Today we’ll be talking about ‘the Other in American science-fiction’ and how it is portrayed in different aspects throughout the twentieth century.
Emma will be looking at American science-fiction movies during the 1950s that reflect anxieties at the time of communism and the red scare and will focus mainly on the 1953 movie adaptation of The War of the Worlds.
Callum will then continue into the 1960s with Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film “Dr. Strangelove” and look at how it continues to represent American fears around the Cold War and the growing possibility of nuclear conflict, as well as how the male drive accentuated the paranoia of the time.
Finally, Lucas will finish off by speaking about the 1996 movie “Mars Attacks!” and explore how it differs from earlier alien movies in that it satirises American institutions rather than attempting to reinforce them.
Further Reading:
Winston Dixon, Wheeler. Dr. Strangelove. 27 August 2012.http://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/dr_strangelove.pdf
Higgins, Scarlet. Purity of essence in the Cold War: Dr. Strangelove, paranoia, and bodily boundaries. 11 January 2017. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0950236X.2016.1277549?needAccess=true
Linden, George W. “‘Dr. Strangelove’ and Erotic Displacement.” Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 11, no. 1, 1977, pp. 63–83. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3331863.pdf?refreqid=search%3A1efb196adbf87c3fa98f45d7b2b8de16
Feurheurd, Peter. How Hollywood Survived the Red Scare. December 2, 2017. https://daily.jstor.org/how-hollywood-thrived-through-the-red-scare/
The Influence of the Media. http://www.unexplainedstuff.com/Invaders-from-Outer-Space/The-Influence-of-the-Media-War-of-the-worlds-1953.html
Suzanne-Meyer, Dominick. Mars Attacks! Is Still Equally Funny and Unsettling 20 Years Later. December 3, 2016. https://consequenceofsound.net/2016/12/mars-attacks-is-still-equally-funny-and-unsettling-20-years-later/
Cornell, Julian. ‘Mars Attacks!’ Was the Disaster Movie That Ravaged Disaster Movies. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/exkbdm/mars-attacks-was-the-disaster-movie-that-ravaged-disaster-movies
Satire in Mars Attacks. https://theworldoftimburton01.blogspot.com/2013/10/tim-burtons-mars-attacks-satirizes-many.html
Science Fiction and Culture 