The Day the Earth Stood Still

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The Day the Earth Stood Still
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The Political ContextCommunism After WWII
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The Political ContextFear of Communism
A 1947 comic book published by the Catechetical
Guild Educational Society warning of the supposed
dangers of a Communist takeover.
4
The Political ContextThe Rosenbergs

• 1944 The Rosenbergs gave information about
  atomic bomb to Russians
• January March, 1951 The trial and death
  sentences

5
The Political ContextMcCarthyism and HUACLate
1940s to Late 1950s

• 1950 Alger Hiss trial
• Early 1950s Sam Jaffe blacklisted reduced to
  teaching high school math and living with his
  sisters.

6
The Political ContextAtomic and Hydrogen Bombs

• 1945 US drops atomic bombs on Japan.
• 1949 Soviet Union tests first atomic weapon in
  1949.

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Korean War
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The Political ContextFear of Nuclear Anihilation
1957
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The Other ExtremeCandide
In 1953, the renowned playwright Lillian Hellman
proposed to Leonard Bernstein that they adapt
Voltaire's Candide for the musical theater.
Voltaire's novella of 1758 satirized the
fashionable philosophies of his day and,
especially, the Catholic church whose Inquisition
routinely tortured and killed "heretics" in a
ghastly event known as an "Auto da Fé" ("act of
faith"). Hellman observed a sinister parallel
between the Inquisition's church-sponsored purges
and the "Washington Witch Trials" being waged by
the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Fueled by rage and indignation, she began her
adaptation of Voltaire's book.
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Pygmalion

• In our image
• Klaatu
• Gort
• Seeking perfection

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Who Gets to Play God?

• Klaatus creation
• Klaatus resurection

12
Running Amok
Or not