 There appears to have been a two way interaction between films and reality. When 'flying saucers' were in the news a number of very non-memorable films were made with titles such as :- The Thing from Another World - 1951 and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers - 1956 On the surface they seem to be about the current preoccupation with space travel and science but they also come out of the political climate of the time - people are afraid of a menace from somewhere else - communism. They are also afraid of 'the bomb' and nuclear attack. In Britain CND was founded. Attitudes to science in general are contradictory. Americans are enjoying the products of science - cars, refrigerators, and television. (Although the love affair with 'consumer durables' comes later in Britain.) but there is also a fear of science being out of control - dangerous scientists have been a topic for literature and film for some time. Newspapers are reporting sightings of UFOs - in America Project Blue Book was set up in 1952 to investigate reports but the government wanted to use Walt Disney films to debunk the myth. They also feared that UFO groups could themselves be subversive. So films can be both a reflexion of popular thinking of the day, and a propaganda tool. UFOs can serve as a distraction from real fears and a link to archetypes. Equally aliens can fulfil several roles for the psyche. They are potentially fearful, and can represent fearful and powerful archetypes but they are also imaginary and so under the control of their creator. They can defuse real fears. Most people know that they are harmless fiction but equally most people enjoy fear in films and TV as a release from the mundane. Other film genres offer fear - crime, thriller, horror as well as si-fi. |
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