5 Monkeys is a video by Peter Zaza that uses monkey characters as stand-ins for people in human society. The video begins with five monkeys in a cage. At the center of the cage is a flight of stairs and at the top of the stairs; bananas. Whenever a monkey tries to climb the stairs and grab the bananas, he gets sprayed with cold water. When one monkey is removed and replaced with a new monkey, an interesting phenomenon occurs. When the new monkey tries to retrieve the bananas, the other monkeys prevent him from doing so, often with force. The story continues to unfold as one monkey after another is removed from the cage and replaced with a new monkey.
The video represents human society and the way that we behave with regards to rules. There are many laws that are laws simply because those laws have “always” existed and there must have been a good reason for them in the first place, right? But as the video points out, many of these rules were created under conditions that don’t affect current society. Peter Zaza is a digital artist who believes that 9/11 was a hoax and regularly takes a swipe at the American government. Watch more anti-propaganda videos on his youtube channel, casazaza.
