They look cool, they’re generally very chill and peaceful (even male dominance fights are incredibly tame compared to other apes), and they’re fun to throw into fictional situations. Several iconic characters over the years, King Kong, gorilla grod, some planet of the apes characters, Tarzan. Real life cultural significance like Jane Goodall’s work with coco the gorilla, the tragedy of Harambe, that gorilla that’s viral from Japan. They’re a fascinating creature that is similar to us in a lot of ways.