Among green men and red scares : A historical study about common themes in American science-fiction horror film during the McCarthy era

The following study has its origin and context in the politically polarised McCarthy era of the American history. With the WWII in retrospect, politicians in Western nations quickly acknowledged the potential impact and sphere of influence of popular culture and its ability to form public opinion. During this period attempts were made to censor culture from underlying socialist messages in order to spread and awake support for the government, especially in mainstream Hollywood productions. However, how successful were these attempts and did it actually create a resistance against the censorship’s proclaimers? This study analyses four different Hollywood science fiction films from the 1950’s and argues that the underlying messages were more diverse than previously expected. Some of the productions seemed to endorse the McCarthyist values, whereas others more clearly rejected these sets of values, implicitly claiming they were a highly irrational response to an unstable international situation