How would you feel if one day you woke up and started to shrink? Join Hilary and Holly as they take a closer look at one of the most iconic science fiction films of the 1950s, The Incredible Shrinking Man. They break down the Cold War context, how the atom influenced science fiction at the time, what the film reveals about masculinity and the very ambiguous ending and the different ways to interpret it! Dr Miranda Corcoran also joins us to speak about her experience teaching the text and what it reveals about masculinity during the 1950s. 

Miranda Corcoran is a lecturer in twenty-first-century literature at University College Cork. Her research interests include Cold-War literature, genre fiction, popular fiction, sci-fi, horror and the gothic. She is currently writing a book titled Witchcraft and Adolescence in American Popular Culture: Teen Witches.

Twitter: @middleagedwitch 

Works Cited:

Craig, Rob (2013). It Came from 1957: A Critical Guide to the Year's Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland. 

Cunnally, Ruthellen. "Mind over matter: mental evolution and physical devolution in The Incredible shrinking man." Journal of Popular Film and Television 41.1 (2013): 2-9.

Haraway, Donna. "“A Cyborg Manifesto”(1985)." Cultural Theory: An Anthology (2010): 454.

Hendershot, Cyndy.  Darwin and the Atom: Evolution/Devolution Fantasies in The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Them!, and The Incredible Shrinking Man. JSTOR.

Hendershot, Cyndy. Paranoia, The Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films. Popular Press, 1999.

Muller, Jurgen. Movie’s of the 50s. TASCHEN. Bibliothecca Universalis.

Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction. 3 rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2010.

Warren, Bill (2009). Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, The 21st Century Edition.

Music:

A Ghost Waltz by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0, From the Free Music Archive.

Monster Parade by Loyalty Freak Music is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License, From the Free Music Archive.