Sexism In The Film 'Forbidden Planet'

Intellect, sexuality, and pride

Forbidden Planet (1956), directed by Fred Wilcox, is the first science fiction film to take place on an exoplanet. The film is about a military class vessel and crew dispatched to investigate the status of a scientific exploration team on a planet in the Altair system. The captain and crew of the investigating team is surprised to find only one original crew member remaining on the planet; furthermore, the investigators find out that all the other crewmembers of the science team were viciously attacked and killed by a mysterious, unseen entity. Many elements present in the film inspired later films and shows that were of a space exploration, science fiction type. The inspiration is strongly visible in Roddenberry’s Star Trek series. One of the most interesting facets

of this film is how strongly it reflects the period that is was written and filmed in. Forbidden Planet strongly reflects several characteristic traits that were common in 50s American culture.

Intelligence Quotient
The IQ as a measure of a person’s aptitude or degree of success is still present in current American society; however, not nearly as present as it was in the 50s. Modern day opinions of IQ include a recognition that it probably does not capture all of the qualities in a person that contribute to probability of success or outright capability even in various subjects. In the 50s, on the other hand, IQ was quite novel, accepted, and mainstream. This shows up in the film strongly in the scene where Morbius is showing the Krell’s IQ measuring machine to the captain and doctor. Both the doctor and Morbius quote their IQs as if it was important to be said, and important for the viewers to know. Morbius goes on to poke fun at the captain by stating that leaders do not need high IQs, only loud voices. To expand on this a bit further, the fact that the Krell have such a device must mean that this very advanced civilization also determined that the measure of IQ is both correct and useful to a high degree. It reinforces the notion that IQ in the 50s was very prevalent.

Militarism
The militaristic aspects of the film are present throughout and again reflect attitudes during the 50s. In the film, space is governed by the Navy, military humor is present throughout, and the naval members are all American Caucasian males. Additionally, the military is propped up as superior to science. Towards the end of the film, a scene involving Morbius and the captain showcases the presence of restraint, discipline, and humility within the military. The poor scientist apparently has none of these qualities. Morbius is seen as an arrogant, self-centric individual who does not accept social laws or religious concepts as part of decision making. His justifications for the decisions on how to dole out Krell technology are simply a façade, his rationalizations.
The Navy controls space exploration. It makes sense to assume the naval branch of the armed forces would take on this responsibility considering spacecraft are often referred to as space ships. With navies traditionally operating large vessels of transport and armament across vast bodies of water, the assumption that a navy would inherit all of space is not a far leap. This concept is similarly echoed across several other films and shows.
The military humor present throughout the film and the very way the film portrays the military may stem from the superhero effect Americans must have felt following WWII. A large portion of ally forces were U.S.; these U.S. forces marched on and liberated concentration camps across Germany at the close of WWII. I can see the level of pride Americans must have had in the military at the time. I feel this was a driving source for the militarism in this film.

Sexism
Ah, the sexism of the 50s.

Sexism began earlier and continues on to this day to varying degrees. During this decade, the typical subservient views of females held strong; however, if I look at the film as a view of how the future would evolve, it becomes more interesting. In the film, Robbie the robot performs all the actions traditionally (in the 50s) done by women. A quick look at sitcoms produced in the 60s to 70s (think of The Brady Bunch), shows that the idea that the woman’s role in the house should be augmented by some form of help (Alice, the housekeeper). Wilcox had an Alice named Robbie in the Forbidden Planet. But if a woman’s traditional roles are to be filled by a robot in the future, what is a woman to do? Sex. The character of Altaira is easy on the eyes and does not have to do anything. Her sexual character role compels me ask the question: Is this the way they saw society evolving? Women will be liberated from their household duties in order to fully “serve” men? I apologize. It is easy in hindsight to mock the degree of sexism that was socially norm in the past. We still have sexism, and I am sure another half century from now, we too will be

mocked.
Conclusion
This film captures some essential traits of American 50s culture and displays it quite well. The investment of confidence in the metric known as IQ was extremely popular in the 50s. The intelligence quotient was new, popularized, and allowed an individual to further individualize whether or not it actually meant anything at all. The militarism present in the film was completely understandable if you consider events that transpired in global history in the preceding decade or two. Sexism is also blatantly present. We now look back on literature and film that contains this degree of sexist stereotypes with shock; however, it must be realized that these mentalities were the social norm. What was shocking then, was to be shocked by sexism. Forbidden Planet strongly exhibited these three, and other, traits of 50s American culture.