Invasions USA - by Michael Bliss (Hardcover)

About the Book

Of the twenty or so science fiction films produced in America during the 1950s, there is a fascinating subset of nine films that do more than portray an invasion. These films use the invasions as metaphors for assaults against the integrity of various things, such as the self, ...

Book Synopsis

Out of more than 180 science fiction films produced in the United States between 1950 and 1959, twenty were concerned with the notion of an invasion. Of these, a select number used the invasions as metaphors of issues that were of importance to America at the time, such as assaults upon individuality and marriage and debates about the supremacy of the human race. The invasion may be real (The Day the Earth Stood Still and War of the Worlds), dreamed (Invaders from Mars), or the result of a mental breakdown, as seems to be the case in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Real or not, all of these massive disturbances to the status quo convey the same anxiety: In the 1950s, many Americans felt that things in their world weren't quite right, and this sense of unease was expressed in the country's art, notably these films.

In Invasions USA: The Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, Michael Bliss examines movies that stripped away the veneer of normality during a decade often portrayed as the last innocent period in American history. From a boy's nightmares about his alien-controlled parents and a young woman's fears that her fiancé has been replaced by an emotionless alien to an extraterrestrial visitor who comes to warn mankind about its self-destructive ways, the stories of these films offer a variety of messages, both subtle and overt.

With detailed discussions and analyses of the films in question, this book examines a unique group of movies with profound messages. By exploring depictions of insecurities--whether personal or political--Bliss shows how science fiction films spoke to American audiences deeply troubled by their circumstances. Invasions USA will appeal to science fiction buffs and film aficionados interested in this significant phenomenon in movie and cultural history.

Review Quotes

"Invasions USA is a pretty good read, especially if you've seen the films he's chosen to discuss." --Free Kittens Movie Guide

"Throughout the decade [of the 1950s] there were almost 200 science-fiction films made, some of which could be read as analogies of communist brain washing, a particularly divisive subject at the time of McCarthyism. In his book, Invasions USA: The Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, author Michael Bliss rejects the often held notion that these films were propaganda tools dealing with American anxieties but rather focuses on sexual politics in such cult films as the colorfully titled I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958) or about alienation (pardon the pun) in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). . . .The book is a quick and easy read that rarely diverts from its subject." --Filmwerk

Invasions USA is a pretty good read, especially if you've seen the films he's chosen to discuss.

Throughout the decade [of the 1950s] there were almost 200 science-fiction films made, some of which could be read as analogies of communist brain washing, a particularly divisive subject at the time of McCarthyism. In his book, Invasions USA: The Essential Science Fiction Films of the 1950s, author Michael Bliss rejects the often held notion that these films were propaganda tools dealing with American anxieties but rather focuses on sexual politics in such cult films as the colorfully titled I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958) or about alienation (pardon the pun) in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). . . .The book is a quick and easy read that rarely diverts from its subject.

About the Author

Michael Bliss teaches English and film criticism at Virginia Tech. He is the author of many articles and books, including Dreams within a Dream: The Films of Peter Weir (2000), Between the Bullets: The Spiritual Cinema of John Woo (2002), and Peckinpah Today (2012).