Core Values Essay: The Film “The Forbidden Planet” (1956)

Core Values Essay: The Film “The Forbidden Planet” (1956)

Introduction

Science fiction is a popular genre and have huge audience across the world. Forbidden Planet released in 1956 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is considered a milestone in this genre. The movie was directed by Freid M. Wilcox and the credit for screenplay goes to Cyril Hume. Lead characters of the movie were Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nelson), Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), Alteira (Anne Francis), Lt. Farman (John Kelly) and Doc. Ostrow (Warren Stevens) (imdb.com, 2022).

With huge critical appreciation Forbidden Planet is considered as a masterpiece in the genre of Science Fiction. Library of congress honored the movie by giving place in National Film Registry describing it as a ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant’ movie (blogs.loc.gov, 2018).

The synopsis

The starship named C57D is sent to the Altair 4 (a distant planet) from United planets under the command of Commander John J. Adams in search of the expedition sent there, 20 years ago. After landing they meet Dr. Morbius (who is the only survivor of last expedition) and get to know that the expedition sent 20 years ago has been perished and the only living survivors were Dr. Morbius and his wife. He has a daughter named Alteira. Dr. Morbius also has a robot named Robby. During the stay of Com. Adams and his crew on Altair 4, an invisible intruder sabotages some equipment from the starship and in another incident kill a crew member. While investigating the murder and a theft Dr. Morbius tell Com. Adams and Doc. Ostrow about a civilization called as Krell that was perished 200000 years ago. Dr. Morbius tell them that they were very advanced and have left behind the technologically advanced machine which pave the way for the extinction of the Krell civilization. The particular machine has an ability to create things from subconscious thoughts (such as fear) of the people living there. Meanwhile, in another incident of attack by the invisible intruder Lt. Farman (Assistant to Com. Adams) sacrifice his life while fighting. During investigation Com. Adams reach to the conclusion that the invisible monster responsible for the killings of his crew members is a thought from Dr. Morbius’s subconscious mind which came into reality because of that technologically advanced machine left behind by Krell civilization. He tells about that to Dr. Morbius and offer him and Alteira to escape from the planet. But, in another attack by invisible monster Morbius sacrifice himself in order to save Alteira and com. Adams. Before dying he tell Commander Adams to program the machine to self-destruct. Commander Adams, his surviving crew and Alteira watch the planet getting destructed while leaving for the mother planet i.e., United Planet (archive.org, 2022).

Technological issues with the movie

Forbidden Planet is set in 23^rd century. The movie is appreciated for the way it used creative liberty in depiction of the story and the use of props. The presentation of the story is really a trendsetter (KILIC, 2019). The makers used all the options available in proper way in depiction of the story which resulted into attracting new base of audience for the genre. Whether it is cinematography, the visual effects, the sound or the technology, all of these has been used in a best way possible at that time. Musical duo Bebe and Louis Barron deserves an appreciation for the use of electronic musical score for the first time. In 23^rd academy awards, the movie was nominated for the best visual effects category (Karwande and Brewster, 2018) There were hardly any technical issues with the movie. However, the direction can be criticized for slow pace for half the time. For new age audience, it becomes hard in the first half to hold on to their seats. However, in second half movie achieves required speed. Art direction could have been better with better presentation of planet, ships and some other equipment.

Core values at Saint Leo

At Saint Leo University, they try to cultivate excellence, responsible stewardship, respect, community, integrity etc. in person with the aim to have better version of the person.

Morality and Ethics of the characters

The lead character of the movie, i.e., Commander John J. Adams is shown as a brave, courageous, principled and ethical man. His character is well described through the scenes such as, the scene where he decides to land the ship on Altair 4 despite the warning from Dr. Morbius, or the scene where he scolds Alteira for being naive when Lt. Farman try to take advantage of her curiosity. He also scolds and punish Farman for his indecency. Alteira on the other hand is decisive, kind and curious. Though she hasn’t met any human other than her father in her life, she isn’t unknown of the emotions and feelings. Dr. Morbius, another lead character is also an honorable man with high intellect and excellence. He is also a responsible person but have little greed and selfishness which can be seen through the scene where he refuses to share the technology at Altair 4 with Humans (archive.org, 2022).

Other important characters are Lt. Farman and Doc. Ostrow. It can be said that Lt. Farman is not an ethical man as he tries to take an advantage of Alteira’s curiosity for his selfish pleasure. But, on the other hand he is understanding as he congratulates com. Adams when he is informed about the Alteira and commander Adams love relationship. Which brought us to a conclusion that he is free spirited man and a brave soul as well. He fights with invisible monster courageously and sacrifice his life while protecting the crew and ship. Similarly, Dr. Ostrow, a supporting character is also a good man with excellence. He is expert in his field but have greed for high intellect and power. That is why he tries to gain knowledge from machine like Dr. Morbius and end up dead in the sneaky attempt. The Robot Robby is also an important character of the movie and leave significant impact on the audience in limited appearance on screen (Ciobanu, 2020).

Conclusion

The essay led us to the conclusion that, the movie Forbidden Planet is really a milestone in the sci-fi genre. It opened the doors for out of the box thinking in film making and prepared the audience for unconventional movies with its pioneering efforts.

Works Cited

archive.org, 2022. Forbidden Planet. Dir. Freid M. Wilcox, 1956, Film. Online available at: https://archive.org/details/ForbiddenPlanet1956_201707. Last accessed on April, 2022.

blogs.loc.gov, 2018. “Forbidden Planet”: National Film Registry 30/30. Online available at: https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2018/12/forbidden-planet-national-film-registry-30-30/. Last Accessed on April, 2022

Ciobanu, E. (2020). " THE PLAY'S THE THING": RE-IMAGINING SHAKESPEARE'S THE TEMPEST IN FORBIDDEN PLANET, PROSPERO'S BOOKS AND HAG-SEED. University of Bucharest Review: Literary & Cultural Studies Series, 10(2).

imdb.com, 2022. ‘Forbidden Planet’. Online available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049223/. Last accessed on April, 2022.

Karwande, S. L., & Brewster, C. Projecting Technophobia: Science Fiction Disaster Film and Posthuman Technology.

KILIÇ, O. (2019). The Interior Space Approach as a Communication Tool in Science-Fiction Cinema. Academic Studies on Natural and Health Sciences, 559.