About this episode
The episode discusses the film The Day The Earth Stood Still and its reflections on Cold War America and societal fears.
Today we’re talking about one of the key films of the Cold War, The Day The Earth Stood still. In the film a humanoid alien, Klaatu, delivers a message to Earth - live peacefully or else. Through Klaatu’s interactions with humans we look at our society through a mile high (or 200 million “earth miles”?) lens. It’s a good snapshot of Cold War America and fears for the future - utopia or destruction…and it’s up to us (which isn’t promising, as we’ll see). On some levels it seems like beauty pageant tier politics, but digging a little deeper it brings up questions of the use of force in order to shape the world as you want it. This is one of the best sci-fi films ever made. Enjoy.
People in this episode
Host: Cold War Cast
Topics covered
- Cold War
- sci-fi films
- alien interactions
- politics
- society
- force and peace
Keywords
- Cold War
- sci-fi
- Klaatu
- politics
- society
- force
- peace
- film analysis
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Day The Earth Stood Still
Places: America
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