What is the origin of the Black Tablet thing surrounded by apes?
In the Tim Burton adaptation Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film and one of the episodes of The Simpsons both show a scene were a bunch of apes in what seems to be a canyon region are looking at a long black tablet....thing.
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory it turns into the Wonka Bar that Wonka beamed into the TV
In The Simpsons the apes who used it began to use tools while the Homer Ape touched it and then began to use it as a back scratcher
I am wondering what is the origin of this reference?
Best Answer
This is a reference to the opening scene of the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey in which an alien monolith appears among a group of ancient apes and imbues them with the beginnings of human intelligence while Thus Spake Zarathustra plays.
Here is a clip on YouTube:
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The Bored Ape Conspiracy (theory) - A Cultural Disease
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