dragon Ball'' franchise, the protagonist Goku and several other characters belong to an extraterrestrial species known as Saiyans that can transform into gigantic gorilla-like beings called Great Apes.
* In the animated 1999 Disney version of ''Tarzan'', the hero's adopted family are gorillas (unlike the "Great Apes" of the original book), including Kala (voiced by Glenn Close), Kerchak (voiced by Lance Henriksen) and Terk (voiced by Rosie O'Donnell).
* In 2005 animated prequel film ''Tarzan II'', several additional characters are introduced: Uto (voiced by Brad Garrett), Kago (voiced by Ron Perlman), Mama Gunda (voiced by Estelle Harris), and Zugo (voiced by George Carlin).
* In the Tarzan-parody animated TV series '' George of the Jungle'', George's best friend is an erudite talking gorilla named Ape. In the Disney 1997 film adaptation, Ape is voiced by John Cleese.
* Windsor, a supporting character in the animated Cartoon Network series, ''My Gym Partner's a Monkey'', is a gorilla.
* In the anime series ''Cromartie High School'', a gorilla is one of the more powerful delinquents at Cromartie High. He (she?) also plays backup guitar for "Freddie", a fellow student who may or may not be Freddie Mercury.
* The Iron Kong in the Zoids universe is a mecha shaped like a gorilla.
* In the '' Beast Wars'' and '' Beast Machines'' TV series, the leader of the Maximals, Optimus Primal, adopted an organic-skinned "beast mode" of a gorilla; and later in the series a TransMetal gorilla, and then (Beast Machines) he became a techno-organic gorilla.
* In the animated television series ''Ben 10'', the future version of Dr. Animo has a detachable human head and the body of a gorilla as seen in the episode "Ben 10,000".
* Ultimate Spidermonkey from '' Ben 10: Ultimate Alien'' is based on a gorilla mixed with a spider.
* Gor-illa/Gor is a gorilla made sentient by an alien race in the science fiction cartoon ''Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys''.
* Several gorilla characters appear in the Disney Junior series ''The Lion Guard'', including Majinuni (voiced by Daniel Howell), Hafifu (voiced by Phil Lester), King Sokwe (voiced by John Rhys-Davies), and Shujaa (voiced by Christopher Jackson).
* A western lowland gorilla named Momo appears in the '' Class of 3000'' episode "Funky Monkey". He lives in the Zoo Atlanta and wants to be a drummer like Lil D.
* In the manga ''One-Punch Man'', there is a character named "Armored Gorilla".

Comics

* In ''The Adventures of Tintin'' comic ''The Black Island'', a gorilla called Ranko was featured, who people thought was a monster.
* Gorillas were frequently used as a gimmick to sell comics during the Silver Age of Comic Books: see Gorillas in comics.
* Several intelligent gorilla characters appear in DC Comics media: the heroes Congorilla and Solovar, and the villains Gorilla Grodd and Monsieur Mallah.
* Marvel Apes, a Marvel Comics mini-series in which The Gibbon is transported into an alternate earth where all the Superheroes have simian counterparts (Captain Apemerica).
* In the ''Planet of the Apes'' comic books, normal-sized gorillas fill security/military roles.
* ''Grease Monkey'' is a science fiction series centered around intelligent gorillas.
* In the space opera webcomic ''Schlock Mercenary'', one of the recurring characters is an uplifted gorilla (i.e. a gorilla that has genetically enhanced, human-level sentience). This gorilla also bears the name Kerchak.

Film

* The giant gorilla is a recurring theme in film, especially in the various incarnations of ''King Kong'' and '' Mighty Joe Young.''
* '' Ingagi'' (1930), lost Pre-Code hoax documentary (now regarded as an exploitation film) about apes kidnapping native women.
* ''Tarzan the Ape Man'' (1932), first sound-era Tarzan film starring Johnny Weissmuller.
* ''Murders in the Rue Morgue'' (1932), Universal Pictures horror tale based on the 1841 Edgar Allan Poe story.
* '' The Gorilla'' (1939), horror comedy film starring the Ritz Brothers, Anita Louise, Lionel Atwill, and Bela Lugosi.
* ''Perils of Nyoka'' (1942), Republic Pictures movie serial with Kay Aldridge as Nyoka the Jungle Girl.
* ''The Ape Man'' (1943), horror-science fiction story starring Bela Lugosi.
* '' Nabonga'' (1944), a PRC jungle girl film starring Buster Crabbe and Julie London.
* '' White Pongo'' (1945), safari adventure yarn about fictional white ape.
* '' Mark of the Gorilla'' (1950), Jungle Jim tale of Nazis impersonating great apes.
* '' Bride of the Gorilla'' (1951), starring Raymond Burr who changes into a gorilla and torments his wife.
* '' Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla'' (1952), comedy featuring Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo, as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis clones, meet Béla Lugosi on a remote island who can turn people into gorillas.
* ''Robot Monster'' (1953), campy, low-budget science fiction yarn with alien ape creatures.
* ''Spooks!'' (1953), in this comedy short, The Three Stooges encounter mad scientist bent on transplanting human brains into apes.
* '' Gorilla at Large'' (1954), horror mystery B-movie set in a carnival.
* '' The Bride and the Beast'' (1958), horror film directed by Adrian Weiss and co-written by Edward D. Wood Jr.
* ''Kong Island'', aka ''King of Kong Island'' (1968), Italian jungle adventure saga with a science fiction element (i.e., apes controlled by mad scientist).
* ''Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey'' (1988), drama documenting a scientist in East Africa's Rwanda crusading for the rights of endangered mountain gorillas.
* ''Baby's Day Out'' (1994), American comedy film shows a segment of a gorilla protecting the protagonist from the kidnappers.
* '' Congo'' (1995), African action adventure film loosely based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name.
* ''Tarzeena, Queen of Kong Island'' (2008), exploitation film directed by Fred Olen Ray.
* '' Kong: Skull Island'' (2017), retelling of ''King Kong''.
* Various non-human apes dominate the world in the ''Planet of the Apes'' novel and film series, among them gorillas, who act as the soldiers and laborers in ape society. Notable characters include General Ursus and Aldo.
* George the white gorilla from '' Rampage'' (2018), film directed by Brad Peyton.
* Gus Gorilla is a murderous animatronic from ''Willy's Wonderland.

Magazines and literature

* Fester Bestertester, the protagonist of Don Martin's '' Mad'' strip ''National Gorilla-Suit Day'' is beset by gorillas (or persons dressed as gorillas). "National Gorilla-Suit Day" is celebrated every year on January 31.
* In the award-winning novel '' Ishmael'', written by Daniel Quinn, a gorilla teaches the protagonist about the history of humanity and the effect "civilized" culture has had on other species.
* The novel '' Congo'' features "killer" gorillas
* In ''The Uplift War'', a science-fiction novel by David Brin

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