The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951
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Anonymous, USA, Movie Reaction: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Cold War was a scary thing for all of us when it began in the 1940s, but it became even more of a reality when the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” came out at the theaters. Hollywood has always had a way of taking current events and commenting on them through movies in order to force the public to think about the situation or to educate them about it. This movie achieved both goals in regards to the Cold War.
The movie was just a few years after the atomic bomb brought complete destruction that was witnessed by the world. The storyline tells of an alien that comes to earth to educate the leaders about their rush to violence in order to solve their problems. The main character – Klaatu – tries to get the leaders of the United States to preach peace and alternatives to violence. His main message is that if the leaders of earth use violence with his planet, then they will obliterate the earth.
This was one of the fears of the Cold War. The two main nations involved were the United States and the Soviet Union. Each side was building nuclear weapons in hopes that neither would use them out of fear of retaliation. To better illustrate that point, that’s like saying everybody should have a gun because you would be afraid to use yours if you know the other person has one, too. But “The Day the Earth Stood Still” really spoke to us as a public. We knew the fears associated with the Cold War. Many people were scared to death already. That’s why so many people at the time were building fully-stocked bomb shelters to protect them from the dangers of atomic bombs. Fortunately, they never had to test those shelters, but we still haven’t come too far from the fear we felt in those days.
Anonymous, USA, Movie Reaction: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Cold War was a scary thing for all of us when it began in the 1940s, but it became even more of a reality when the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” came out at the theaters. Hollywood has always had a way of taking current events and commenting on them through movies in order to force the public to think about the situation or to educate them about it. This movie achieved both goals in regards to the Cold War.
The movie was just a few years after the atomic bomb brought complete destruction that was witnessed by the world. The storyline tells of an alien that comes to earth to educate the leaders about their rush to violence in order to solve their problems. The main character – Klaatu – tries to get the leaders of the United States to preach peace and alternatives to violence. His main message is that if the leaders of earth use violence with his planet, then they will obliterate the earth.
This was one of the fears of the Cold War. The two main nations involved were the United States and the Soviet Union. Each side was building nuclear weapons in hopes that neither would use them out of fear of retaliation. To better illustrate that point, that’s like saying everybody should have a gun because you would be afraid to use yours if you know the other person has one, too. But “The Day the Earth Stood Still” really spoke to us as a public. We knew the fears associated with the Cold War. Many people were scared to death already. That’s why so many people at the time were building fully-stocked bomb shelters to protect them from the dangers of atomic bombs. Fortunately, they never had to test those shelters, but we still haven’t come too far from the fear we felt in those days.
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