The Brave New World of Sci-Fi
by Matt M.
The 1950s saw the emergence of a new genre of entertainment: “Sci-Fi,” or science fiction. This genre sought to imaginatively envision the future as it would be changed (most Americans agreed) by sweeping advances in technology.
Sci-Fi appealed to 1950s Americans through many different mediums including comic books, movies, television, and novels. The genre was a reaction to all the technological advances that drastically changed American life during and shortly after World War II. Whether creative minds thought technology would lead to a wonderful utopia or disastrous post-apocalyptic nightmare, all agreed that the technology that had won the war and made housework ‘a breeze’ would change everyday life in the future as few could imagine.
By looking at a few specific ‘sci-fi’ movies that captivated the American audience in the 1950s, we can better understand some of the issues that Americans were dealing with both in a personal sense and together as a nation.
When Worlds Collide:
This movie imagines what would happen if earth was guaranteed to be destroyed. How would society react? What would people do? In the movie people react calmly and logically for the most part (just as it was hoped they would in the event of nuclear war with the U.S.S.R.) and it is decided that life should start anew somewhere else using an escape pod. As scifimoviepage.com states: “plans are hatched to build a modern “Noah’s Ark” – a rocket uncannily resembling a V-2, basically a ballistic missile, developed by the Nazis during World War II…” (scifimoviepage.com). This film shows that Americans were dealing with the possibility that their society could be destroyed and were trying to look for answers as to what they could possibly do to salvage their way of life.
The Thing (from another world):
This film, like many other sci-fi movies of the 1950s, deals with the perceived threat of communism. The ‘thing’ is mindless and conformist, and spreads quickly with a hive-like mentality. “The alien is actually a vegetable and needs human or animal blood to survive. The creature can also procreate at an incredible rate -- it only needs to sow a few seedlings. Thus the entire planet is in ultimate danger of being taken over by this creature or rather its seedlings” (scifimoviepage.com). This threat mimics the threat that mindless followers of communism could spread quickly throughout the world and destroy everything that America has built.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers:
Much like The Thing (from another world), though vastly more studied and commented on because of its communistic fear parallels, Invasion of the Body Snatchers also tells the story of mindless ‘pods’ that threaten the society that Americans have built and fought in two world wars to protect. As the description states: “Townsfolk accuse their loved ones of acting like emotionless impostors. Santa Mira has been invaded by alien "pods" that are capable of replicating humans and taking possession of their identities. It's up to McCarthy to spread the word of warning, battling the alien invasion at the risk of his own life” (scifimoviepage.com).
War of the Worlds:
War of the Worlds, which most people are familiar with because of the recent adaptation by Steven Spielberg, is most interesting in terms of the 1950s because of the plot point that must have struck a cord with 1950s viewers: “As formations of alien ships continue to wreak destruction around the globe, the military is helpless to stop this enemy while scientists race to find an effective weapon” (scifimoviepage.com). In the movie conventional weapons and military stratagems cannot defeat the threat. The only hope is science. Science is the savior and must develop a way to overcome this obstacle. This was very appealing in the 1950s because science (the A-bomb) had ended the world’s greatest war and people were convinced that all the answers to life’s problems could be obtained using science, logic, and reasoning.
Also included is a link to a website with many interesting analyses about sci-fi in the 1950s. From there I found this great quote that pertinently concludes this post: “The 1950s spawned atomic nightmares and invaders from space that were fanciful (if not tame) stand-ins for the Cold War, nuclear bombs and Communist witch hunts that pervaded real life” (awdsgn.com).
Works Cited:
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/1950s.html
http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html
http://www.awdsgn.com/Classes/WebI_Fall02/WebI-Final/JBusser/
all of these links are actually very interesting and worth checking out.
The 1950s saw the emergence of a new genre of entertainment: “Sci-Fi,” or science fiction. This genre sought to imaginatively envision the future as it would be changed (most Americans agreed) by sweeping advances in technology.
Sci-Fi appealed to 1950s Americans through many different mediums including comic books, movies, television, and novels. The genre was a reaction to all the technological advances that drastically changed American life during and shortly after World War II. Whether creative minds thought technology would lead to a wonderful utopia or disastrous post-apocalyptic nightmare, all agreed that the technology that had won the war and made housework ‘a breeze’ would change everyday life in the future as few could imagine.
By looking at a few specific ‘sci-fi’ movies that captivated the American audience in the 1950s, we can better understand some of the issues that Americans were dealing with both in a personal sense and together as a nation.
When Worlds Collide:
This movie imagines what would happen if earth was guaranteed to be destroyed. How would society react? What would people do? In the movie people react calmly and logically for the most part (just as it was hoped they would in the event of nuclear war with the U.S.S.R.) and it is decided that life should start anew somewhere else using an escape pod. As scifimoviepage.com states: “plans are hatched to build a modern “Noah’s Ark” – a rocket uncannily resembling a V-2, basically a ballistic missile, developed by the Nazis during World War II…” (scifimoviepage.com). This film shows that Americans were dealing with the possibility that their society could be destroyed and were trying to look for answers as to what they could possibly do to salvage their way of life.
The Thing (from another world):
This film, like many other sci-fi movies of the 1950s, deals with the perceived threat of communism. The ‘thing’ is mindless and conformist, and spreads quickly with a hive-like mentality. “The alien is actually a vegetable and needs human or animal blood to survive. The creature can also procreate at an incredible rate -- it only needs to sow a few seedlings. Thus the entire planet is in ultimate danger of being taken over by this creature or rather its seedlings” (scifimoviepage.com). This threat mimics the threat that mindless followers of communism could spread quickly throughout the world and destroy everything that America has built.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers:
Much like The Thing (from another world), though vastly more studied and commented on because of its communistic fear parallels, Invasion of the Body Snatchers also tells the story of mindless ‘pods’ that threaten the society that Americans have built and fought in two world wars to protect. As the description states: “Townsfolk accuse their loved ones of acting like emotionless impostors. Santa Mira has been invaded by alien "pods" that are capable of replicating humans and taking possession of their identities. It's up to McCarthy to spread the word of warning, battling the alien invasion at the risk of his own life” (scifimoviepage.com).
War of the Worlds:
War of the Worlds, which most people are familiar with because of the recent adaptation by Steven Spielberg, is most interesting in terms of the 1950s because of the plot point that must have struck a cord with 1950s viewers: “As formations of alien ships continue to wreak destruction around the globe, the military is helpless to stop this enemy while scientists race to find an effective weapon” (scifimoviepage.com). In the movie conventional weapons and military stratagems cannot defeat the threat. The only hope is science. Science is the savior and must develop a way to overcome this obstacle. This was very appealing in the 1950s because science (the A-bomb) had ended the world’s greatest war and people were convinced that all the answers to life’s problems could be obtained using science, logic, and reasoning.
Also included is a link to a website with many interesting analyses about sci-fi in the 1950s. From there I found this great quote that pertinently concludes this post: “The 1950s spawned atomic nightmares and invaders from space that were fanciful (if not tame) stand-ins for the Cold War, nuclear bombs and Communist witch hunts that pervaded real life” (awdsgn.com).
Works Cited:
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/1950s.html
http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html
http://www.awdsgn.com/Classes/WebI_Fall02/WebI-Final/JBusser/
all of these links are actually very interesting and worth checking out.
posted by Leslie Madsen-Brooks at 12/05/2006 08:49:00 PM
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