The Day The Earth Stood Still
I often wonder what would happen if an alien really were to visit Earth. Best case scenario is the alien goes to the right place. If the alien landed in Canada, they might have the good sense to give him some Douglas Coupland books and a couple of bars of Coffee Crisp (because, it is entirely possible that chocolate may have a calming effect on even an alien). If the alien landed in Africa, they would hopefully have the sensibility to show the alien the pyramids and Victoria Falls, because then he’d see how beautiful this Earth can be. They’d play Femi and Fela Kuti for him, perhaps. They might show him some Pedro Almodovar films in Spain and some Lars Von Trier films in Denmark (although, they better have a bucket ready in case the shaky cam inspires the same waves of nausea in aliens.) If the alien landed in France, they might take the alien to an art gallery and show him Matisse, playing Serge Gainsbourg subtly in the background. In Russia, perhaps they would show the alien some Chagall…he would see some of Chagall’s works in Israel as well. They might take him to a pub to watch snooker in Britain and treat him like one of the guys. The Japanese might read to him from some Murakami texts and take him to see some photographs by Tokihiro Sato. In Sweden, let’s hope they would do the truly intelligent thing and take him to a Jens Lekman concert.
But in the United States, what would we do if an alien landed here? You’ve got it-shoot first, ask questions later. Although, it’s sort of difficult to ask questions after that, isn’t it? Throughout cinematic history, there’s been a variety of films exploring this idea of aliens coming to Earth (and why do they always come to America? Why not India or Prague? Why not Mexico so they could watch all of the films Gael Garcia Bernal did in the country he was born in? I mean, that’s what I would want to do if I was an alien and had some free time) Is there a film in which an alien lands somewhere besides the US? Someone, if you are reading this and you know of one, I do beseech you to tell me because I would like to see it.
In any case, the cumulative perception one gets from these films is that it would be dangerous to see aliens as friends and that if aliens came to Earth, it would surely be because they aim to destroy us. Wait-hey, I take it back about the films bit. Although technically an endearing literature series first, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was adapted to a film and I did see it. (Mos Def was great as Ford Prefect and Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman provided great voice overs) I prefer the British way of seeing aliens though, especially Vogons…they just write bad poetry because deep down they really want to be loved. Their president is an obvious figurehead egomaniac and they don’t bear humans any ill will…it’s just that we’re terribly in the way of the intergalactic highway they have been planning. And they did make their plans as available as our governments often do so…oh hey, don’t be confusing me now with some Vogon groupie! I am warning you!
Ok so in The Day the Earth Stood Still (I guess I should finally getting arond to talking about the actual film, shouldn’t I?) the alien is greeted with hostility by the masses and the government but, at the same time, there is a scientist who greets him warmly knowing who he is and a woman who, I might say, even falls in love a bit with him. Well, let’s just say I have a hunch that if Mr. Carpenter/ Klaatu could stay a few more months, she’d probably snuggle up to him even if he wasn’t the last alien on Earth. (wink wink nudge nudge say no more!)
The alien has a simple message: we didn’t interfere with what the people of Earth did before now but when you started using nuclear weapons, you started affecting the life on other planets as well. The alien states very simply that Earth will be destroyed if they continue to be destructive.
Let’s think of the time this film was made. It was shot in 1951, after the US decided to drop atomic bombs in Japan in 1945 and it’s placed right around the time in which the Cold War was getting on, with the nuclear arms race taking off. So it’s anti war message is particularly timed and powerful. There’s actually a conversation with the director about this film that you can go to here: http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Wise/wise-con07.html where he talks about, amongst other things, how they didn’t get alot of approval from the US dept. of defense, either. (surprise, surprise)
The film also has some more hokey gee whiz type of dialogue more indicative of the time but, basically, the overall message remains strong as well as it’s imo a realistic portrayl of Americans and the different reactions we would have. And, we could learn alot from this fictional Klaatu, who uses energy for good purposes and not destructive ones, who belongs to a planet where they don’t concern themselves so much with fighting and violence and so they obviously have had more time to concentrate on other matters like medical technology.
I want to say, I give this film a perfect 10/10. I don’t do that often and I hesitate, because it isn’t completely flawless but it is way ahead of its time and it poses an essential question I think we all need to think about, on the individual and government level. Are we going to choose to engage in behavior which is ultimately self destructive and diverts our attention from just helping the common people or are we going to realize that we could pile nuclear weapons up to the sky and it will do no one any good?
(now playing: Brian Eno: Another Day on Earth)