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Introduction
How have horror movies adapted to American society throughout the mid-20th century? This virtual exhibit shows movie posters and movie theater lobby cards of specific horror movies from the 20th century and shows how the genre of horror was able to stay popular and relevant to American society. The genre of horror was first introduced to the movies around the 1930s, and it has continued to evolve ever since then. -
Introduction
Horror movies are a particular type of genre that has been able to continue to be popular with the younger half of American society. The way that horror movies are able to stay relevant and connected to their audience is through their adaptation of whatever society holds the most fear of at the time. This exhibit shows various examples of horror movies from the 20th century and exemplifies how horror movies continued to adapt to American society. -
Introduction
WW2 started in 1939, but the U.S. did not enter the war until after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. During WW2, the U.S. sent millions of men overseas to fight and this gave the chance for women to fill jobs that had previously not been open to them. At the start of the war, many jobs for women were focused on the production of war materials, however, this slowly changed, and more women began to acquire jobs in health services, social work, medical work, and the film industry. -
Introduction
The exhibit continues into the period known as the Cold War, which started in 1947 and lasted until the overnight collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War was a very long period of high tensions between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R. or the Soviet Union). In this period that lasted more than 40 years, many things underwent drastic changes, as well as many new horrifying things, came into the picture. -
Introduction
Near the end of WW2, the world was shown the destructive capabilities of nuclear weapons, threats of invasion, the possibility of another war, and much more. Throughout both time periods, what society feared most continued to change, and the genre of horror movies was able to stay popular because they attempted to stay connected and adapt to reflect what American society felt at that moment in time. -
Movie poster from 1943: The Return of the Vampire
The movie was released during WW2 and was one of the first movies in the genre of horror that showed the increased roles of women in US society at the time. WW2 had drawn away many men and left millions of jobs unattended. For the first time, women were able to take up jobs that had typically been filled by just men. In this particular movie, this can be seen by the increased role of Lady Jane. This film opened the door for more women to take major leading roles in future horror movies. -
Movie poster from April 1953: Invaders from Mars
The movie was produced at a time of heightened tension between America and the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War. This movie depicted alien invaders, which subtly had many parallels with the fears the US had of a Russian invasion. After the end of WW2 and the start of the Cold War, many US citizens feared some sort of attack from the USSR. Fear of the unknown is very common. This fear was quickly put to use in the horror movie industry and give birth to one of the first alien invader movies. -
Lobby card from 1957: The Incredible Shrinking Man
This movie was a film produced in the Cold War era that follows the story of a man who is exposed to a mysterious fog and later finds that he is continuously becoming smaller. The fog represents radiation, something that people feared and did not fully understand at the time. The unpredictability of the USSR led many people to fear the idea of nuclear weapons and all of the other things that come along after it. This movie shows how the genre of horror adapted to what people feared at the time. -
Works Cited
History.com Editors. “Cold War History.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, October 27, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history. “The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) - Turner Classic Movies.” Accessed May 19, 2022. https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79182/the-incredible-shrinking-man/.
“Invaders from Mars.” Invaders from Mars - Forrest J. Ackerman Collection. Accessed May 18, 2022. http://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/luna/servlet/detail/uwydbuwy. -
Works Cited
“The Return of the Vampire (1943) Movie Posters.” The Return of the Vampire (1943) movie posters, November 11, 1943. https://www.cinematerial.com/movies/the-return-of-the-vampire.
“World War II.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed May 18, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II.