Invasions USA

Among the more than 180 science fiction films produced in the United States between 1950 and 1959, twenty were concerned with the notion of an invasion. Of these movies, a select number used the invasions as metaphors of issues that were of importance to America at the time, such as assaults upon individuality and marriage and debates about the supremacy of the human race. In these films, the invasion may be real (The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds), imagined (Invaders from Mars), or the result of a mental breakdown, as seems to be the case in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Real or not, all of these massive disturbances of the status quo tell us the same thing: In the 1950s, many Americans felt that things in their world weren't quite right, and this sense of unease was expressed in the country's art, notably these films. In Invasions USA: Nine Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, Michael Bliss examines movies that stripped away the veneer of normality during a decade so often portrayed as the last innocent period in American history. From a young boy's nightmares about his alien-controlled parents and a young woman's whose fiance is replaced by an emotionless alien double to an extraterrestrial occupant who comes to warn mankind about its self-destructive ways, the plots of these films offer a variety of messages, both subtle and overt. Offering detailed discussions and analyses of the films in question, this book draws attention to a unique group of movies with profound messages. By exploring depictions of insecurities-whether personal or political-Bliss shows how these films spoke to American audiences deeply troubled by their circumstances. By examining incursions in these films-whether literal, figurative, or just dreamed-Invasions USA will appeal to science fiction buffs and film aficionados interested in this significant phenomena in movie and cultural history.