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Science Fiction Modernity in The Incredible Shrinking

Science Fiction Modernity in "The Incredible Shrinking Man"

‘Some terrors are hard to face directly, and so they come in the more easily donned cloak of metaphor. That has been the secret agenda of the horror movie from the beginning’

Referred to here as the horror movie, science fiction is a difficult genre to define, often related to fantasy, horror, thrillers or film noir. Decade by decade it can be seen how the science fiction film has been a way of representing and responding to a number of broad, cultural anxieties. Jack Arnold’s film, ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ (1957), based on the science fiction novel by Richard Matheson represents, in my opinion, four categories of anxiety. Throughout this composition I will outline these categories within the context of 1950’s America, taking into account issues of nationhood, citizenship and identity. Using concepts such as genre and ideology in relation to cultural and historical processes, I aim to analyse the anxieties represented in The Incredible Shrinking Man within wider filmic expressions of nationhood in the United States.

Due to the increased participation of women in the workforce during the Second World War and the rise of consumer culture in the 1950’s, women had more autonomy during the post-war period in America. This could perhaps have led to anxieties about masculine identity and gender roles. The central characters in the film, until the shift to the basement, are Scott Carey and his wife Louise. It is evident from the beginning of the film that their patriarchal gender roles are a representation of normality, confirmed by Louise’s statement, ‘as long as you’ve got this wedding ring, you’ve got me’. As the wedding ring falls off, the stages of abnormality quicken rapidly and the representation of Louise changes,

‘The paranoia swells by stages. First, it is sexual, as his size relative to that of his wife continues to diminish; she comes to seem a looming and gross creature, and her behaviour to him is patronising.’

Carey’s initial concern, I would argue, is that of the loss of his masculinity, ‘I loathed myself, my home, the caricature my life with Lou had become.’ His masculinity is later retrieved by defeating the spider that he conceives as a metaphor for ‘every fear in the world.’ Bearing in mind the female spider (specifically the black widow) commonly kills its mate, this triumph is particularly prominent in relation to...

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