Editing Orangutan (section)

=== In fiction ===

{{Main|Orangutans in popular culture}}
[[File:Daniel Urrabieta y Vierge - The Murders in the Rue Morgue.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Illustration of an orangutan attacking a woman from The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Daniel Vierge|1870 illustration for "[[The Murders in the Rue Morgue]]" by [[Daniel Vierge]]]]

Orangutans first appeared in Western fiction in the 18th century and have been used to comment on human society. Written by the pseudonymous A. Ardra, ''Tintinnabulum naturae'' (The Bell of Nature, 1772) is told from the point of view of a human-orangutan hybrid who calls himself the "metaphysician of the woods". Around 50 years later, the anonymously written work ''The Orang Outang'' is narrated by a pure orangutan in captivity in the US, writing a letter critiquing Boston society to her friend in Java.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|108–09}}

[[Thomas Love Peacock]]'s 1817 novel ''[[Melincourt (novel)|Melincourt]]'' features Sir Oran Haut Ton, an orangutan who lives among English people and becomes a candidate for [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]. The novel satirises the class and political system of Britain. Oran's purity and status as a "natural man" stands in contrast to the immorality and corruption of the "civilised" humans.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|110–11}} In [[Frank Challice Constable]]'s ''The Curse of Intellect'' (1895), the protagonist Reuben Power travels to Borneo and captures an orangutan to train it to speak so he can "know what a beast like that might think of us".<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|114–15}} Orangutans are featured prominently in the 1963 science fiction novel ''[[Planet of the Apes (novel)|Planet of the Apes]]'' by [[Pierre Boulle]] and the [[Planet of the Apes|media franchise]] derived from it. They are typically portrayed as [[bureaucrat]]s like [[Dr. Zaius]], the science minister.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|118–19, 175–76}}

Orangutans are sometimes portrayed as antagonists, notably in the 1832 [[Walter Scott]] novel ''[[Count Robert of Paris]]'' and the 1841 [[Edgar Allan Poe]] short story ''[[The Murders in the Rue Morgue]]''.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|145}} [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s 1967 [[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|animated musical adaptation]] of ''[[The Jungle Book]]'' added a jazzy orangutan named [[King Louie]], who tries to get [[Mowgli]] to teach him how to make fire.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|266}} The 1986 horror film ''[[Link (film)|Link]]'' features an intelligent orangutan which serves a university professor but has sinister motives; he plots against humanity and stalks a female student assistant.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|174–75}} Other stories have portrayed orangutans helping humans, such as [[The Librarian (Discworld)|The Librarian]] in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s fantasy novels ''[[Discworld]]'' and in [[Dale Smith (poet)|Dale Smith]]'s 2004 novel ''What the Orangutan Told Alice''.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|123}} More comical portrayals of the orangutan include the 1996 film ''[[Dunston Checks In]]''.<ref name="cribb"/>{{rp|181}}