Robert J. Kolker Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 I don't know how many of you have ever seen the motion picture -The Day the Earth Stood Still-. It was released in 1951 and was a nifty science fiction flick very much aligned to the paranoia of the times. I will outline the plot briefly. A flying saucer lands in the Mall in Washington D.C. Out comes a humanoid alien (Klaatu) and his robot companion (Gort). After giving friendly greetings Klaatu is shot and wounded by a soldier. He is taken to Walter Reed Army Hospital for treatment and kept under guard. Klaatu indicates to a government official that he wants to talk to the leaders of all the nations. This request is denied. Klaatu escapes and masquerades as business man (he looks perfectly human). He wants to circulate among humans to find out why they are so fearful. Eventually he is spotted and shot dead (again by the Army), but his body is recovered by Gort, his robot companion and he is brought back to life. Klaatu finally gets to talk to the scientists and scholars of many nations and issues a warning that earthmen should not come into space with warlike ways, else Earth will be destroyed. Here is the interesting part. In the last five minutes of the movie Klaatu outlines the mode of governance of the Peoples of the Other Planets. Apparently they have created a race of robots (Gort is one) who function is to keep the peace and severely punish aggression. When I first saw the movie, I thought the finale was a blurb on libertarian limited government. Nay. Nay. I was wrong. What it was was a capsule presentation of Hobbes' theory of the state as given in his book -Leviathan-. Gort and his robot buddies constitute Leviathan an artificial creature invoked by men to counteract the grim logic of anarchy, a state where life is "nasty, brutish and short". Hobbes actually made it to the silver screen. Hoodahthunkit? Klaatu Barada nicto. Bob Kolker See the following: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/ for a description of the movie and the cast. It had a very good cast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punk Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 (edited) Hmmm, I'd always thought the film just answered the question: What if Jesus had flying saucer and a killer robot named "Gort"? Edited September 14, 2007 by punk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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