Mirror in the Sky: How We See Aliens and Ourselves

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay


Two Views of Aliens

After World War II, where victory depended as never before inhistory on scientific advances, Americans had a deeply ambivalentattitude toward science. On the one hand, we were grateful forthe role science had played in defeating Germany and Japan, andfor the promise it offered of improving life in many ways. On theother hand, we were deeply troubled by some of the immense powersthat science had unleashed. Also, we were no sooner free of thethreat of Nazi Germany than we were confronted with a new threatin the form of a nuclear-armed Soviet Union. Science fictionfilms of the Fifties frequently followed one of two patterns:aliens as saviors or hostile invaders.

With only crude warning systems, Americans found themselvesvulnerable for the first time to sudden attack. It had alreadyhappened at Pearl Harbor and there were occasional rumors thatNazi Germany was planning bombing raids (it would have requiredbuilding multiple clandestine bases in North America because noplane had sufficient range, but paranoia isn't deterred by merefacts.) In the early years of the Cold War there were volunteerobserver units that practiced scanning the skies for hostileaircraft. In this sort of climate, it would be an absolutemiracle if there hadn't been some sort of national hysteriainvolving mysterious apparitions in the skies.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1953)

One of the classic, indeed cult films of the "alien assavior" genre. An alien ship (a saucer, of course) lands inWashington D.C. and a startlingly human pilot emerges with arather menacing robot servant. He announces that his mission ispeaceful, but after the military begins to become paranoid, heescapes to take his message to the people of earth. He convincesa scientist to convene a meeting of his colleagues from all overthe world, and to demonstrate his power, shuts off all energysources on earth for one hour (but spares facilities like planesin flight, hospitals, and so on). While returning to his ship, heis mortally wounded by the military, but his robot companionplaces him in a machine that temporarily restores him to life. Hereappears, issues a warning that the earth has become a danger tothe rest of the universe, and departs.

The idea that the earth could be a danger to the rest of theuniverse is megalomaniac in the extreme, and the idea that theclumsy weapons of the 1950's could be a danger is downrightlaughable. Some of the "savior" films suggested thataliens were watching because they viewed us as a danger, othersthat they hoped to save us. But they all hinted that someonewould step in before things got out of control.

Many people also viewed science as a threat to religion, and alot of science fiction films threw in a reassuring nod toreligion. In this film, a human woman who has befriended thealien sees him revived and asks if their civilization even haspower over life and death. "No," he reassures her,"that power is reserved to the Almighty."

War of the Worlds (1962)

One of the last and best of the "hostile alien"genre, a retelling of H. G. Wells' classic story set inCalifornia. After proving invulnerable to our most advancedweapons, the aliens are close to wiping out humanity when theysuccumb to microbes in our atmosphere. Good special effects forthe time, although a tad quaint by modern standards.

Reality check: wouldn't advanced aliens test for the presenceof dangerous microorganisms before mounting a full scale invasion?

Again we have a reassuring nod to religion. The narratorexplains that the aliens had been unaffected by ourcountermeasures but fell prey to the microorganisms that "Godin his wisdom" had created. The film closes with a scene ofa crowd singing a hymn. Americans of the 1950's desperatelywanted to be reassured that science would not make God obsolete.

The One, the Only, The Inimitable

At the other end of the spectrum, we have what is widelyregarded as the worst movie ever made. It can only be PlanNine From Outer Space. A hybrid of invading alien film withvampire and zombie movie, it excels in being bad in all respects.Mere words cannot do this film justice.

Ed Wood, the producer, had befriended Bela Lugosi, a oncecelebrated horror actor who had been largely forgotten and whowas in the last stages of dying of drug abuse. He shot some hand-heldfootage of Lugosi and billed him as the star of the film,accurately noting that the film included the last footage evershot of Lugosi.

When you are almost done shooting, and your star dies, you canwork around it. When you're halfway done, and the star dies, youcan sometimes salvage the film if you have a good cast. When yourstar dies before you start shooting, you have a problem.The ever audacious Wood killed Lugosi off by showing him walkingoff camera to the schlockiest narration ever. Do not have food inyour mouth when you watch this scene! Wood then fakes Lugosi byhaving another actor mimic Lugosi's famous cape across the face.

And what is Plan Nine? It involves reanimating recently deadhumans. The aliens proudly announce that there are no humanwitnesses left alive. Got that? They're reanimating dead peopleand simultaneously killing live people but not reanimating them.

In the climax, the hero invades the alien ship and, since ourmightiest weapons (stock World War II footage) had had no effect,decides the only solution left is a good old American punch inthe mouth. While he and the male alien slug it out, the shipcatches fire(!) and the female alien proves as simpering andhelpless as human females in films of the time. The hero escapes,the ship takes off, but explodes in flight.

The film Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp in the titlerole, is a nice companion piece to the film. The film intercutssome of the cheesy effects of Plan Nine with Wood saying"This is the one they'll remember me for."

Wood was a man of high ambition coupled with a total lack oftalent. He didn't bilk his backers out of money - he honestlybelieved he could produce great films. He befriended an over-the-hillfilm great and gave him a little companionship and compassion inhis last days. Every night the news features footage of peoplebeing led off in handcuffs who have more talent in their littlefingers than Ed Wood had in his whole body. There are far worsethings to be than a benign incompetent like Ed Wood.

Paradigm Shift

Cowboys and Aliens

The rise and fall of hostile alien films closely paralleledanother American idiom, the western. Both were morality playsfeaturing the Good Guys (white Americans) fending off an unholy,seemingly unstoppable horde of savage opponents (Indians, aliens).This scenario closely paralleled the self image Americans had ofthemselves in the real world, defending democracy against firstFascism, then Communism. In 1955-56, none of the top ten ratedtelevision programs was a western. The following year, Gunsmokemade the list and the year after that five of the top ten showswere westerns. In 1958-59, seven of the top ten programs werewesterns, including the top four spots. By 1962-63, only Gunsmokeand Bonanza were in the top ten, where they stayed,with occasional interruptions, through the Sixties. 1973-74 wasthe first year with no westerns in the top ten.

When the World War II series Combat was produced inthe 1960's, the producers lamented how hard it was to find sets,and noted that if the war had been fought in the Old West theycould blow up a different town every week. By the 1980's,producers who made occasional attempts to revive the western werefinding it almost impossible to find props.

What happened? Partly, the genre simply saturated the marketand wore itself out. But also there were powerful challenges tothe simple morality play concept. The Civil Rights movement madeAmericans conscious of widespread injustices in American history,including toward Indians. And there was a very messy businesscalled Vietnam, where neither the local populace nor manyAmericans regarded us as the Good Guys.

Whenever an idiom starts to parody itself, that's a sure signit is losing its power. The late 1960's saw two changes in thewestern idiom. First, there were a large number of westerns thatdealt with the closing of the west and were set in the early 1900's. Second, there were dark,cynical films nicknamed "spaghetti westerns" becausemany were produced by Italian filmmakers (and mostly filmed inSpain, which has scenery astonishingly like the American West.)

Star Trek

The time was ripe for a new vision of humans interacting withother species, and Gene Roddenberry supplied it in Star Trek.Considering the impact this series had on American society,it is positively embarrassing to read listings of the eminentlyforgettable dreck that routinely outperformed Star Trekin the ratings. Star Trek spent its three seasons nearthe bottom of the ratings before going off the air. It went intosyndication, where it has never gone off the air. After almosttwo decades of attracting a loyal viewership, it eventually hadenough credibility to attract money for a feature film. It was a dreadful film, but it was Star Trek! The film led to eight more films and three spinoff series, all of which stayed onthe air far longer than the original series. Die-hard fans can literally watch Star Trek for a solid month, 24 hours aday, without seeing the same thing twice.

The special effects were crude even by the standards of thetime, and the series had the misfortune to appear during thefashion excesses of the Sixties.

Nichelle Nicols (Uhuru) was the first black actress to be castas a social equal with white males in a prime-time televisionseries. As she tells it, she was convinced the series was not a good choice for a serious acting career, and she had told Roddenberry she was planning to quit. She was at a conference when someone told her a fan wanted to see her. She turned around to find herself face to face with Martin Luther King. He told her how much he enjoyed her work, and she explained that she had decided to quit. He replied: "You can'tdo that. Do you have any idea how important what you're doing is?"Years later, recounting the event in an interview, the awe in hervoice was palpable.

Modern Sci-Fi


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Created 26 February 2001, Last Update 15 January, 2020