By Kelly L. Goodridge
“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices – to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. A thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children . . . and the children yet unborn, and the pity of it is . . . that these things cannot be confined to . . . The Twilight Zone!’
Narrator, from Rod Serling’s The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Introduction
My goal in this essay is to re-examine the Cold War pulse of the American populace a half-decade or so immediately following World War II and to reassess the interpretation of Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), a landmark film whose genesis can be found in Harry Bates’ novella “Farewell to the Master” (1940). Written before World War II’s conclusion, Bates’ novella is substantially different from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Nevertheless, there was plenty of material in Bates’ story for Wise and screenwriter Edmund H. North to fashion a film that reflected America’s increasing paranoia at the beginning of the Cold War. A close analysis of The Day the Earth Stood Still reveals a tension between paranoia and pacifism. The paranoia breeds fear and hostility to anything or anyone perceived as different from the norm.[i] This suspicion leads likeminded individuals to gang up on those they perceive to be different. Pack mentality is clearly at work in the film from the moment the alien Klaatu (Michael Rennie) lands his flying saucer in Washington, D.C. The alien professes to come in peace. His statement is questionable, given that he brings a warning to Earth to stop its violent ways or else, but this seeming ultimatum is tempered with thoughtful action when a situation arises that threatens the Earth’s destruction. Ultimately, The Day the Earth Stood Still emphasizes the power not of warfare but of individualism, free thought, and free will to realize unity of cultures, nations and intergalactic governments.
Director Robert Wise crafts a call or peace, for humanity to stop destroying itself. A humanoid extraterrestrial and a robot travel to Earth out of concern for the Earth’s increasing nuclear weapons development in hopes of establishing peace, but even before their spaceship lands in Washington, D.C. tensions are running high. [ii] From the moment the UFO is picked up on military radar circling the Earth at “supersonic speed – 4,000 miles per hour,” it creates alarm. Top U.S. military officials decide that the UFO “can’t be aircraft” and declare that it’s a bomb, an unknown “bogie.” This scene is followed by brief scenes of radio broadcasts around the world – India, France and England. The UFO’s presence is causing panic world over. Then, a radio and television broadcast is shown from the nation’s capital – a gimmick used in SF where government and top military officials attempt to allay societal fear, ‘a top-down hierarchy,’ and where they also assert power and control over the situation. The broadcast discounts rumors of mass destruction as “absolutely false” only to be interrupted by footage of the UFO. Moments later, as the glowing disk comes into view overhead the Washington, D.C. skyline, citizens and tourists, who minutes earlier were relaxing and enjoying the city’s sites, run and scream in panic. Many are shown leaving their purses and baseball gloves behind. The Capitol Building, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, Lafayette Park and the Washington Monument are among the historic landmarks that are shown with the flying saucer circling overhead.[iii]
Once the UFO lands, sirens sound as police and military respond. Military tanks and jeeps are shown driving so fast they almost lose control rounding corners and road intersections. A panicked citizen is shown running through the streets of Washington yelling, “They’re here, they’ve landed . . . on the Mall . . . they’ve landed.”[iv] There is panic and hysteria amongst citizens throughout the country. Soldiers with machine guns and bazookas join army tanks in assuring that “every eye and every weapon” is aimed at the spaceship.
The timing of this extraterrestrial visitation is quite significant. Klaatu and Gort (Lock Martin) land on Earth post World War II, at the start of the Cold War, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and the Space Age. It was a disquieting period in domestic history; the United States government feared that others were developing nuclear weapons. U.S. citizens believed that Russia could use covert methods to overthrow the government.[v] U.S. citizens’ response to a growing suspicious environment serves as the backdrop for The Day the Earth Stood Still. Wise portrays man’s inability to curb a simmering, ever-escalating fear of invasion and warfare. After making onlookers wait for two hours, Klaatu descends the circular spacecraft,[vi] reaches into his spacesuit and brings out an unknown device that he holds in his hand as if it were a weapon. A panicky U.S. soldier shoots him. The alien visitor – the other – falls to the ground bleeding from a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
1.
Strangers in a Strange Land
“We’ve come to visit you in peace and with good will.”
Klaatu, alien emissary in The Day the Earth Stood Still
After Klaatu is shot, his traveling companion, Gort, a metallic eight-foot robot, also exits the spaceship. Gort’s appearance causes renewed hysteria amongst onlookers. Even members of the U.S. Army are shown backing away from him. Klaatu calls out a code message and Gort’s visor opens. The robot blasts fiery beams (reminiscent of the bright atomic blasts) from his faceplate. These beams are powerful enough to melt all guns and weapons in the vicinity, including entire military tanks that are pointed at the spaceship.
The military exemplifies the need for unquestioning group unity. Soldiers must obey their superior officers. Certainly, they have rights, but joining any branch of service requires individuals to accept that they will work to serve their country as their superior officers see fit. Joseph Campbell observes that servicemen no longer act on their own, but rather “as agents of something above them and to which by dedication they have given themselves” (The Power of Myth 12). The danger here is obvious. There is merit to group work. It can be beneficial. But what happens when those who have the power to govern or maintain order are flawed? Paranoia sets in. An individual can function erratically and illogically, as is evinced by the soldier’s firing upon Klaatu. This behavior is limited to one character in the UFO landing scene, but in later instances throughout the film, it will be the entire military that gangs up on Klaatu. They hunt him down and shoot him like an animal, unconcerned to ever really hear him out.
Later in the story, Gort also vaporizes soldiers that display aggression. Once again, the melting of weaponry and vaporizing of men are reminders of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. The robot’s fire rays create blob-like masses of fire and smoke vaguely reminiscent of mushroom clouds. Also, men are vaporized out of existence in a fashion not unlike the citizens in Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were closest to the heart of the cities where the bombs were dropped.[vii] Gort is programmed to maintain a peace that can only be achieved by eradicating violent perpetrators. In other words, he displays a classic military mindset: he uses force to enforce a peace and control others. According to Klaatu, Gort’s fiery heat rays purge a galactic society of violent offenders. Klaatu warns mankind that Gort is prepared to purge Planet Earth in order to ensure continued galactic peace. Once a violent act has been committed, Gort is set to destroy all offenders unless one intervenes with code words known only to Klaatu.
After being shot, Klaatu falls and the device in his hand breaks. He informs the hundreds of onlookers that they have destroyed his gift for the President. The device would have allowed the President to study “life on the other planets.” Klaatu, the alien visitor, was seeking out the President (a powerful and revered individual) to offer him a gift, proof of life on other planets. Certainly, Klaatu’s race has carefully chosen this gift of peace. It’s a gift that would eliminate any doubt about life on other planets in the universe as well as allow mankind to discover his connection to other living beings. It would also elevate the world of science and demonstrate its superiority over military and political powers. What’s more, such a gift would have offered credibility to Klaatu’s true identity and allowed him to demonstrate his technological superiority.[viii] However, fear and paranoia overrule orderly behavior. These states are not passive positions and the tension sparked by the government and press, stirs the masses in this film. Panic is represented in crowds and groups of soldiers that abandon individual will. In states of fear, it is all too easy to join groups, however flawed, and ascribe to pack mentality. Moreover, it is easy to condemn the other. Klaatu is feared, despised, blamed and called a monster over airwaves. The paranoia is contagious, and it is shown spreading from the top down.
The government perceives Klaatu as a threat from the moment he lands in Washington, especially because he refuses to speak to any one government. He wants to meet with leaders world-over simultaneously. His demand for global cooperation causes resistance and alarm from the U.S. government because of the disunity in global affairs. Despite the alien’s benevolent message, “We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill,” he is shot. His presence creates panic, acts of aggression and violence from the American culture, which Klaatu perceives as “strange unreasoning behavior.” Alien visitor Klaatu is annoyed by humankind’s display of paranoia and tells Mr. Harley, the President’s Secretary, that he’s “impatient with (man’s) stupidity.” Wise’s film, a classic SF alien invasion tale, typifies the paranoid nature of humankind, especially its fear of outsiders.[ix] Klaatu states that the only hope for humankind’s survival is to choose peace over paranoia.
The Day the Earth Stood Still also offers a critique of American culture during the 1950s. With the increase of Cold War tension and fear that one’s very neighbor could be a ‘Commie,’ those who trusted each other implicitly tended to view a few unfortunate outsiders with disdain and suspicion. In the film, group and pack mentality is shown fueling a hunt for the good alien. What begins as a panicky soldier shooting the benevolent alien eventually becomes top general’s orders to mobilize his group in a hunt to seek and destroy the alien. Klaatu is eventually attacked and gunned down by a group of soldiers, shot in the back multiple times and killed. As Mark Jancovich’s Rational fears: American horror in the 1950’s asserts, “The alien is good, and society is ‘dystopian’” (33). The film opens post the World War II high, when domestic productivity was on the rise and patriotic pride was soaring. However, any idea that the country was moving toward utopia quickly soured as the Cold War wave swept in and influenced Americans’ minds. The Day the Earth Stood Still focuses more on the psychology of mankind and his tendency to band together in times of crisis – which would not be so bad if irrational fears did not short-circuit logical thinking and objective perception.
At times, it’s as if humanity’s deep-seated paranoia and fear-based actions are too much for the alien. Americans are anti-social and violent. This leads to quiet demonstrations of power on the part of Klaatu. The humanoid alien is freed from a government jail cell by his robot companion even though the robot was encased in a government plastic material designed to be stronger than steel. Klaatu eventually feels the need to demonstrate that his alien species possesses technology and weapons that dwarf humanity’s. Before he takes action, the military does its best to penetrate the alien spacecraft, to no avail.
Perhaps it is humanity’s violent nature which forces the placid Klaatu to be so frank with Earthlings. The alien visitors threaten to enforce peace for their united galactic race by incinerating Earth if mankind does not stop nuclear testing.[x] Klaatu’s verbal threat is given at the end of the film, when he informs the world’s gathered scientists that “It is no concern of ours how you run your planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence (into space) this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.” The U.S.’s preoccupation with nuclear war survivability is not even an option in Klaatu’s threat, which is total destruction of Earth and humankind. The message is for Earth to get its collective acts together and choose peace over destruction. “Your choice is simple,” warns Klaatu, “join us and live in peace or pursue your present course and face obliteration.” Humankind must learn to view other planets as neighbors, warns Klaatu, because the united galactic cultures will not allow humans to take their warring into space. Klaatu and Gort have traveled an astonishing five months and 250,000 million miles to deliver their message. Such is the seriousness with which they take enforcing galactic peace. There are various paradoxes at work here. First: Klaatu professes to come in peace and brings with him peaceful gifts and messages, yet his behavior might be summed up as an ultimatum and his origin seems to be one in which the group is favored over the individual. American audiences would surely have cringed at the intergalactic ultimatum. They were already feeling anxiety at the thought of communist takeover and being forced to obey a cold alien mindset. Klaatu’s ultimatum is a power threat that parallels communist infiltration. He professes to be peaceful yet he is prepared to wipe out the Earth to enforce that peace.
The second distinct paradox lies in the alien’s failure to recognize the importance of the individual – that one person has the power to keep the Earth from being destroyed. That person is an Earthling woman named Helen Benson.
2.
It Takes a Mother
“Mothering means the laying to rest of what is weak, timid, and damaged – without despisal –
the protection and support of what is useful for survival and change, and our joint explorations of difference.”
Audre Lorde, 1984
The lead female character in The Day the Earth Stood Still is Helen Benson (Patricia Neal). Helen’s character exemplifies pacifism and a strong maternal instinct – she saves every living being on Earth from destruction. In doing so, she answers Robert Wise’s call for peace. She, a lone individual and everyday citizen – and a woman in what was perceived of as a man’s world – demonstrates greater moral purity than the masses and their pack mentality. What’s more, she appears as one of the few rational thinking humans in the film. Helen also moves from a pacifist male-following character to a more assertive and protective mother figure at the end of the film, when she becomes integral to thwarting Earth’s destruction by aliens. Many SF film aficionados do not find a very assertive and strong heroine lead until Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley did battle with the alien presence in Alien (1979). This neglects to fully consider the strong female characters in earlier SF cinema. Traces of the assertive female can be found in such films as The Thing from Another World (1951), Them! (1954), and I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958), a film that is much better than its title. At a glance, Helen may seem too passive and to embody the myth of the weak female, but benevolence might be confused with passivity. Her strength is subtly evident. She is a mother to Bobby (Billy Gray) and a maternal figure to others. This maternal quality in Helen, along with her fearlessness and solid compassion for others, makes her a formidable presence in the film. Her maternal instinct is stronger than her paranoia. Her character is a contrast to the “They’re here! They’ve landed! Shoot them!” mentality of panicked citizens.
Helen first meets Klaatu after his escape from the guarded hospital room when he takes a room at a local boardinghouse in hopes of learning more about humankind. The microcosm of society that Klaatu experiences at the boardinghouse offers various aspects of human nature: fellow residents are suspicious and believe that the spaceship is the doing of the “Soviets or Democrats;” not so Helen. She and her son, Bobby are rational, warm, intelligent, and helpful. She does not allow herself to be sucked into the residents’ paranoid mindset. One morning at breakfast, Helen is sitting at the dining table along with other boardinghouse residents and is the first to point out the absurdity of whether or not anyone knew the alien emissary’s real mission because “he was shot as soon as he landed.”
Helen’s only equal in the picture when it comes to maintaining a calm disposition and rational demeanor is Klaatu. Even her boyfriend Tom Stevens (Hugh Marlowe) is smug, self-centered and an attention seeker. Ultimately, Tom chooses himself and greed over his fellow man and the preservation of the planet.
Time and again, the film impresses upon viewers Helen’s unique humane nature. What’s more, once Helen learns of Klaatu’s real mission she attempts to help him, which includes telling her fiancé Tom that he must not reveal Klaatu’s identity and whereabouts because “the whole world is at stake.” Tom tells her, “I don’t care about the rest of the world,” and reports Klaatu’s whereabouts to the authorities. In a world that is increasingly paranoid, not only by the extraterrestrial threat but the communist threat, Helen seems to have an uncanny ability to maintain her cool. Unfortunately, her ability to discern truth in others is shaky. Helen places deep trust in Klaatu but does not recognize just how amoralistic and selfish a man her boyfriend is until Tom betrays her, Klaatu and thus, humankind.
Helen is a selfless character, a trait that puts her in further contrast to Tom, who is suspicious of Klaatu from the beginning. The nature of Tom’s mistrust is revelatory: it underscores the primitive and limited range of his thinking. Tom does not suspect Klaatu of being an extraterrestrial, but merely competition when it comes to Helen’s affections. While there is some degree of human negativity depicted around the boardinghouse dining room table, it pales compared to Tom’s ambitious and duplicitous nature. Tom is a Judas. He admits to caring about nothing but advancing his own person. He is egocentric and admits that he wants to be “the biggest man in the country.”
Yet the route to Helen’s heart seems to be Klaatu’s genuine interest in Bobby. Klaatu praises Bobby and naturally, that pleases Helen. More to the point, she factors Bobby into decisions that might impact her own future happiness. She perceives that Klaatu’s interest in her son is genuine. Tom shows little interest in Bobby, which is possibly why Helen does not immediately accept his marriage proposal.
Klaatu also shows genuine concern for Earth and humanity when he reveals his true mission and reason for visiting Earth. Helen demonstrates her rationality within her societal microcosm. Among the boardinghouse residents, Helen is the only woman who works, which contrasts sharply with the other female tenants. (One woman owns the house; the other is a domineering wife, Mrs. Barley, who spends her days bossing her husband and playing card games.)
Helen is a single mother, who is obviously doing a good job of raising her son. When Bobby trades two of his dollars for some of Klaatu’s diamonds, he tells the alien not to tell his mother because she would not like him cheating anyone. Early on Helen is a little worried about leaving Bobby with a total stranger (Klaatu), but Tom, her new boyfriend wants to spend the day with her. She finally concedes to leaving Bobby, but reluctantly.
Once Helen comes to recognize Tom’s egomaniacal flaws, she leaves him to warn Klaatu that Tom has figured out that he is the alien and has notified authorities as to his whereabouts. Helen consistently evinces a quiet assertiveness and a nurturing persona. When Tom reveals Klaatu’s whereabouts to the authorities, Helen attempts to help Klaatu escape the massive military power that is hunting him down and to get to him to his meeting with world scientists. Testament to her nobility is the fact that Helen is the only woman on the planet – and one of only two adult human beings on the planet – to which Klaatu entrusts his identity.
Shortly before Klaatu demonstrates his power over Earth’s electrical and mechanical resources, he visits Helen at work. Rather than “leveling New York City” as he admits he could do, or subject another city to a violent demonstration, Klaatu showcases his power by simultaneously stopping all electronically powered machinery on Earth for thirty minutes – thus, the film’s title. With the exception of hospitals and planes in flight, Klaatu showcases his formidable capabilities in an attempt to convince mankind to live peacefully.
Helen ends up sharing an elevator with Klaatu during his 30-minute demonstration. The audience is not privy to their conversation, but when the elevator opens, it is clear that Helen is now aware of Klaatu’s identity and mission. Her behavior and demeanor at this point in the film provide viewers with greater insight into her character. She does not run out of the elevator a screaming mess. She does not fall and sprain her ankle as do so many cliché written female characters in countless other films. Rather, she leaves the elevator with Klaatu and is deeply concerned about his safety. She believes his story. This may initially seem like gullibility on her part, but it isn’t. It reveals her intuitive nature. Klaatu’s story will prove true. He did stop the world’s electrical and mechanical instrumentation from running for thirty minutes and he has come from outer space to deliver his warning to keep atomic power out of Space. The need for world peace resounds throughout the film, but there’s also a ‘peace or else’ tone to the alien’s benevolent message: he calls for humankind to forgo paranoia and aggression and to give birth to a new consciousness of pacifism or face Earth’s destruction. Helen is a nurturing mother figure in every sense of the term. Together with Klaatu, she may help birth a much-needed pacifism on the planet. Truly, the only thing Helen aborts is Earth’s destruction while functioning as Klaatu’s principal disciple. This role, however, does not diminish her assertive qualities or make her completely subservient to any individual. Helen’s ultimate goal – that which drives her most strongly – is saving the planet for her son and all humankind. (I will discuss Helen further in Section 4.)
3.
Science, Ego, “petty squabbles” and Fear
As intelligent as he may be, it is clear that Klaatu does not know the true workings of human nature. Klaatu’s thirty-minute power display (or lack thereof) succeeds in doing little but creating more fear among the masses. Citizens are shown panicked and fearful. They grow angry and blame Klaatu. They make such statements as “I’m scared to death” and “It’s that spaceman.”
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a cautionary film that shows mankind – ordinary people – giving into fear rather than letting reason take hold of thoughts and emotions. This reaction is in sharp contrast to a select view: Helen Benson and Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), to whom Helen’s son Bobby takes Klaatu. Klaatu’s incredible demonstration terrifies most citizens, including Professor Barnhardt’s maid, a reaction that pleases the professor. Barnhardt notices his maid’s demeanor and obvious fear over Klaatu’s abilities to control the world. “[D]oes all this frighten you? Does this make you feel insecure? Good, Hilda, I’m glad!” The professor is delighted because he believes that Klaatu’s call for peace is necessary to maintain global peace. Moreover, he believes that science is the key to implementing and maintaining that peace; that science is mightier than anything the government and the military can ever concoct.
Klaatu’s demonstration and alliance with scientists insures their increased political power, especially at a time when postwar perceptions of science were filled with skepticism. The Day the Earth Stood Still debuted six short years after Albert Einstein was attacked by a HUAC member for being a potential communist and agitator (Hendershot 31). The similarities between Einstein and Barnhardt – a scientist and the “smartest man in the world,” according to young Bobby Benson – seems yet another way for director Robert Wise to credit Einstein and remind viewers of the good in science, in spite of the bad stigma imposed upon scientists by the creation of the Atomic Bomb.
Klaatu seeks out the ultra-rational Professor Barnhardt and shares Earth’s precarious situation with the scientist. Barnhardt attempts to help by gathering fellow scientists from around the world. Klaatu informs the professor that his world has studied Earth and learned that human beings have discovered a “rudimentary kind of atomic energy.” Certainly, it’s not the same atomic power that Klaatu tells young Bobby Benson that is used to power his spaceship. The alien’s capabilities are superior to man’s; his race is more technologically advanced. When Harley attempts to explain Cold War politics to Klaatu early on in the film – after the alien requests a gathering of representatives from all nations of the world – Klaatu calls the problems that Harley presents (egos, location demands, etc.), “petty squabbles.” Sadly, said pettiness applies to intellectuals as much as the uneducated. As Cyndy Hendershot asserts in her book Paranoia, the Bomb and 1950’s Science Fiction Films, Klaatu’s response reflects the “paranoiac vision of the scientist movement” (30). Further, Hendershot asserts that Klaatu’s presence and connection to the scientist “with an Einstein hair-do,” shows not only the scientist movement that believed a higher power would help and support their views on Earth but also, elevates science, especially since Barnhardt admits that he and his colleagues are not held in high esteem among political powers (31). Klaatu tells Barnhardt that his world and federation are familiar with Earth’s rocket testing and that he and others are worried. “Soon, one of your nations will apply atomic energy to spaceships, which will create a threat to other planets that of course, we cannot tolerate.” [xi] World leaders must stop their power struggles and violent governance and join together as a force for peace or the alien visitors are ready to instill peace in the universe by destroying Earth.
Once more, a paradox reveals itself: Klaatu calls for peace but he stresses that his galactic agency is prepared to use force to instill it. Perhaps this is a situation where the logical Mr. Spock’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) statement applies: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one,” the Vulcan claims. Although he eventually comes to believe that sometimes “the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the few or the many” (see Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)). Clearly, such is not the case in The Day the Earth Stood Still, where one tiny planet’s inhabitants are on the brink of being able to threaten the safety of countless other living entities on countless planets.
Klaatu is smart enough to recognize the dark side of Earth’s warlike people. They act like monsters, the very term that radio announcers label the alien emissary. For the two days that Klaatu is missing (and out learning about humanity), radio broadcasts induce panic amongst listeners with reports about “the menace from another world,” a “monster that must be found,” and “tracked down in the sewers in the city.” Such knee-jerk behavior on the part of human beings, such quick giving in to fear, such readiness to make one potentially innocent being a scapegoat greatly disturbs Klaatu. He admits to Bobby that he is fearful, especially when he sees “people substituting fear for reason.” Earth’s citizens consistently demonstrate fear, especially in a group. They fear difference and because Klaatu is an outsider, they are quick to label him an enemy.
4.
Pacifism, Resurrection, and Disciples
“I have become Death, the Destroyer of worlds.”
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, atomic physicist and head of the Manhattan Project
Klaatu’s persecution, humanity’s collective betrayal, and the alien’s death and rebirth are reminiscent of a Christian allegory. In fact, there’s religious symbolism throughout The Day the Earth Stood Still. As the film opens, it’s springtime. When the UFO is first sighted on radar, the controller exclaims, “Holy mackerel!” Shortly thereafter, a general makes a similar exclamation with his bellowing, “Holy Christmas!” (emphasis the actor’s) [xii] Man appears to be up against powers beyond his control and Klaatu mentions an “almighty spirit” to Professor Barnhardt. The alien also has miraculous powers of healing, thanks to a salve which he uses on his first gunshot wound. The concoction heals his wound in less than a day. While on Earth, Klaatu goes by the name Carpenter, the name on the dry-cleaning tag affixed to the suit he borrows. The name also serves as a metaphor for the reconstruction of a postwar world. Klaatu’s message is consistent: unity of all nations and all peoples is necessary for humanity’s long-term existence. Unfortunately, the alien repeatedly encounters fear, paranoia and acts of aggression. He has come to Earth to teach man that one’s character is one’s destiny. He is a pacifist and therefore ‘preaches’ peaceful resolution to all conflicts. Humanity’s fixation on violence must be purged or it will be destined to remain in a purgatory of sorts, isolated from other intelligent life in the universe. And if it insists on taking its nuclear weaponry into outer space, it will be erased from the universe. In spite of this potential wrath of God ultimatum, Klaatu remains Christ-like. He descends from the heavens and has greater power than Earthlings; and yet, he has a humanoid form and speaks an earth language. He attempts to save Earth’s inhabitants by warning them of possible extinction. The world does not listen. American soldiers shoot him in the back multiple times – a cowardly and desperate act, and one that causes more damage than a mere healing salve can fix.
Klaatu dies at the hand of a military mob. In killing Klaatu, the military triggers the wrath of Gort the robot, who is programmed to destroy the planet. Helen finds Gort and gives the three-word abort command that Klaatu gave her when he realized he might not make it back to his spaceship. In spite of his warning to behave or else, Klaatu demonstrates a supreme patience with humanity. He is perceptive enough to understand that Earthlings may not be able to overcome their pack mentality, which will lead them to try to kill what (or whom) they perceive as a threat rather than try to understand it. In keeping with the Christian parallel, Klaatu comes back from the dead to deliver a final peace message – or warning – before he ascends into the heavens.
Klaatu even has a small group of disciples: the child Bobby, his mother Helen and Professor Barnhardt. Helen might be seen as Klaatu’s principal disciple – a nurturing figure, certainly, but not a direct Mary metaphor because she has been married and has a child. Perhaps a Mary Magdalene comparison is more in order. It is also important to recognize that although Helen believes in Klaatu, she is not completely subservient to him. She is a quiet but assertive figure. Klaatu entrusts his disciple with words that will prevent Gort from disintegrating the world upon Klaatu’s second wounding. Helen utters the famous phrase, “Klaatu barata nikto” and in so doing, stops Gort’s fiery destructive rays.[xiii] A cliché of so many horror and science fiction films is their depiction of the female as a helpless screaming damsel in distress who must eventually be saved by the male hero. Significantly, in The Day the Earth Stood Still, the exact opposite happens. It is Helen who for all intents and purposes saves Klaatu and prevents Gort from destroying the planet.
Mother Helen saves Mother Earth from annihilation. Helen never reveals fear. The closest she comes to doing so is when she sees Gort lifting his visor and preparing to vaporize her. Rather than screaming, she twice utters the secret words that disarm him. Afterward, she goes into the spaceship with the robot. Curiously, she does not walk up the ramp and through the door, but is carried into the craft by the robot. The imagery is clearly reminiscent of a new bride being carried through the threshold of her new home. This is appropriate, given that Gort is an integral part of Klaatu and is in effect working as an extension of the extraterrestrial while he is incapacitated. Within the span of an hour or two, Helen rejects one beau (Tom) and in effect enters the domain of another. But that is as far as any sort of romance between Klaatu and Helen gets. The relationship remains platonic, forged on trust and goodwill.
By nature, Helen is a servant of Earth life, as Klaatu is a servant of intergalactic life. More than any human being in the film, she recognizes that life is sacred. Her maternal interest drives her to keep the planet safe for her son Bobby and the rest of humanity. She is also an unlikely hero as “heroes of 50’s science fiction films are military men or FBI agents who invariably distrust intellectualism and scientists; they shoot first and ask questions later when confronting aliens, even if the latter are friendly” (Matthews 19). Indeed, it is not too far a stretch to posit that Helen may be regarded as an Earth Mother figure in this film. Significantly, Klaatu’s final wave is directed specifically at Helen.
That said, although the Christian parallels are striking, The Day the Earth Stood Still goes far beyond Christian allegory. Klaatu is ultimately more of a universal peace figure than a Christ stand-in and the story itself stresses a message of peace above all else. Time and again, Klaatu preaches peace, an ideology that extends beyond the Christian religion or any one religion and is more a humanitarian stance. Moreover, by asking human beings to find their connection to others and see themselves in other people, Klaatu emphasizes an opening of the heart that links him to universal myth figures (The Power of Myth 214). It also links him to another “stranger in a strange land:” one Valentine Michael Smith, in Robert A. Heinlein’s classic novel (1961).
5.
Conflict as Communication Tool: the Human Way
“Anybody got an atomic bomb? Who doesn’t have an atomic bomb nowadays?”
Kurt Vonnegut A Man Without A Country
Klaatu is shot as soon as he exits his spaceship. He is later called a “monster.” Earth’s inhabitants’ consistent show of aggression seems to confirm that mankind only knows violence as a way to deal with the other. In contrast, Klaatu is depicted as a rational and highly intelligent educated being that has little in common with mankind. He also expresses little tolerance for man’s “stupidity.” His mission concerns every last creature on Earth and yet, childish jealousies and suspicions take hold, emotions that Klaatu says his “people have learned to live without.” Unfortunately, as the President’s Secretary Mr. Harley observes, “My people haven’t.”
The film’s foremost message against armed conflict mirrors real world conflict. Furthermore, the film demonstrates the need for a redirection of fears and tensions of the world, and that an end to hostilities and mankind’s fear is needed in order to create a world that views awareness, reason and understanding as tools for living. Jerome F. Shapiro asserts that “many popular bomb films challenge the status quo, provide alternative visions of the future, and offer hope” (Atomic Bomb Cinema 34). Klaatu’s closing words place the responsibility of peace on mankind. “Your choice is simple. Join us and live in peace or pursue your present course and face obliteration.” He tells the gathered scientists from around the world that “we have an organization for the mutual protectors of all planets.” This organization, Klaatu continues, is prepared to eliminate aggression and the test of any higher authority. Klaatu asserts that there “must be security for all or no one is secure.” Yet, despite his eventful and informative four-day visit to Earth and warnings that the only freedoms man will be giving up is the “freedom to act irresponsibly,” there is a hint of renewed panic by citizens as the spaceship powers up to leave.
Although Klaatu admits he does not want to resort to threats, he is forced to do so as a result of mankind’s paranoia and “stupidity.” Klaatu’s warning for peace verses man’s destructive ways is applicable today, 56 years later. We may not worry about alien visitors arriving in spaceships to destroy humankind, but today’s combined and ‘known’ nuclear weaponry is enough to obliterate the planet. Due to its recent defiance of international warnings and an underground nuclear explosive test last July, North Korea is now the ninth country known to have nuclear weapons.[xiv] The collective power of such nuclear artillery – enough for humankind to bomb itself out of existence – is alarming. It’s not surprising that North Korea’s unprovoked act sparked fear and outcry from the U.S., Japan, South Korea and China. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the test “unpardonable” and cautioned that the region was “entering a new dangerous nuclear age” (“North Korea Claims Nuclear Test”). Certainly, North Korea’s 2006 nuclear explosive test and violation of the 2004 Agreed Framework for peace and security demonstrates a worsening of the nuclear crisis – particularly since our world is also threatened by terrorism, the War in Iraq and nuclear stirrings in Iran.[xv] It is almost 62 ago that the A-bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastating the environment and obliterating nearly 380,000 people from the blasts, heat, and effects of radiation. Yet, man still lives with the daily threat of nuclear war.
Klaatu claims that his world is one where its inhabitants can live “in peace, without arms or armies.” His domain lacks human stupidity, war, and power-hungry leaders. It is also a world that lacks military establishments, which as His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama asserts, “. . . are the greatest sources of violence in the world. Whether their purpose is defensive or offensive, these vast powerful organizations exist solely to kill human beings” (The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama). Klaatu asserts that his world is, “secure in the knowledge that we (they) are free from aggression and war” (MonsterZine.com). Yet, Klaatu admits that his world is ready to extinguish the devastating intentions of a violent society – and the society itself, if need be – in order to maintain galactic peace. In other words, mankind must stop his violent ways or face destruction.
Klaatu is an interesting model of peacekeeping and a wonderful counter to the suspicious nature of Cold War mentality that would have been gaining a strong foothold by the time The Day the Earth Stood Still debuted. Klaatu’s calm manner demonstrates a fearless stance. He is free of paranoia. He is rational and civilized; unlike those he encounters in a most uncivilized Earth environment. Today, after 45 years of Cold War, making war and living under the threat of nuclear extinction, human beings have not yet achieved the ultra civilized stance that Klaatu proposes. Despite the prevailing fears of the era – fears that threatened to turn overzealous patriotism into mob rule at any moment – Wise and other atomic bomb filmmakers used their films to expose social ills and stress man’s need to curb his violent nature an innate fear of the unknown.[xvi] In fact, Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still won a Golden Globe Award in 1951 for “Best Film Promoting International Understanding.”[xvii] The film’s call for peace and collective reform draws attention to the looming violence perpetrated by man, as well as stereotypical qualities that man possesses, which can lead to his demise.[xviii] Sadly, if a Klaatu were to land on Earth today, would his reception be regarded as any less hostile than that which is depicted in a film made over fifty years ago?
6.
Pack Mentality vs. the Individual after
The Day the Earth Stood Still
“It only took twenty-three Commies to overthrow Russia.”
J. Edgar Hoover
Heinlein had a field day creating a metaphoric parallel for America vs. the communists in The Puppet Masters. His novel ends with the epitaph “Death and Destruction” (340). Wise does something similar in The Day the Earth Stood Still. Indeed, the filmunderscores the United States’ Cold War invasion jitters even as it tries to temper these concerns with a call for peace and tolerance. The Day the Earth Stood Still is a morality tale that targets social consciousness and offers a complex peace message. The film stresses the need to move away from fear and all warfare even as it introduces the threat of force to persuade the Earth to live in peace. Gort’s use of force to fight violence and the film’s depiction of adversaries that do not trust each other are realities of war, as are the fears that come with war regarding personal and national safety. Wise offers viewers a scenario that showcases American citizens and their reaction to those they fear. Specifically, the others here are beings from outside our terrestrial Earth. Metaphorically, the alien visitors are stand-ins for the communist invaders Americans were so sure were invading their towns and cities as the Cold War escalated. Although The Day the Earth Stood Still is based on Bates’ 1940 novella, it was a decade later and during a time of nuclear-induced paranoia when North adapted Bates’ story for film.[xix] There are significant differences in the novella and film: in the written story, Klaatu dies as he first exits his spaceship and there is no message of peace or reason given for the alien’s visit to Earth. In the film, Klaatu lives after being shot the first time, is killed when he is gunned down a second time and is reborn to deliver his paradoxical message of peace / “ultimatum” to Earth’s inhabitants.[xx]
That paradox at the heart of Klaatu’s message is a characteristic of many films of the Cold War era. In Atomic Bomb Cinema, Shapiro points out the inability of individual nuke flicks to identify a single moral or distinct meaning. While Shapiro finds many cinematic representations “highly evocative . . . no [one] fictional film can actually represent the human condition” (15).
To reiterate, pack mentality can manifest itself in environments that are suddenly altered by the presence of a stranger or small group of strangers. Such is the case in The Day the Earth Stood Still. It can also result from a lack of strong dialogue between groups or from a systematic breakdown in communication between parties. Such is the case in Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed nuclear war film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). In Dr. Strangelove, an insane Air Force general orders a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. Once this process is put in operation, it becomes increasingly difficult to abort the strike. Factions break out, there is fighting in the War Room and a literal breakdown in communication equipment. One would think that fruitful dialogue would include dialogue with all interested parties, regardless of gender. Yet Kubrick stresses that in the world of war, it’s still a man’s world. Dr. Strangelove lacks female characters. Indeed, the only woman that appears in the film is a general’s lover, who is shown lying in his bed in her underwear, entreating him to come back to bed. In the end, the film’s pacing reaches a very quick pace, as if to stress that lack of communication leads to situations that make disasters unavoidable. A military cowboy of sorts rides the doomsday A-bomb to its target destination. The bomb is unquestionably phallic in nature as he sits at the base of the rocket.
Another film that showcases pack mentality with frightening accuracy is Seven Days in May (1964). The film also demonstrates abuse of power and problem solving by resorting to violence. Remade as The Enemy Within (1994), Seven Days in May tells the story of military leaders who attempt to overthrow the United States president because he agrees to a disarmament treaty and to destroy the United States’ nuclear arsenal. The president works as an individual to ensure the future safety of his nation. It is a group of paranoid men that ban together to oppose such a move. They are willing to resort to violence to uphold a more violent way of life that makes sense to them. The ‘no one wins’ message imbedded in such films as Dr. Strangelove and Seven Days in May can lead to a deadening of culture that Shapiro speaks of in Atomic Bomb Cinema.
Conclusion
The paranoid pack mentality of mass society verses the pacifistic, cerebral and strong-willed individual is seen in many 1950s SF films that depict a symbolic Russian invasion or literal alien takeover. Ultimately, these films center on the challenges facing not only America, but all of humanity, one of which is to overcome irrational fears and tendency to act irrationally in the face of crisis. Pack mentality can also be found in 1960s cinema and television. Such shows as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek – and such films as Night of the Living Dead – show the folly of irrational pack behavior. Conversely, the power of one rational individual is showcased in many films that followed The Day the Earth Stood Still, in whichthe entire world is saved byone individual. Helen Benson gives birth to a new way of thinking, overrides her fear and redefines gender roles in The Day the Earth Stood Still. She is a compassionate rational woman whose selfless behavior saves Planet Earth from destruction. Helen stands in contrast to the unruly mob. The same might be said of Klaatu, even though he brings a nuclear disarmament or else message to Earth. Helen and Klaatu become individual symbols of peace. Screenwriter Edmund H. North and director Robert Wise use these characters to show that individuals can make a difference in the world.[xxi]
[i] Author Cyndy Hendershot asserts that post-war fears surrounding the A-Bomb in a “world of fall-out, medical experiments, and potential war,” fueled ambivalence amongst U.S. citizens. Hendershot suggests that this ambivalence (comfort and terror) is embodied in paranoia within 1950s SF films as a “means of both expressing and containing the trauma of nuclear weapons” (Paranoia, the Bomb and 1950s Science Fictions Films 21).
[ii] In the film, the humanoid alien visitor Klaatu mentions the United Nations to the President’s Secretary of State, who responds, “You know about the United Nations?” (The Day the Earth Stood Still). Although construction on the United Nations (UN) building began in New York City in 1947, the alien spaceship lands in Washington, D.C., a location where milestone meetings and conferences of global cooperation had already taken place. See <www.un.org/geninfo/fag/factsheets/FS23.HTM>.
[iii] The numerous monuments that are shown – all tributes to significant events and individuals in history – became the National Mall and Memorial Parks in 1965, which contains some of the country’s oldest monuments. See the U.S. Department of the Interior National Parks Service Website at <www.nps.gove/nama/>. What’s more, Washington and Lincoln are recognized – immortalized in stone — for their contributions to history and yet, both used force in order to ensure peace.
[iv] His cry and behavior is quite similar to Kevin McCarthy’s in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955), another film about alien arrival but one which paints them in a far more sinister light, given that they do not come to warn us about the dangers of nuclear power but want to take over our very essence and replace it with a colder, unemotional presence that paralleled Cold War American perceptions of Communists and the Communist way of life.
[v] J. Edgar Hoover was fond of pointing out, “It only took twenty-three Commies to overthrow Russia” (See Better Red Than Dead: A Nostalgic Look at the Golden Years of Russia Phobia, Red-baiting, and Other Commie Madness).
[vi] Psychologist Carl Jung believed one of the most powerful religious symbols to be the circle. According to Jung, the circle is one of the great primordial images of mankind. As a result, in considering the symbol of the circle, we are analyzing the self. The circle also represents totality. See Jung’s Man and his Symbols. See also Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth (214-15).
[vii] John Hersey’s Hiroshima talks about the bomb’s incredible brightness. So intense was the flash that people’s shadows were captured on nearby buildings. Similar shadows are also found in Nagasaki. My father, Ronald K. Goodridge, was in Japan in 1955 and 1956 in the United States Air Force. He writes of his visit: “Ten years after the bomb exploded life was pretty much back to normal nearby except the area around the memorial. The area around the memorial was still treeless, without habitation, but as I recall, by design, to enhance the visual image of the devastation caused by the bomb. Detonation of the bomb occurred as I recall some 1500 feet in the air. It was called an air burst so designed to cause maximum destruction. The memorial had artifacts of a personal nature, one of which was a photographic image of a person on a ladder up against a concrete or brick structure. The intense light from the explosion created an image which looked like a negative from an old photograph except it was a full size negative. There were others, such as a church bell silhouetted against a backdrop in a similar fashion. Another anecdote I recall from the visit some fifty years ago was that a nearby medical x-ray clinic had all of the x-ray film exposed by the intense light from the explosion in spite of the film being inside a building.” Ray Bradbury immortalized such nuclear bomb shadows in his classic short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains.”
[viii] Additionally, Klaatu’s technology would surely challenge creation theory and theology.
[ix] Invasion and threats to the human race are still popular movie storylines. For example, TranSFormers (2007) is a film that shows two factions of giant robots traveling to Earth in search of a powerful cube with which its possessor can enslave Earth and other life forms in the galaxy. As reviewer Greg Dean Schmitz observes in “Greg’s Previews,” these two races of invading giant robots disguise themselves as planes, cars and trucks to fool Earth’s inhabitants. 19 April 19, 2007. <http:// movies.yahoo.com/movie/preview/1808512169>. And a third theatrical version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is on the way.
[x] Among the advanced technologies and abilities that Klaatu and Gort possess is Klaatu’s special salve from his planet, which he uses to heal his shoulder after being shot. The wound heals – without a trace of injury – in less than a day. Their spaceship’s metal and Gort’s metal are also indestructible and “out of this world” (The Day the Earth Stood Still).
[xi] In Invaders from Mars (1953), a nuclear-powered rocket ship is shown and described by astronomer Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz), as a way of protecting Earth out in space. Kelston explains that once the rocket is launched into space, it can be detonated from Earth to destroy other plants if necessary.
[xii] In Harry Bates novella, “Farewell to the Master,” from which the film is adapted, the mail protagonist, Cliff “Thank[s] Heaven” twice and admits to praying “frantically” when he sees that Gnut (Gort in the film) is lumbering toward him.
[xiii] The words, “Klaatu barata nikto” are alleged to mean, “I bring you peace” <www.angelfire.com/md/mudgewolf/forest.txt>. Nikto is also said to mean ‘nobody’ in Russian. See Oxford English-Russian Dictionary. <http://links.jstor.org/sici>.
[xiv] In total, about 30 countries have sought nuclear weapons, and nine are known to have succeeded in developing or acquiring them. Besides North Korea, the countries with successful, on-going nuclear weapons programs are Britain, France, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the United States. South Africa remains the only country that subsequently dismantled its nuclear program (“Nuclear Weapons Programs Worldwide: An Historical Overview” <http://www.isis-online.org/mappingproject/introduction.html>). In “North Korea Claims Nuclear Test,” North Korea admits to carrying out its first test of a nuclear weapon. The UN Security Council is investigating (BBC News <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6032525.stm>). The Nuclear Threat Initiative is an organization devoted to monitoring the status of the nuclear threat worldwide. It confirms that nine countries possess nuclear warheads: U.S., Russia, China, France, Israel, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India and North Korea. The NTI was founded in 2001 by co-chairs Ted Turner and U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. <http://www.nuclearthreatinitiative.org/>.
[xv] The test took place in July 2006 and was reported by North Korea in October 2006.
[xvi] In a recent online contest from Freaking News: News Photoshop (May 2007), contestants are asked to Photoshop nuclear theme into works of art – paintings, drawing and statures. The contest is called, “Nuclear Art in Pictures.” See < http://www.freakingnews.com/Nuclear-Art-Pictures–1457.asp>.
[xvii] The DVD jacket – Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 1979 – states that The Day the Earth Stood Still won the Golden Globe Award for “Best Film Promoting International Understanding.”
[xviii] John J. Puccio’s film review, “Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!” asserts that Wise’s film lays claim to “classic” status in the sci-fi field prior to the 1960’s, a fact, Puccio adds, that is likely due to Wise’s admission that he believed in “flying saucers” (<www.dvdtown.com/reviews/review.asp?id=10770&reviewid=1494>).
[xix] There are some significant differences between Bates’ novella and the film adaptation of the story. Robot Gort in the film is called Gnut in the original story. He and the spaceship are made of a metal that has a greenish tint, a color often associated with innocence and perhaps is an allusion to “little green men.” Also, in Bates’ novella, Klaatu is shot and killed by a madman when he first exits the spacecraft. In the film, Klaatu is shot by a panicked soldier as the army circles around him. Readers later find out that Gnut is trying to clone and bring Klaatu back to life. Also in the original story, Gnut and his spaceship are kept on display at the Smithsonian. There is no female protagonist, no son, no scientist, and no warning from Klaatu to mankind. The protagonist in Bates’ version of the story is called Cliff; he is a photographer that learns that Gnut is the master and not Klaatu. Finally, Cliff is a praying man who decides “not to give away to fear” (154). Cleverly and perhaps daringly, given the specific gender roles of the period, Robert Wise reverses the gender of the hero in The Day the Earth Stood Still. It is Helen Benson who demonstrates courage and rational thinking.
[xx] Although Klaatu comes to Earth to stress the need for peace and nuclear disarmament, his message is laced with a threat. The robot race can destroy any race that does not choose to live peacefully. Hence, the varied original film posters for The Day the Earth Stood Still carried the same message: “From out of space . . . a warning and an ultimatum.”
[xxi] Yoko Ono is among current celebrities who promote a message of peace. She’s featured in the June 2007 issue of Smithsonian for her recent gift to the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Ono has donated a white Japanese flowering dogwood, which invites visitors to write and tie paper tag messages of peace to its branches “like ornaments” (Smithsonian 34). Ono believes that “the same ideas that motivate artists can bring about peace.” She asserts, “We just have to open our minds to the power within, and we can do it” (34). Ono seems t o be stressing the power of the individual and positive thinking to change the world. Ono’s flowering dogwood donation to The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is one of several that she has planted around the world since 1999 (34). She also donated a Wish Tree to Washington, D.C. Having read Bates’ “Farewell to the Master,” which is set in the Smithsonian, and watched Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, which is set around Washington, D.C., I couldn’t help but make the connection between Ono’s peace talks and both incarnations of the story.
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