As an example we might consider the extremely successful motion picture, Planet of the Apes, based on Pierre Bouille’s novel of the same name. Aside from the considerable merits of the picture in a number of respects and on a number of levels, it was, subtly, an extremely sexy picture. It was so on the mental level, the fantasy level, where, perhaps surprisingly, the most dynamic and exciting sex originates. Glands and brain working together, stimulating one another, produce full human experiences which far outweigh the prosaic pleasures attendant merely on the proximities of bodies and the frictional stresses placed on surfaces. In the picture, doubtless a reflection of a fantasy of Mr. Bouille, human beings are reduced to the level of animals; they are hunted; they may be killed or caught. If they are killed, their carcases are tied like those of animals, upside down, to poles; if they are more fortunate animals, they may be merely caught; they may flee in terror, but, for some, there is no escape; they are even, in a brilliant fantasy stroke, netted; they are then bound and placed helpless, terrified, in crude, locked capture carts, as prizes; they are then taken to an animal holding area, where they are locked in cages; in Bouille’s story, as opposed to the picture, they, being animals, are of course nude. Once they have been hunted and caught, of course, they are helpless animals at the mercy of their masters. In particular, they can be forced to mate. The hero, of course, a fully rational human being, mixed by accident with these fellow humans, and unable to make his rationality known, is wild with horror. A beautiful female, leashed, eating a fruit, is then led to his cage. She is locked within with him. She is his mate. This is a fantasy which appeals to both men and women. Doubtless the success of the picture was partly dependent on the force of this fantasy. The woman, of course, would like to choose into whose cage she is placed nude, to be this publicly behind the bars, on the straw spread over the wooden floor of the cage. Similarly, the man, though at the mercy of the rational creatures whose animal he is, may surely be allowed to hope that the mate selected for him will be as beautiful as that allotted to Mr. Heston.

This Bouille fantasy incorporates a number of elements indicative of the successful fantasy. It is detailed, and deliberate. It is carefully worked out. It gains a reality in virtue of the very multiplicity and obduracy of the detail which defines it. It is a congruent, appropriate, natural series of events in a congruent, appropriate, natural environment. It is a bizarre real happening in a bizarre real world. Furthermore, it incorporates hazard, capture, helplessness and forced sex.