#war of the worlds

[imagine-darksiders]

Film that scared me way more than any horror movie I accidentally watched as a kid:

[humanoidhistory]

The War of the Worlds opened on this day in 1953.

[sluttyhenley]

No one would have believed, in the early years of the 21st century, that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own. That, as men busied themselves about their various concerns, they observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005) - dir. Steven Spielberg

[atomic-chronoscaph]

War of the Worlds - art by Albert Nuetzell (1959)

[charseraph]

[swdefcult]

[banditomojado]

here are some of my all time favorite movies about aliens/visitors from outer space.

[reddbl]

Top Gun Minority Report

Valkyrie The Last Samurai

War of the Worlds Jerry Maguire

Interview with the vampire Jack Reacher

Every TC’s character being a dad :D

[caliblorn]

If you want to scare me to death, combine megalophobia + this specific sound and I will be hooked on whatever horror project you're making

[blocpulp]

H.G. Wells - War of the Worlds (USSR, 1983)

artist: Sergey Alimov

[tomcriuse]

WAR OF THE WORLDS 2005, dir. Steven Spielberg

[humanoidhistory]

1975 concept art for an unproduced TV series of War of the Worlds.

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

When he first came out in 1938, in terms of how his character was portrayed, Superman wasn’t just unique and captivating because of his amazing powers and charming personality. He was by many accounts of entertainment at that time…an exception to the norms

One of the many ways Action Comics #1 changed everything: The fictional concepts of ‘aliens among us’, ‘Being with Godly Powers’ and how they’re combined with the Pulp Hero which led to Superman.

The thing is

A lot of these stories of beings with godly powers beyond those of mortal men would often be portrayed as an antagonistic to outright villainous force meant to horrify their victims with the overarching mantra of Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. It’s a trend we seen play out a lot of times in our current media when beings who either gain or often times posses godlike powers are either villainous last obstacles for our hero, their greatest challenge or as like seen sometimes in shows including Star Trek, beings of thousand of years old who long detached themselves from the affairs of beings considered ‘lesser’ than them with little to no interference, meant to be observed. There’s certainly a probably chance of characters like these being the norm even for stories in pulp novels, magazines and other media back then in the 30s

More telling since they had popularity even lasting beyond Action Comics #1’s first printing, if that superpowered being has alien origins, they’re those that usually either don’t understand the concept of morality as we lowly humans do and utterly so alien and abomination in mere appearance, looking at them directly can drive some to madness a la HP Lovecraft whose works find routine publication from as early as 1908 and only ended in 1936 or in the case of say War of the Worlds who had a very notable radio adaptation in 1938 (which caused a bit of mass panic due to timing of people tuning in their radios before announcements and title introductions were made) they might understand that morality and they given to destroying our civilization anyways in conquest as an allegory for Imperialism at that time

In both of these types of stories, any being even those with a humanoid appearance are seen as others or outside forces that are threats to humanity and especially the average Joe and they were stories that came out prior to Action Comics #1. Prior also to that comic, sure they were some superheroes usually in either mythology like Hercules or pulp heroes a la the Phantom

Superman when he first came out was an exception to all of that

For a simple reason, he could’ve been on of those aliens who were detached from the reality around them by their age and wisdom, an invading ruthless conquerer like HG Wells’ Martians, a abomination who mere acts of simply existing in our realm invokes dread, despair and fear of what unknown entities he can be linked to that overpower us lowly humans a la The Colour Out of Space or even the faceless one Nylarathotep or even a man who when gaining his great power eventually descends into utter madness and villainy for their own selfish gains which ironically was what the duo of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster had in mind for their planning stages of this brand new creation they wanted to share.

Even for a heroic example, Clark could’ve simply been a simple man with a bright costume and a gimmick in an attempt to cash in the small notable trend the Phantom had set up into his adventures coming out a mere years before Action Comics

And yet Superman wasn’t any of that. He was simply a humanoid alien immigrant who was raised by a kindly couple and from an early age decides to use his newfound godlike powers and incredible abilities not to frighten, not to be detach, not to conquer….he just wants to help. He’s a Champion of the Oppressed, a living marvel dedicated to helping those in need.

All of those other examples of what people had for character prior to Action Comics #1 are what they are….

Superman Can. And he can do that, cause he was and still is the exception

[pinewood-to-hollywood]

Orson Welles explaining to reporters in 1938 that he didn’t know his War of the Worlds broadcast would cause such widespread panic.

[blueruins]

The War of the Worlds (1953)

[curatorofthisdigitalmorass]

War of the Worlds (2005) - Art By Kilian Eng