Powell- “From Out of Space… A Warning! An Ultimatum!” These words shout out from the 1950’s movie poster, The Day the Earth Stood Still, one of the featured items in Homesteader Museum’s upcoming exhibit, Terror in the Theater: Fifties Fears.
The exhibit arrives October 23 from the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center as a traveling exhibit, just in time for the monsters and aliens that will roam the Powell streets at the end of October. Even if you are not a sci-fi fan, this exhibit celebrates a time in history that goes deeper than merely kitsch sea creatures or gargantuan primates.
The great number and popularity of science fiction movies in the 1950s has led some to call the decade the “Golden Age of Science Fiction Films.” The fantasy and adventure embodied in the science fiction movies of the time often masked real fears and anxieties of the Cold War era. It seemed the advent of atomic weapons, the rise of Communism, and the confrontation with the Soviet Union threatened the future of the United States. These factors, along with increasing numbers of flying saucer sightings, led to a climate of paranoia.
Science fiction films of that decade commonly expressed several themes: fear of technology leading to unintended consequences; invasion of the planet by aliens; and the effects of atomic radiation. Because science fiction movies were not constrained by reality, more imaginative outcomes and plot lines could be addressed in creative ways. Often included were monsters, ranging from aliens from the farthest reaches of space to prehistoric creatures from the depths of the ocean.
Terror in the Theater: Fifties Fears showcases the fears faced by the world in the 1950s, whether real or imagined. Included in the exhibit, from the Forrest Ackerman Collection at the American Heritage Center, are posters and photos from 50s movies contrasted with earlier and later science fiction classics such as King Kong.
The public is invited to the exhibit reception, Tuesday, October 28, 6:30-8:00pm, with a viewing of movies Them! and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. The exhibit will haunt the Homesteader until November 26. For more information, call 307.754.9481 or see Facebook page, Homesteader Museum, Powell.
