Post by Eλευθερί on Jun 30, 2019 0:02:06 GMT
In terms of the politics & economics of moviemaking in 1951, though, there was also the issue of whether depicting a multiracial group of passengers on the spaceship would have been too controversial and hurt the film's profitability. African Americans at that time were still definitely considered second-class citizens in the US, where racial segregation by law was widespread and interracial marriage was illegal in many places. And with the US having only recently ended a cataclysmic war against Japan, and currently being involved in yet another brutal war against North Korea (and by proxy China), anti-Asian feelings were also widespread.
One other thought:
Another way to look at all of this is that the decisions about how the American space program would proceed were largely made by the scientist who proposed the project. So maybe, from the writers' and other filmmakers' point of view, the "blame" and "credit" for the design and execution of the program should be laid at his feet rather than at theirs. Maybe they sought to portray the prejudices of a person such as he was rather than to show how they would have designed the program if they were proposing an ideal escape program. Their portrayal of the eccentric billionaire who agreed to help fund the program on the condition that he be able to get a seat is clearly a bit of social commentary.
One other thought:
Another way to look at all of this is that the decisions about how the American space program would proceed were largely made by the scientist who proposed the project. So maybe, from the writers' and other filmmakers' point of view, the "blame" and "credit" for the design and execution of the program should be laid at his feet rather than at theirs. Maybe they sought to portray the prejudices of a person such as he was rather than to show how they would have designed the program if they were proposing an ideal escape program. Their portrayal of the eccentric billionaire who agreed to help fund the program on the condition that he be able to get a seat is clearly a bit of social commentary.