Comparing The Day The Earth Stood Still And Good Luck

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Two films, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Good Night and Good Luck, are produced over five decades apart and illustrated similar anti-communist sentiment. The first film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, was produced in 1951 during the height of the anti-communist movement or in other words McCarthyism. Good Night and Good Luck, which George Clooney directed and starred in, was produced in 2005 as a black and white docudrama film. These two films portray the mood felt by society during the 1950s through two complementary perspectives. The first film shows an overt view by the media toward Senator McCarthy while transmitting a hidden message to the United States government. The second film does the same only five decades earlier. As stated, …show more content…

Some individuals in Hollywood decided to fight back in the way they knew best. Their communication medium was film movies and hence Julian Blaustein's production of The Day the Earth Stood Still. The movie featured several fictional characters with connections to real life events. Two characters in particular carried the theme best, they were Klaatu and Gort. Klaatu was an alien ambassador, taking the form of a human being, and Gort was a robot with futuristic powers. Together they came to Earth in a flying saucer space ship and landed in the nation's capital of Washington D.C. The country was in a panic and the military was dispatched to intercept the invaders and protect America. This could be related to McCarthy protecting America from invading Soviet agents and Communists. Soon it was recognized that Klaatu is actually an ambassador who posed no threat rather he is here to deliver a message to the world's leaders. For Klaatu to add urgency and magnitude to the message he brought Gort. Gort was a large intimidating robot which easily demonstrated superior strength to the earthlings. A prudent conclusion that Gort represents nuclear annihilation is fair and the nation's that harness nuclear power could easily dictate actions upon other nations. The general assembly of world leaders is referred to in the movie as the United Nations which only represented a few of the world powers. The message hear can be deciphered easily when John Hoberman wrote, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was in pre-production (a few months into the Korean War), Blausten had a purpose; the movie, he told the press, was an argument in favor of a "strong United

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