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TOPIC SECTION:
The cinema of paranoia
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Cinema has had an uneasy relationship with science and technology. The ways in which science and technology are portrayed in the movies has reflected the predominant phobias of the time
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Cinema lobby card for 'Behemoth The Sea Monster', 1959.
Credit: NMPFT, courtesy of the estates of Roy Ashton and Phil Leakey |
. In the 1950s, films were dominated by the fear of invading aliens or botched atomic research resulting in giant mutant creatures and radioactive zombies. By the 1970s, env
| It was no coincidence that at the time the US military were carrying out nuclear tests in the Nevada desert |
ironmental damage and disease had taken over as the popular manifestation of science gone wrong.
The 1950s was the Golden Age of the American science fiction film. Alien invasions and the unbelievable wonders of the Atomic Age and Space Age drew people into the cinemas and made them scream. All sorts of giant creatures menaced the big screen – dinosaurs, ants, locusts, scorpions,
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Drawing of the Creature, 1963.
Credit: NMPFT, courtesy of the estates of Roy Ashton and Phil Leakey |
spiders, lizards and even giant humans. One of the most popular films of the time was The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953). Based on a story by Ray Bradbury, this featured a dinosaur disturbed by H-bomb tests in the Arctic, which makes its way to New York where it is finally killed with radioactive isotopes. Them! (1954) featured giant mutant ants that go on the rampage in the Arizona desert. It was no coincidence that at the time the US military were carrying out nuclear tests in the Nevada desert.
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Clay head of the Creature, 1963.
Credit: NMPFT, courtesy of the estates of Roy Ashton and Phil Leakey |
At the end of the twentieth century, Hollywood films reflected the apocalyptic anxieties that always accompany the end of a century. These started with a spate of alien intrusion and invasion movies followed by films based on the theme of viral infection, such as 12 Monkeys (1995) and Outbreak (1995), then, alien takeover and relationships – Mars Attacks! (1996), Contact (1997) – and, finally, killer asteroids, comets and meteors – Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998). These films reflected the prevailing worries of AIDS, terrorism, drug abuse and computer viruses. Like infectious diseases spread by ecological change, modern technology, urbanisation, jet travel and human invention, these films reflected the cultural paranoia associated with science and technology.
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The science of screams
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