Imagined Futures in Sci-fi: Forbidden Planet

I am taking a course called "Utopia/Dystopia: Imagined Futures in Sci-fi" which focuses on science fiction films from the fifties to the present. I will be writing a few words about each of the films I watch in class.

Forbidden Planet
Directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Released March 15, 1956

This tale of a spaceship crew that finds a seemingly wonderful new world is a clear predecessor of fare like "Star Trek" and "Alien." It is also a film that, while evidently important for historical reasons, suffers far more than both "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Lost Horizon" because of its heavily outdated nature. The crew seems all too goofy, the lines too funny, and the girl who had never met humans is all too bizarre and eager to kiss all the men. The effects are beyond corny, and the mysterious villain looks way too much like the Tazmanian devil. The whole storyline is very Freudian in nature and definitely interesting, but the shock effect has been more than somewhat diminished over the past fifty years.

C