Referring to the Cyndy Hendershot and Christine Cornea readings for this week, how do science fiction narratives of the post-World War II era concerning invaded bodies and replicant humans manifest anxieties concerning human reproduction and sexual difference? What is the function of the paranoiac worldview in these films?Don't forget to write your name and section number in your post.
Government propaganda films of the time trumpteted nuclear power and downplayed the dangers of radiation. People knew better though, and as a result a certain level of paranoia arose, manifesting in fears of dehaumanization and sexual impotency. Science fiction films of the era explored these anxieties. Invaders from Mars is a good example, with the ambiguous and asexual martian that doesn't need to reproduce sexually. I think that this also seved as a metaphor for the fear of loss of human emotion, which is a huge aspect of sexual intimacy. Invasion of the Body Snatchers explored the fear of losing ones humanity and the fear of altered bodies as a result of radiation. The anxiety the body invasion movies tried to express was the fear of a world of duplicates, a world of a singular type of human being hybrid, an ultimate loss of humanity.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the function of the worldview in these films is the need of someone else to blame (ie the aliens) for what we were doing to ourselves. There was also a fear of authority, kind of a "are they doing this to us?" I think that the uncertain times, the nuclear age and radiation, the paranoia of communist takeovers, etc. only served to fuel public fears and anxieties. Science fiction films of the era served to perhaps be an outlet to express crticism and make social commentary. I think they also serve as a sort of indirect "time capsule" of the era. All in all, it is a very peculiar way to express fear and anxiety, but very interesting nonetheless.
Joe Brady Film 301
ReplyDeleteAfter World War II the American people had come to the full realization that they had moved into a new era in science and technology, the so-called “atomic age”. The effects of radiation permeated the thoughts of not only the military personnel who were in contact with it, but of the average American now concerned with the potential effectiveness of a bomb shelter. Paranoia increased as more was discovered about the harmful effects of radiation poisoning on the human body. Though radiation is harmful in many ways, the main concern of many young men was the possibility of sterility. Male sexuality in light of potential sterility became a major concern.
Along with the idea of being physically harmed by radiation, comes the idea of an emotional paralysis. The thought that extra-terrestrials would turn humans into lifeless shells devoid of emotion certainly plays on the idea of sex. An interruption of heterosexual romance means the sexless beings cannot reproduce and continue to populate the planet
Dave Myszewski - Film 319
ReplyDeleteIn post-war America, the 1950's mentality grew into fear and paranoia due to the rise of nuclear power and the growing tension between American-Democracy and Communism. As a result, a lack of sexual difference and independence permeated through culture and into science-fiction films. Themes of asexuality, dehumanization, and reproductive uselessness were very common of such films. Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for example, is a film that promotes "asexual plant reproduction" (Hendershot 34) by an alien race and thus threatens the meaning and usefulness of human reproduction. The female characters tend to promote these themes, rendering the male characters useless to imply a disjunctive relationship between men and women.
Dehumanization, another recurring theme, is often used to describe the helplessness caused by nuclear power often through human replication and degradation of the human psyche. Turning humans into mindless drones degrades human individuality and personality. The paranoiac worldview implied by the themes in these films suggests that Americans are being controlled unwillingly by government wielding control with atomic energy. Americans feel they can do nothing to overcome this control, and as a result are forced to become one of the pack, lacking a sole individuality.
Clarissa Ramos Section 301
ReplyDeleteFollowing World Way II, in the 1950's women have fulfilled various influential roles not only in science fiction films, but in other genres of film as well. Before World War II women were typically portrayed as homemakers and individuals who were subservient to men. During World War II many women were forced to fulfill the role of traditional men by performing more physical jobs while many men were called to combat. Many lives of women had changed after this war and it was definitely evident through film in the 1950s, in which women played characters that have sometimes dominated and shined throughout film. Cornea provides the example of Joan Weldon’s role in “Them!” in which she plays a self-sufficient, brave leader of the military, FBI, and state troopers after her father died. It is apparent that the image of women began to transform post-World War II.
Although there has been many changes in the way that women were depicted in film, many actresses’ roles continued to exemplify dependent and submissive women. Concerning the 1949 film, Samson and Delilah, Cornea explains that there is a sexual attraction between the characters Clayton and Sylvia. Cornea states that Sylvia’s “fascination with the subject seems fuelled by romantic desire rather than a thirst for knowledge and throughout the film she is characterised as the naive and alluring companion to the informed and logical Forrester” (Science Fiction Cinema 46). It is evident that men were depicted as superiors and a woman’s sexuality was valued instead of a woman’s mind.
Concerning aliens in science fiction film, men were represented as the protectors of the women from the aliens, which once again signifies male dominance and masculinity. In science fiction film, it was apparent that the humans were paranoid that the aliens would gain full power and take over Earth. I think that this paranoia could have manifested from past occurrences in history, which bring about the anxiety in war and feelings of defeat by the opposing foreign enemy.
Science fiction films made after WWII had a very paranoid feeling to them. With technological advances becoming so big and different, they were traveling into the world of the unknown. As more and more machines were being created to help make human life easier, it could also be seen that the machines were starting to replace humans in some senses. Emotions are the one thing that machines will never be able to do or feel, so people started to notice the dehumanizing effects of more machinery. This idea was reflected in their Science fiction films of the day. Invasion of the Body Snatchers incorporates the idea of something replacing the human, and brings up the thought that our advances, or the unknown, will take over our lives. Machines are very impersonal and the loss of connection and relationships with other people expanded to the loss of sexuality. What I mean is that this idea began to scare people because their views and understanding of what sex was and how things reproduced were being challenged. These unknown beings were coming and taking over and they didn’t need to reproduce the way we did. A lot of the films during the fifties dealt with an unknown alien visitor that would come and try to take over humans, and I relate that to machines as well as the Cold War. As a country we expected the worst from people we didn't understand, and these ideas came out in the films of the day.
ReplyDeleteTim Braatz
Film 319
The main cultural phenomena of the post World War II era that influenced the anxieties of the public was the fears surrounding radiation poisoning and its effects on the body. People were afraid of what this invisible enemy could do to their individuality, that it could turn them into asexual beings or unemotional husks, essentially zombies. Hendershot and Cornea talk about how this fear of an invisible “other” changing peoples bodies and minds is manifested in the sci-fi / horror films of the time. In the films, when characters were taken over by the "other" (aliens) or were replicated, they were dehumanized and had no sexually stimulating characteristics. This is exactly how the public felt about radioactive contamination or Communism at the time; that it would dehumanize us.
ReplyDeleteI think that the function of fear and paranoia in these films is meant to be a reflection or commentary on the real world suspicions and anxieties of the time. Suspicions of what the government might be hiding from us or fears of what apocalyptic tragedies could occur are voiced in the paranoia of government conspiracies and alien contact that we see in the movies. This common theme between the anxieties of real life and those of the cinema functioned so that the audiences of the post World War II era would have something real to relate the situations in the movies to.
Toby Staffanson - Film 319-002
The science fiction genre of the 1950's represents the anxiety many people had during the cold war period. Politically speaking, people were afraid of the "red scare" and were encouraged to notify authorities if they suspected neighbors of suspicious activities. This is mirrored in the movies where people's minds and bodies are taken over, thereby mirroring that same fear. Sexually speaking, the time period of the conservative 50's (on the cusp of the "free-love" era of the 60's) still carried the ideals of the male dominated society. Films that showed "alternate" forms of reproduction showed the men's fear of losing a part of the control over the society they knew. One could also possibly make the jump in logic that film-makers are artists, and it was those artists that helped lead the counter-culture movement of the next decade. Perhaps some of those ideas seeped through into the sci-fi films of the post WWII era.
ReplyDeleteDave Nawrocki 301
Following WWII, The next big scare to seat itself in the American populace was that of nuclear power and radiation. While the government touted it as a great thing to be revered, and not feared, many people still did not trust it. Along with the distrust came the fear of the unknown. We can see in Sci-F- Films after WWII that radiation does all kinds of things. Shrink people, make them grow to enormous sizes, even mutate them. But what people were really afraid of, was sterility and therefore the loss of their sexual identity. Invasion of the body snatchers is the perfect view of what many people had. They thought that they would turn into zombies, losing and semblence of humanity.
ReplyDeleteThe paranoic worldview in the films mirrors the actual world view. People post WWII had many things to be afraid of. The Government was telling us to be afraid of communists, the papers were telling us to be afraid of a cold war, and the citizens themselves were starting to fear and distrust the government. All these fears of things unknown to us translated over to films. In our minds, were the aliens so unlike the red commies? Were those mutant creatures not unlike the politicians? We could identify with the scare at the time, but not enough to make it unsettling.
Victor Vernon 319
ReplyDeletePost war America saw a lot of people forced to confront change on an epic scale. They saw the nature of warfare change, where at that point, the next war could easily have been the last. They saw science creep even further into the territory they once left to God. They saw social changes on several levels, including people's attitudes towards sex. With change comes fear, and all of the fears that came from these changes would be expressed (and exploited,) in the era's science fiction. In science fiction, fears about overstepping our boundaries became manifest in characters and beings that reproduce in ways that are foreign to us. The fear of nuclear war and it's implications manifested itself in countless films detailing pre and post apocalyptic horrors, including those of losing our ability to reproduce because of radiation, and thus losing the base of all hope itself.
The function of the paranoiac world view is these films embody is twofold; They're outlets, and they're warnings. Seeing your fears up on the screen lets you know that you're not alone in your fear, which, along with seeing them vanquished by men of reason and strength, is comforting. But the fear itself is also important. These films also serve to warn us to approach our strange new world with caution.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen World War 2 ended, America entered the Cold War, escorting the nation into a hysteria somewhat encouraged by it's fearful government. The film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is a prime example of how a new threat could be filtered into the science fiction genre with just a tweaking of the subject matter (conveying a take-over or aliens as an invading power of foreign ideas). The public was quick to consider the dangers that lay beyond our newly reached boundaries (in technological terms, they feared beyond their appliances - machines . . . globally, they feared beyond our atmosphere - outer space).
ReplyDeleteWith foreign affairs reaching a new communication, the subject matter was transformed into foreign, or alien, conspiracies. With technology, such as television sets, becoming common to every household, the tone was transformed into the dangers of everyday electronics, or mind control and robotics.
Hedershot states how in "It Came From Outer Space," the meteor crater visually resembled the remains of an atomic bomb blast, and goes on to explain the desert's significance to radiation dangers, etc., showing how the media could manipulate the public's fears and opinions surrounding such topics as atomic warfare, belief systems, sexual differences and reproduction. If similar elements in life are taken and slightly altered to incorporate its audience's attention, a subconscious message could be sent to the masses, spawning even a small resistance to what would have been normal development in lifestyle.
Ron Mueller Film 301:
ReplyDeleteAfter World War 2 there was the constant worry about nuclear war and the holocaust that would occur shortly afterward as a result of radiation contamination. It was assumed the contamination would occur after these nuclear attacks and would result in losing sexual differences. These films used contamination caused by the human race and blamed the aliens by saying the radiation was actually coming from these aliens who were determined to destroy the human race. The aliens could accomplish this by taking human form and appearing to be ‘cold’ or ‘lifeless’. This cold and lifeless appearance slows the sexual interest humans have for each other and they ultimately would become asexual. This would alter human reproduction and it would help the aliens achieve their goal of destroying the human race.
The paranoiac worldview was the so called atomic age in the 1950’s when we were in the mist of a cold war with Russia. Our government instilled the fear of communists in the American people, much like the use of fear of Al-Qaeda over the last few years. With the societal norm being focused on the fear of a particular group of people films tended to be made to satisfy society’s wants.
These films in the 1950’s didn’t show the actual communists in human form in these films but showed them in alien form. The films that included little green men from Mars could be associated with the little red men from Mars. This was also seen when there were supposed UFO sightings. When the military did the investigation on them there was the debate whether or not these so called ‘UFO’ were Russian in origin.
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ReplyDeleteTom Burns 319-002
ReplyDeleteAmong other points the authors of the readings contend, is that the styles and trends of 1950's science fiction cinema is the result of mass advancements in the scientific sector, such as the nuclear power, as well as the social impacts after World War II and the shift in international superpowers spurring the divide between communism and capitalism. The oft referred to “dehumanization” is seen throughout films like The Forbidden Planet and Invasion Of the Body Snatchers and manifests certain fears such as asexual reproduction threatening mans life role, amid all of the questions surrounding radiation and its unknown effects following the war; and the alien (read: foreign) “other” that frequently inhabits the role of antagonist, and comes from a band of other asexual, lifeless, emotionless, equally sterile beings. the nature, allegedly, of these creatures allude to the horror of the communist lifestyle amidst the McCarthy era paranoia of the time. All of these new founded fears and anxieties of the time propelled the cinematic portrayals of the mysterious alien other
Upon further reflection, our current trends in cinema reflects some stark similarities to the aforementioned era in film. The common conflict seen involving mechanical and/or biological foes or all the knowing artificial intelligence coinciding with the “war on terror” neo-patriotic and anti-Islamic climate, breeds a similar air of paranoia and resistance to the “other” that was read and discussed about.
In post-World War II America, there was a very real fear of the long-term affects of nuclear bombs and radiation. Cyndy Hendershot explains that “the area of [most] concern in the postwar period was male sexuality and reproductive ability… radiation threatened to undermine manliness.” Science fiction movies in this period addressed these fears by focusing on the idea of asexual replication as a way to describe radiation and the blurring of gender roles.
ReplyDeleteThough radiation contamination can cause many types of injury to the body, the public fixated on the possibility that nuclear fallout could wipe out humanity by rendering every male sterile. Science fiction movies played off this fear by offering stories where a seemingly invisible invader (Martians/radiation) would asexualize humans, and thus take away the only measure of humanity true humans have: sexual desire, attraction, and the ability to reproduce sexually (rather than asexually like plants).
Another fear during the postwar era was the changing gender roles. During the world wars, women in increasing numbers began working outside the home and pursuing higher education. Cyndy Hendershot explains the origin of this fear: “postwar journalists predicted the breakdown of gender roles due to preparation for nuclear war… women and men [would have to] learn similar ‘doomsday duties.’” The traditional role of males as dominant was now not necessarily the case. This shift was terrifying to the stereotypical male in the 1950s, though it was less of an issue of women's liberation than it was a fear of men becoming less manly. The idea of asexual replication in the popular science fiction movies of the era can be seen as a visualization of changing gender roles.
Science fiction is the perfect medium to take these paranoiac world views and turn them into tales of humans battling mysterious evils. Further, since in nearly every science fiction film from this era the humans ultimately defeat the threat, these films present a very positive outlook on the future of humanity and the world.
Sandra Figueira - Film 301
With Forbidden Planet's "Id" creatures I'd say that relates to the suppression of sexuality and the sexual revolution after WWII. The daughter of the scientist has never experienced anything sexual and is taken advantage of by the crew members. When she finds a real man with the commander her father is protective and his Id wants to kill them. The former planetary beings suppressed their natural animal instincts because they didn't think it was part of higher intelligence. But those instincts became monsters to live out their inner fantasies. This shows that people should not reject their human instincts: they should learn to control them so that they do not indulge too much but so they express what they need to express. Humans are only hurting themselves by fully rejecting what is inside them. Ties could also be made to Freud, because of the Id, and to Kinsey, because of his sex research in the '50's. They did similar studies on sexual behavior and had much to do with the sexual revolution.
ReplyDelete-Julianne Arnstein 319
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ReplyDeleteQuentin Hughes said...
ReplyDeleteIn the 1950's science fiction film genres were largely effected by WWII. Americans had a paranoia or anxiety of nuclear war with the Cold War taking place. Technology also made huge leaps and improvements during this period. There was always the fear of the unknown or constant fear inside everyones head. This transferred over to the film industry in science fiction films, The producers of these films may have exaggerated the future, but still managed to make the films still seem realistic. The idea of a super human or robot that could take the place of real humans put fear in the minds of many Americans
-Quentin Hughes 301
Science fiction narratives of the post world war II era manifest anxieties of human reproduction and sexual difference due to the overall threat and scare of government taking control, standardizing, and dehumanizing the overall conditions of society. The bomb, radiation, fear of impotency, etc. had a huge affect on the American way of thinking regarding reproduction and sexual difference. There was a scare that new forms of technological warfare, such as the atom bomb, were going to eliminate difference in the sexes and this was evident in the representation of the alien or Martian in the science fiction film of the era. They were very emotionless, and had a lack of sexuality. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a prime example with the alien invaders being represented as asexual beings and wanting to create a world with a lack of sexual difference.
ReplyDeleteThe overall paranoiac worldview in these films stems from the threat of communism and mirrors or reinforces the overall threat of the enemy to America in the current time period, such as science fiction films of today tend to comment on themes of our current situation in world views, such as terrorism. Films of the recent post WWII era, however involved themes of fallout, radiation, sexual indifference, and threats the American government were telling the people to be the most worried about at the time.
-Alex Sokovich
It s apparent that in both the Hendershot and Cornea readings that what the big issue surrounding the post WW2 concern regarding invaded bodies and replicant humans has to do with is a paranoia of the unknown. As these new beings, with their new versions of technology begin to arrive and intermix with ‘normal’ human beings, the culture’s formally made opinions of technology are blow totally out of the water. This is exemplified in the Cornea reading on page 38 when Klaatu is wounded for being suspect of ‘unknown’ technology and has to call off his guard, Gort, explaining that is was only a present for the president. Not only that, it was an educational tool.
ReplyDeleteWhat this breaths heavily of is again, a fear of what’s new, unknown, or unverified as of yet. In the Hendershot essay, she speaks of a fear or paranoia regarding ‘Geiger’ men. These men, mostly scientists are measuring the effects of radiation exposure, a substance that at the time most people knew very little about. What’s alarming about the soldier’s opinion of the ‘Geiger’ men is that they are viewed as effeminate, at one point being referred to as “cranky old maids” when their job was actually seeking to protect the manhood of these soldiers therefore, in a sense, insuring the survival of the human race.
Leslie Peckham, film 319
World War II showed the massive damage that could occur when technology was put to use as a force of destruction. The realization of the possibilities of technology had a traumatic effect on the American psyche and unleashed a whole new set of fears, realistically based on the quickness and scale of the atom bomb’s effect on Japan. Also the effects of radiation were new and scary idea as they were not really understood, but clearly dangerous, inducing the imagination of the public to run wild as well as reevaluate their conceived notions of nature, one of which being the idea of sexuality. The idea of masculinity had never been threatened before, short of physical castration, and science fiction in the 50’s explored the hypothetical but seemingly real possibilities what radiation could do to our bodies. They also explore the repercussions that it could have on our presumed sexual identities as well as the way humanity views itself and the way we behave. This flood of new ideas led to a certain amount of confusion, especially in the 1950’s. Hendershot brings up an example of this confusion in telling how a group of navy sailors seemed unsure about how to react to the idea of radiation exposure. If they were afraid and skittish to exposure it seamed counterintuitive to the masculine trait of fearlessness and resistance, however if they were exposed to it, it could potentially rid them of their masculine sexuality. These fears lead to confusion but perhaps also to a closer examination into the nature of sexual identity, and hopefully to a higher understanding.
ReplyDeleteJoe Steigerwald 319
World War II was a time in the world where many changes took place. Not only did life change, the films changed as well. The science fiction genre came out with many new ideas that the people were enlightened to. The communism scare from World War II became the topic of science fiction films. Things like radiation, aliens, mutation, and many other odd ideas represented communism.
ReplyDeleteFocusing on the idea of radiation infecting people, the idea of a loss in sexual difference comes to surface. People who have mutations or are in a different state of mind due to the radiation will have different sexual acts. Their reproduction acts could be different; as well as a difference in reproduction itself. After World War II, and the affects of the nuclear radiation throughout it, people were informed of the damages it caused. Radiation mutated the people that were exposed to it. Mutation from a toxic element is something that I believe is a popular idea used in science fiction films.
Science fiction, as well as many other genres, portray life/ideas/views/government/etc in ways that the people can find entertaining.
After the end of World War II and entering the Cold War science fiction films were able to reach audiences in a whole new way. Americans were in paranoia about the ideas of communism and nuclear war fare. Communism had a big scare on American society in the 1950’s threatening with nuclear war and terror. The wars had Americans in fear of the affects that radiation had. Sci-fi films were able to incorporate a scare like this into their movies by having aliens and zombies having chemical infected bodies. From characters having chemically mutated bodies the ideas of reproducing can open doors to other ways than sexually reproducing in movies. In Forbidden plant they play around with this idea by making the daughter senseless from the idea of sex. This idea was brought up in other Sci-fi films were aliens are able to asexual reproduce. Also new technology was being produced for the war and for the American homes. Sci-fi films turned tanks and dishwashers to space ships and robots as in Forbidden Plant. In the movie the crew was introduced to Robby the robot. The robot took the place of the normal house hold duties, like cleaning and making food. Sci-fi films were able to produce films that could appeal to a larger audience.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete. The theme of the Cyndy Hendershot reading was more or less about how the characters in these “body snatching” films are having their sexuality muddled or taken away by an unknown force or forces (typically aliens). These aliens are metaphorically related to people’s fears of the invisible threat of radiation in a new world of atomic/nuclear weapons and power. This invisible killer was still quite unknown and – with all puns intended – alien. She speaks of how the biggest fear, particularly among men, was losing the ability to have children due to prolonged radiation exposure.
ReplyDelete. Radiation aside, World War II showed the nation of the willingness and ability of women to perform the jobs and tasks that were previously reserved for men. Women filled the roles that the men could not fill; the flipside of the male-centric ideologies of years prior. In this way, a male’s gender role was slowly being taken away from him.
. Another purpose of “body snatching” films relates to the Cold War, McCarthy-era paranoia of the enemy in our own country – one that looks like everyone else. The enemy within our borders became the enemy within our bodies. These films function as a warning, in a way, to those who are unaware of the invisible threat of invasion and also to those that would do us harm - we won’t go out without a fight.
Joseph Michals - Film 319
In the film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" humans were being converted into asexual beings. The process was generally transparent to the world until the discovery of the pods in the greenhouse. This concept parallels the invisible killer radiation from nuclear weapons. Hendershot explains how the fear of radiation poising leading to impotence and sterility is a major concern for the male population of the United States. Personally, I find this fear of losing sexuality ironic as from what I've seen about 1950s culture, sexuality itself was something to fear and hide. Television programs would be forced to show married couples sleeping in separate beds as to not expose the public to any amount of real human sexuality.
ReplyDeleteThe parallels generated by the fear of losing ones humanity in the film and the fear of communism, to me, seem one in the same. This, simply being the fear diversity. Hendershot mentions the original ending to the film where the characters gives the audience one last scare declaring “They'll be back!” and how this doesn't necessarily mean they'll return but more so relates to how humans may just evolve over the natural course of time into pod people themselves. This is the same logic with the proliferation of McCarthyism in that by firmly declaring something wrong or evil you are unable to assimilate what could be considered good traits into your own way of thinking. If communism is 100 percent bad then there is no logical way to incorporate any aspects of it into American life even if such things would benefit America.
There was a fear of side affects from exposure to radiation during the war. Hendershot mentions there was a concern that the readiation may affect men's ability to reproduce. A lot of movies addressed the fear of the males function becoming obsolete by means of asexual reproduction. A lot of times it would be invaders from outer space taking away the humans ability to reproduce. There was another fear that was addressed in these post-war films where women were in dominant positions and this was scary to most men at the time. Considering the stereotype of men at the time, they were the breadwinner and a woman did not take big roles in the work place or otherwise. Ultimately these invaders were defeated and life went back to the way it was. The science fiction genre functioned as entertainment and food for thought, maybe these things could happen in the future. The stories can definitely make you question the society you live in and its morals and values.
ReplyDeletenate theis (319)
The movies of this era tend to reflect the fears of radiation that the public has at this time and turns them into a tangible form. Fears of mass sterility and loss of "manliness" are transformed into an alien invasion of asexual beings which can take the form of people we know. This also tends to touch on the idea of an enemy within that goes unnoticed until too late. Jack Finney's novel on which Body Snatchers was based has the aliens seed the clouds and then fall to earth, much like one of the fears of radioactive fallout inhabiting the clouds and raining down on the unsuspecting public. The function of the paranoiac worldview in the films is either a statement about the world at the time or an attempt to connect with the audience on a personal level. The public might not see these fears in themselves but can relate to them on film. One question I have is if these films helped to fuel some of the paranoia of this time?
ReplyDeleteDuring the nuclear age it was very common for the Government to downplay the dangers of nuclear radiation, as tests were being conducted in the deserts of the American Southwest. According to the text the frequent fears of the military men and radiation site workers was not the long ranging total body effects that might occur from sustained radiation exposure, instead their fears tied in with their view of manhood. The fears of the soldiers were concerning possible sterility. The men were worried that it would cause them to “not like women anymore” and that they would thereafter be asexual. The true accounts of those exposed to the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that these fears are not unfounded, as nuclear radiation can and does cause damage to reproductive organs.
ReplyDeleteThe science fiction narratives of the period portray these same anxieties concerning human reproduction and sexual difference. The films portray these anxieties by conveying to the view the sense of the “other”, an invasive species that has come to use humans by destroying what makes them human (heterosexual sexuality) and replacing them with aliens masquerading as humans. The aliens in the three films discussed each invisible invade humans, infect them and cause them to lose their human qualities such as the “warmness” of women. The function of this paranoia, is to give a voice to what the people of the time were experiencing; to put their fears of what the government was doing off on the aliens. What the government was really doing in real life was what the aliens were doing to the people in the films.
Greg Borkman, section 319
ReplyDeleteScience fiction films of the 1950s played on the fears of movie goers as they saw the resulting aftermath of radiation exposure and death from Japan. The fear of not being able to reproduce AND the fear of other non-human/non-living things being able to reproduce asexually caused pandemonium. What is scarier than normal not being normal anymore? This was a concern of the 1950s, what an atomic weapon could do was in the minds of many, these movies manifested ideas of fear by showing there was no escape, or you can run but you can't hide.
The point of these films was to make money. Thrills and adventure of science fiction films had to compete with the new genres from France and Germany, Noir/Heist/Gangster. All of which are seen in the eyes of Americans as "American Films". This is why in the screening this week you could notice a narration from the protagonist and a 'show the ending' and 'go back to the beginning' style mainly seen in noir films. Basically the function of these films was to make money by providing a 'what-if' scenario.
Post-World War Two, fears of the unknown began to manifest themselves within the genre of Science fiction, due to the themes and fears of the American public. This was due to the capability of the use of Atomic weapons as well as fragile truce that was the Cold War. Fears of the loss of reproduction and sterility from the atomic radiation exposure consumed households as families found safety plans to combat the oncoming war of the unknown. Also due to the witch-hunt for undercover socialists spurred more tension in an era of watchful eyes.
ReplyDeleteThis paranoid outlook created in the films mirrored what families were most afraid of, and that was the loss of identity as well as the loss of the future. For example, in the original, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the hero goes to kiss an exhausted heroine only to find through her kiss that she had been taken. This symbolisim of losing our sexual nature as well as our feelings of love and individuaity reflected what kind of paranoid atmosphere that era was engulfed in.