Aliens and the Quest for Identity

Paper Summary:

People are as fascinated by aliens today as they were fifty years ago. Aliens starred in the monster films of the 1950s and today they feature in, literally, everything from toys to clothing to advertising. Nonetheless, when viewed today, the alien horror movies of the 1950s seem laughable to many audiences. This is because in the last twenty years, our relationship with aliens has shifted from fear and hate to what we might call alien love. By conducting a detailed reading of one such alien film from the 1950s, 'War of the Worlds', and an example of alien love today in the form of a promotional web site for lager, it compares how aliens are addressed in each text, and with the help of Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic", considers how much attitudes have changed.

From the Paper:

"Byron Haskin's 1953 film 'The War of the Worlds' is one of the earliest in the trend for alien horror films. Although the film evidences the fascination with aliens at the time, it is also very clear that we are not dealing with any kind of infatuation with the extra-terrestrial. In fact, they are presented as a very serious threat to humans. Almost immediately they are described in an authoritative narrative voice as 'intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic'2. This functions to establish early on the three key differences the film seeks to set up between humans and aliens: aliens are more intelligent, but have no emotions and no compassion. Therefore, before the audience even sees the aliens, they are assured that they are in no way similar to humans. Later, the obvious differences in appearance between human and alien produce even more distance between the two. Earth is used to contrast with the unfamiliar alien: although most of the action is confined to one place, the narrator points out that 'in every country government officials met... seeking ways to co-ordinate their defenses with those of other nations'3. The importance of 'home', in this case, of everyone on Earth joining together against a common enemy, is emphasized to contrast with what is unknown and 'alien'."

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