Invasion as metaphor : science-fiction cinema and american social problems in the cold war era

This essay raises the issue of the representation of the atomic bomb anxiety in the science-fiction movies in the 1950s. This study uses a framework of the anxiety states in American society, which emerged at the beginning of the Cold War. I analyze two movies: Invaders from Mars (1953) directed by William Menzies and Robot Monster (1953) directed by Phil Tucker. As I want to show, these films depict and comment on the American fear of nuclear warfare, representing it in the guise of confrontation with the Aliens. In particular scenes I identify stereotypes, which the American society created about the Soviets and the nuclear threat. I consider a critical approach of these movies to the political and social situation of 1950s, as opposed to other scholars, who misjudge the science-fiction stories calling them secondary, banal and naive. On the one hand, the science-fiction cinema alleviated the anxiety of the audience, showing every time that Americans defeat the Aliens. Thus science-fiction movies became a channel of governmental propaganda. On the other hand, these movies diagnose paranoia incumbent in the society. Thus, I take issue with Susan Sontag’s argument that "there is absolutely no social criticism, of even the most implicit kind, in science fiction films". I contend that science-fiction movies recognize and comment on the situation of the American society, envisaged as a child dreaming about its own power, but unable to protect the country