The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Political Context

Communism After WWII

The Political ContextFear of Communism

A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society warning of the supposed dangers of a Communist takeover.

The Political ContextThe Rosenbergs

• 1944: The Rosenbergs gave information about atomic bomb to Russians

• January – March, 1951: The trial and death sentences

The Political ContextMcCarthyism and HUAC

Late 1940’s to Late 1950’s

• 1950: Alger Hiss trial

• Early 1950’s: Sam Jaffe blacklisted; reduced to teaching high school math and living with his sisters.

The Political ContextAtomic and Hydrogen Bombs

• 1945: US drops atomic bombs on Japan.

• 1949: Soviet Union tests first atomic weapon.

The Political Context

Fear of Nuclear Anihilation

1957

The Other ExtremeCandide

1953: Playwright Lillian Hellman proposed to Leonard Bernstein to adapt Voltaire's Candide for the musical theater.

Oh Happy We The Best of All Possible Worlds

Voltaire's novella of 1758 satirized the fashionable philosophies of his day and, especially, the Catholic church whose Inquisition routinely tortured and killed "heretics" in a ghastly event known as an "Auto da Fé" ("act of faith"). Hellman observed a sinister parallel between the Inquisition's church-sponsored purges and the "Washington Witch Trials" being waged by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Fueled by rage and indignation, she began her adaptation of Voltaire's book.

Pygmalion

• In our image:• Klaatu • Gort

• Seeking perfection

Who Gets to Play God?

• Klaatu’s creation

• Klaatu’s “resurection”

Running Amok

Or not