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In a short review essay (2-3 double-spaced pages) answer one of the questions
listed below. Essay due: beginning of class, March 1.
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When Klaatu asks Mr. Harley to have the President set up a meeting with all
the nations on Earth so that he can deliver his warning, Harley responds that
this sort of thing is "completely without precedent" and that that "they
wouldn't sit down at the same table." Klaatu's response is to express his
impatience with stupidity. In several places the film depicts our response to
the arrival of Klaatu and Gort as less than reasonable. Discuss several
examples of this, linking your discussion to what you have learned so far about
postwar American attitudes.
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When Klaatu asks Bobby Benson "Who's the greatest man on earth?", Bobby's
answer is Professor Barnhart. So, having given up on dealing directly with
political leaders, Klaatu decides to go to the scientific community by way of
Barnhart. Yet Barnhart warns Klaatu that "we scientists are too often ignored
or misunderstood." Who or what does Barnhart represent to a 1950s audience? Why
would Klaatu (or Bobby) place so much faith in the earth's scientists? And why
is Barnhart skeptical of his ability to influence the world's political
leaders? Discuss these questions in light of what you have learned so far about
postwar American attitudes.
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