Ep #27- Technophobic Science Fiction in 1968

It’s easy to judge the past solely by its accomplishments, but doing so never provides the full picture. In isolating only the achievements of the Space Age, the ‘60s come across as a glossy and utopian time of cultural and scientific development. Yet, by the end of the decade, most of the world was trapped in a near fever pitch of anxiety; the Cold War was looming larger than ever, the American presence in Vietnam was being openly and angrily questioned, the sexual revolution was ramping up, and a myriad of violent clashes were happening between protestors and police. To top it all off, technology was also developing rapidly–not just in space but in people’s day-to-day lives. As much excitement as there was for change, there was also an equal amount of fear: fear of technological advancement, fear of rapid change, fear of losing our humanity, fear of putting too much faith in science. The future was now and everything was seemingly happening at once. What’s an emotionally repressed 1960s’ Joe Blow to do with all of this uncertainty?

By 1968, science fiction had become the outlet of choice to express these collective anxieties. The genre was blossoming in literature, television and film–from Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick to The Twilight Zone and Star Trek. It proved to be both the perfect cypher for societal fears of progress and heightening violence, as well as the perfect genre for some well-deserved escapism. It also produced one of the greatest films ever made to feature a murderous computer who sings. In this episode, and discussed in order from the ridiculous to the sublime, Bart and Jenna watch several selections from this annus mirabilis of sci-fi films that engage directly with societal anxieties of the future.

The following films are discussed:• The Green Slime (1968) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku Starring Robert Horton, Luciana Paluzzi, Richard Jaeckel

• Project X (1968) Directed by William Castle Starring Christopher George, Greta Baldwin, Henry Jones

• Planet of the Apes (1968) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner Starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter

• Charly (1968) Directed by Ralph Nelson Starring Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala

• Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968) Directed by Alain Resnais Starring Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, Anouk Ferjac

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed by Stanley Kubrick Starring Douglas Rain, Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood