Films do and have always reflected society because they show what's important to people. Films demonstrate fads and hot button issues. Film is not only a piece of art but also a tool of social reform as it expresses the feelings of humans and their idea of contemporary society. Films are the mirror that reflect the society. They are controlled by powerful forces that filter information to the public as well as reflect their fears. This has been held true in the film industry for many decades. For example, when society had a fear of widespread crime then there were many films that reflected the police catching the criminals. When society felt that the schools were not educating the children then there were films reflecting inspirational teachers or school administrators who took charge and turned a school around. This has held true for all types of films throughout the decades. Popular science fiction films of the 1950s were no exception and reveal some of the widespread fears of that era.
The 1950s was indeed a decade of contradiction. Americans were both optimistic in the post-war economic times and scared in the shadow of the Cold War and the Atomic Age. Hollywood released many films during this period that reflected society’s paranoia and fears. Their paranoia was perpetuated by their fear of invasion and espionage, the fear of radiation and the fear of social change. Many of the films produced used the science fiction genre to dig deeper into these fears without frightening the audiences off from their political message.
Even though the United States and the Allies won World War II, there was paranoia about Communism including the fear of invasion by the Soviet Union and China. This fear came from the Cold War and the fai...
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...es, we must change for the better. In the movie, Klaatu appears before Barnhardt's colleagues and warns them that because the universe grows smaller every day, threats of aggression cannot be tolerated. Klaatu assures them that they will be under the watchful eye of a robot named Gort, who was invented by an organization of planets determined to stamp out violence. Each planet is guarded by a robot that impartially acts against aggression, and the inhabitants live in peace. He informs the crowd, "Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration."
Popular science fiction films of the 1950s revealed some of the widespread fears of that era. During that time of fear and change it must be remembered that the struggle was not alien versus human. Rather it was man versus himself and man versus the environment.
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Show MoreAmericans during the 60s lived in constant fear of nuclear war, especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film shows how easy it is for one person to destroy the world in a nuclear firestorm if governments are not careful enough. Ripper’s argument about fluoridated water also reflects the belief of some Americans that fluorine was actually a Cold War weapon by the Soviets to turn American communist. General Jack D. Ripper himself also served to present an American stereotype along with General Turgidson. They both seeked to destroy the Soviet Union without any care to logic or human life. Turgidson, in particular, reminds me of Patton, who wanted to invade the Soviet Union after WWII, and MacArthur, who wanted to invade China during the Korean War. Both of these generals epitomize how people thought of Americans as zealously anti communist and violently stupid. Additionally, Dr. Strangelove and his proposal for fallout shelters show how much the Cold War interfered with Americans’ lives with the constant duck and cover drills and shelters for nuclear war. Finally, the captain of the B-52, King Kong, also represents American stereotypes with his southern accent and his patriotic final act of sitting on top of the bomb while it is falling down towards the Soviet Union. When he found out about the orders, he did not question them and went down fighting. Many people regarded Americans as gun toting southerners who were just as patriotic as they were trigger
One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity. However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower who compared the spread of communism as the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it...
... out of a 1950s woman's film. The melodramatic influences of the film continue to manifest themselves in the newer release, just as Apocalypse Now continues to influence the epic movies of contemporary filmmakers. The unison of operatic spectacle and personal conflict spawned an original genre in the 1970s that remains an effective method of addressing social concerns. As we enter another period of political unrest and social change, it is likely that a new wave of melodramatic films is beginning to form on the horizon; there are certainly parallels between a government that declares war on terrorism and the U.S. army in Vietnam, who "knew everything about military tactics, but nothing about where they were or who the enemy was" (Cowie 143). From Conrad to Coppola, nuclear family to nuclear terrorism; never get off the boat, unless you're willing to go all the way.
Literature and film have always held a strange relationship with the idea of technological progress. On one hand, with the advent of the printing press and the refinements of motion picture technology that are continuing to this day, both literature and film owe a great deal of their success to the technological advancements that bring them to widespread audiences. Yet certain films and works of literature have also never shied away from portraying the dangers that a lust for such progress can bring with it. The modern output of science-fiction novels and films found its genesis in speculative ponderings on the effect such progress could hold for the every day population, and just as often as not those speculations were damning. Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein and Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis are two such works that hold great importance in the overall canon of science-fiction in that they are both seen as the first of their kind. It is often said that Mary Shelley, with her authorship of Frankenstein, gave birth to the science-fiction novel, breathing it into life as Frankenstein does his monster, and Lang's Metropolis is certainly a candidate for the first genuine science-fiction film (though a case can be made for Georges Méliès' 1902 film Le Voyage Dans la Lune, his film was barely fifteen minutes long whereas Lang's film, with its near three-hour original length and its blending of both ideas and stunning visuals, is much closer to what we now consider a modern science-fiction film). Yet though both works are separated by the medium with which they're presented, not to mention a period of over two-hundred years between their respective releases, they present a shared warning about the dangers that man's need fo...
During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388). Each side believed its political and economic systems were better than the other's. Each strengthened its armed forces. Both sides viewed the Cold War as a dispute between right and wron...
The fifties was a learning year and the 60's became the time to express everything that they learned. The 60's was a time for new and innovative ways to entertain the people. Since the blacklisting continued in Hollywood, the making or films became very difficult to express. The restrictions, such as the production codes, kept the big corporations to produce films that had no interesting subjects. These films also had to be films that show no signs of communistic values. The film industry was failing to bring in the audience to the theaters. With the TV making a big wave all over, the U.S. the film industry was losing it is money. Then in 1961 something big happened, 20th Century Fox took apart its lot. This act was one that led to a chain reaction. Studios were assuming the role of distributors. This would allow the independent companies to come in and add a new flavor to the silver screen. During this time films changed it's traditional film making ideas. Things started to get graphic, more violent, sexual and more expressive. Movies had found a new look and with the production codes now gone and the blacklisting ending, there was an explosion of ideas that would be presented to the United States.
In the 1950s, technology was advancing which could lunch nuclear weapons just like ordinary missiles, and rockets were made to put satellite, and fortunately a man, into space. During this time space was justified as greatest fear and desire. Despite the fact that lot of this era movies expressed fear of communism and war; Invasion of the Body Snatchers consisted a domestic fear and threat. A change that was shifting roles of women and creating its presence in American culture and society.
In Philip K. Dick’s time science fiction writers that rose to fame in the 1950’s were concerned with the physics of science while Dick was more concerned about the metaphysic of it. One of the most important ideas transferred over from Dick’s novel to Blade Runner is “the problematic nature of the human being and the difficult task of being human.”[2] The film’s themes of gene...
The use of cinema to display symbolic representations within society is a notion to which many films adhere. Movies can be used as a means to which producers may convey a message to the world alongside amusement. These messages, hidden in plain sight, provide the audience with a revelation or opportunity to reflect upon oneself. Symbolic representations used in film, alters society’s outlook on current issues which are either taboo to speak of, or require worldwide exposure. In the plot, which unfolded within Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsacks’s King Kong of 1933, the act of revolution and overpowering black masculinity was dispersed throughout the movie. Whereas, in 1954’s Godzilla directed by Inoshiro Honda, the message within the movie was an environmental strike against nuclear weapon testing.
Over the many years of English literature and various forms of media, the ideals of the times and of the creators of these works have changed; some drastically, some possibly not as much. The genre of science fiction is no exception. Take, for example, two of the most widely-known science fiction novels in the history of English literature: The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds, written in the late 1800s in Victorian England by H.G. Wells—novels which, quite arguably, revolutionized the science fiction genre—and their modern theatrical counterparts. While it may be more beneficial to compare two works of the same medium, the differences in themes and style are still evident. The former two reflect Wells’ own views in society and his comments on them using allegories, while the latter two tend to appeal to a more general audience and appear to have a theme based on emotions, family and more recent world issues. The modern films The Time Machine and War of the Worlds directed by Simon Wells and Steven Spielberg respectively are indeed adaptations of the original novels. Obvious differences in the storylines aside, the films tend to introduce aspects that would appeal to a broader audience today, such as more action, fighting, adventure and romance than was in the books, helping to develop some of the themes. The ideas and themes that appear in media are often based on events that occurred during the time in which the work was created, as well as the creator’s own ideals. As a result, through the comparison of the original novels by Wells and their film adaptations, it is possible to see how society as a whole has changed over a century’s time, and how the themes present in these works of science fiction have changed as ...
Films have always reflected the society we live in or one we wish we could live in. Throughout the 1940’s, America was not only facing pivotal moments that was reflected through films, but film itself was evolving as well. The 40’s was an era of change and challenge for entertainment. The film industry was not at its peak until it rebounded when the nation responded to World War II, thus creating many war movies that would become classics. Many films included themes of patriotism, sacrifice, and heroism which was all meant to be propaganda. Films like Casablanca and Hollywood Canteen reflect this genre trend that occurred during the 1940’s. Films during this decade also elicited the racism in America by using predominately white actors, while
The science fiction genre, in particular science fiction films have, since their inception, be renowned for their earth defying concepts, ground breaking innovation and larger than life characters. Encompassing all facets contemporary science and technological innovation, the sci-fi genre covers everything from parallel universes to the creation of artificial intelligence. With such a broad canvas of imagination it is easy for directors and authors to create worlds where our real-life politics, morality, identities and even the fundamentals of human nature can be deconstructed and set out of balance. Moreover it can be seen that at the heart of most Sci-Fi films is a fear of the power of science and technology. This fear, along with question of what it is to be human, especially in regards to artificial intelligence, has created a discourse that can be seen throughout most veins of science fiction. Film academic Forest Pyle suggested that “we may start out with our assumptions of a clear distinction between human and machine intact: but through its representation of the hybrid figure of the cyborg, the film ‘plays’ on a borderline that we come to see as shifting and porous, one that begins to confuse the nature of the oppositions and the values we ascribe to it” (Pyle 229). It can be said that in reference to this quote, through the use of cinematic style and narrative content Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) use the figure of the Artificial Human or ‘Cyborg” to reflect the power of science and technology in the 21st century, along with exploring fundamental aspects of human nature.
In the 1950’s, the American citizens were afraid of a plethora of things as illustrated in the film. First and foremost, they were totally terrified of an atomic bomb and its effects. They were afraid that the Communists were going to bomb the US because of their own knowledge and possession of an atomic bomb. The blast, heat & radiation along with the biomedical affects following were the scariest ideas to the people. You can’t see the radiation and gamma radiation kills fast, which made it really hard to stay clear of. They were curious to how far to do you have to be from it to survive and what type of deformities is a result of it. Many were blinded from the fear of it.
For example, if one were to suddenly be able to see through solid objects, how would you feel? If you suddenly became invisible, what might not happen to you? However, if in the same story solid objects melted randomly, day flipped irregularly with night throughout a twenty-four hour period, whilst other people disappeared without warning. Then this would result in a situation where anything is possible and nothing was out of the ordinary and interesting occurs. Science fiction is meant to maintain an element of the human and real, in order to captivate its readers.
.... The most apparent reason being is that the 1950s were a time of fear, tidiness, maturity, and scientific wonder. Authors took advantage of readers’ imaginations by portraying unknown worlds and using the fear of nuclear war to help the suspense of their storytelling. In modern times, people have television to show them worlds beyond their own. Science has shown us more realistic happenings from things like radiation fallout, and the fear of nuclear warfare is no longer a constant staple is Americans minds. People now look for more relatable stories about relationships and struggles of a lacking economy, or the day-to-day troubles of being a teenager with all the hormonal problems to deal with.