Overview
Cyndy Hendershot argues that 1950s science fiction films open a window on the cultural paranoia that characterized 1950s America, a phenomenon largely triggered by use of nuclear weapons during World War II. This study uses psychoanalytic theory to examine the various monsters that inhabit 1950s sci-fi movies--giant insects, prehistoric creatures, mutants, uncanny doubles, to name a few--which serve as metaphorical embodiments of a varied and complex cultural paranoia. Postwar paranoia may have stemmed from the bomb, but it came to correlate with a wider range of issues such as anti-communism, internal totalitarianism, scientific progress, domestic problems, gender roles, and sexuality.
- | Author: Cynthia Hendershot
- | Publisher: Bowling Green State University Popular Press
- | Publication Date: Jan 01, 1999
- | Number of Pages: 174 pages
- | Binding: Hardback or Cased Book
- | ISBN-10: 0879727993
- | ISBN-13: 9780879727994
