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The facts on '50s science fiction filmsEver wondered why spaceships in movies whiz as they fly past, bank their wings as they turn, and always have gravity inside them -- which spares producers costly special effects but otherwise makes no sense? If you have, check out "Sci-Fi Movie Nights" at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics tonight and on Dec. 6, and find out why things don't work in outer space the way they often do on-screen.
Since September, the CfA has been screening sci-fi movies from the 1950s, which -- for younger viewers at least -- sometimes look stranger than green fellows from Mars. David Aguilar, CfA's manager of public affairs, gives short lectures before and after the movies, highlighting rights and wrongs in the science behind the films. It's rocket science everybody can understand. Besides science, these sessions are also a good introduction to the golden age of American science fiction. "What do you think George Lucas watched?" asked Aguilar, who admitted some of the films screened may look like cheap B-versions of later hits such as "Star Wars" or the "Star Trek" series. And the technology is not the only thing that has changed since then. "These movies are politically very incorrect," Aguilar said. They depict a world where male characters are very dominant, women are portrayed as wives and mothers, and the military -- as opposed to a film's hero -- is always ineffective. "But these films come from America," Aguilar said, "where the sky was the limit." In some respects, Aguilar said, the sci-fi films of the '50s are more positive than today's sci-fi movies. And it is not just the happy ending that does the trick. Aguilar mentions an example: The 1951 and 1982 versions of the same film, "The Thing." This horror movie classic is about an arctic research team that stumbles upon a UFO and a hostile alien. The 1951 film exhibits a wonderful example of teamwork, Aguilar says, but John Carpenter's 1982 arctic team is riddled with infighting, and the film displays extreme violence and rude speech. Tonight "Sci-Fi Movie Nights" screens "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" (1956), and on Dec. 6 "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1956) and "Robot Monster" (1953). "Sci-Fi Movie Nights" are held at the Phillips Auditorium of the Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. Programs begin at 7:10 with a Flash Gordon serial from the '30s. Movies begin at 7:30. Kids are welcome, and admission is free. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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