Today we’re talking about one of the key films of the Cold War, The Day The Earth Stood still.

In the film a humanoid alien, Klaatu, delivers a message to Earth - live peacefully or else. Through Klaatu’s interactions with humans we look at our society through a mile high (or 200 million “earth miles”?) lens. It’s a good snapshot of Cold War America and fears for the future - utopia or destruction…and it’s up to us (which isn’t promising, as we’ll see).

On some levels it seems like beauty pageant tier politics, but digging a little deeper it brings up questions of the use of force in order to shape the world as you want it.

This is one of the best sci-fi films ever made. Enjoy.