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Fear, Hysteria, Invasion
Fear, Hysteria, and Invasions: A Look at the Science Fiction Films of the 1950?s
By Anthony Taylor
Cleveland State University
Fear, Hysteria, Invasion Outline Anthony Taylor
COM 320
10-15-15
Introduction
Shoot First Mentality
Dr. Strangelove
US vs. Peace
Focus on military
Irrational Fear
Invasion of body snatcher and fear of unknown\
Godzilla and his attack on the city
Fear in the masses
Invasion of Body Snatchers and How no one could escape
Fear of visitors
Misconception
Creation of the Monsters
Different types of Monsters
Create in Japan
RUN! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THEY ARE AFTER US! Everyone after World War II and during the …show more content…
There was no clue on what was going to happen next. Daily threats of a new war were always happening and films took advantage of this fear. A majority of the films had a trigger ready military leader who had a (shot first mentality. In Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Forget and Love the Bomb, one of the commanders engages a nuclear missile strike on Russia. The unethical part about this is that Russia did not do anything to cause this. This leads to a meeting in an American War room where leaders discuss their plan to call off the strike and it backfires on them. It turns into a race against time, but fails. This shoot first ask questions later mentality was also shown in The Day the Earth Stood Still when the alien comes from his ship. The alien hands the military men something and then the alien gets fired at because the military thought he was dangerous. Injuring the peaceful alien also helped promote the idea he had that the world would never have peace if they did not change their ways. This reflects how America was at that time, anything foreign or different we attacked. The United States as a society constantly thought violence would help gain peace. Films focused a lot on our militant style of thinking during the 1950?s. The reason we were so quick to violence was because of …show more content…
The problems are from a wide variety, from aliens in outer space to nuclear bombs to killer blobs. In the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the problem at hand was the invasion of pod people in the small town. It turns out the people were cloned and created into unemotional replicas of themselves. The aliens who cloned them were trying to make an emotionless society where they could be successful without being ?human?. In the book Invasion USA: The Essential Science Fiction Films of 1950?s, it states that for most of the film, we are unsure, at which point some of the characters have been transformed (Bliss, 1956). This sparks the feeling of uneasiness and unknowingness that will drive the rest of the film. A handful of these films focus on suspenseful horror tied together with the intelligence of the science fiction genre. This fear was not solely in the United States, but all around the world. Take Godzilla for example. Off the coast of Japan there were huge shipwrecks throughout. Many villagers and military officials had no idea until the realization that the wrecks were caused by a large lizard like creature. The creature, Godzilla, was mutated due to the nuclear testing and lived in the surrounding waters. He then left the water where he terrorized the city, causing havoc and mayhem. Japan was in fear due to the recent recovery of the nuclear bombing.
1
Fear, Hysteria, Invasion
Fear, Hysteria, and Invasions: A Look at the Science Fiction Films of the 1950?s
By Anthony Taylor
Cleveland State University
Fear, Hysteria, Invasion Outline Anthony Taylor
COM 320
10-15-15
Introduction
Shoot First Mentality
Dr. Strangelove
US vs. Peace
Focus on military
Irrational Fear
Invasion of body snatcher and fear of unknown\
Godzilla and his attack on the city
Fear in the masses
Invasion of Body Snatchers and How no one could escape
Fear of visitors
Misconception
Creation of the Monsters
Different types of Monsters
Create in Japan
RUN! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! THEY ARE AFTER US! Everyone after World War II and during the …show more content…
There was no clue on what was going to happen next. Daily threats of a new war were always happening and films took advantage of this fear. A majority of the films had a trigger ready military leader who had a (shot first mentality. In Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Forget and Love the Bomb, one of the commanders engages a nuclear missile strike on Russia. The unethical part about this is that Russia did not do anything to cause this. This leads to a meeting in an American War room where leaders discuss their plan to call off the strike and it backfires on them. It turns into a race against time, but fails. This shoot first ask questions later mentality was also shown in The Day the Earth Stood Still when the alien comes from his ship. The alien hands the military men something and then the alien gets fired at because the military thought he was dangerous. Injuring the peaceful alien also helped promote the idea he had that the world would never have peace if they did not change their ways. This reflects how America was at that time, anything foreign or different we attacked. The United States as a society constantly thought violence would help gain peace. Films focused a lot on our militant style of thinking during the 1950?s. The reason we were so quick to violence was because of …show more content…
The problems are from a wide variety, from aliens in outer space to nuclear bombs to killer blobs. In the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the problem at hand was the invasion of pod people in the small town. It turns out the people were cloned and created into unemotional replicas of themselves. The aliens who cloned them were trying to make an emotionless society where they could be successful without being ?human?. In the book Invasion USA: The Essential Science Fiction Films of 1950?s, it states that for most of the film, we are unsure, at which point some of the characters have been transformed (Bliss, 1956). This sparks the feeling of uneasiness and unknowingness that will drive the rest of the film. A handful of these films focus on suspenseful horror tied together with the intelligence of the science fiction genre. This fear was not solely in the United States, but all around the world. Take Godzilla for example. Off the coast of Japan there were huge shipwrecks throughout. Many villagers and military officials had no idea until the realization that the wrecks were caused by a large lizard like creature. The creature, Godzilla, was mutated due to the nuclear testing and lived in the surrounding waters. He then left the water where he terrorized the city, causing havoc and mayhem. Japan was in fear due to the recent recovery of the nuclear bombing.