Communicating Fears in Film: Cold War Creatures, Part 1 - Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

Send us Fan MailContinuing the season seven theme Communicating Fears in Film, this episode marks the first "transitional film" slated to move conversation from the first unit focus on "Monstrous Metaphors" to the second unit emphasis on "Cold War Creatures".  Cohosts Garret Castleberry and Scott McMurry close out their focus on the era of Universal's  classic movie monsters with a leap forward into 1950s science fiction-horror. Kicking off their month-long examination of sci-fi/horror, the dialogic duo blend classical conventions with primal monster inventions in a close reading of director Jack Arnold's Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).  First, they examine the cultural climate of horror as the postwar decade entered the Nuclear Age (2:53). This filmmaking era catapulted Jack Arnold into a cycle of amazing fantasy stories (9:00), which leads into a conversation concerning imitation versus innovation (20:20), the film's use of presence versus absence in how the Creature is both concealed and revealed (41:00), and ultimately a close examination of the ways in which Black Lagoon communicates fear (1:27:10).  Hosts: Garret Castleberry, Scott McMurryProducers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music)Recommended readings paired with Season Seven "Communicating Fears in Film":Kendall Phillips. Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture. Praeger, 2006.Stephen Prince. Apocalypse Cinema. Rutgers University Press, 2021.Murray Leeder. Horror Film: A Critical Introduction. Bloomsbury Academic Press, 2018.Additional Research available via the Creature from the Black Lagoon: Complete Legacy Collection from Universal home video. Ways to Connect with us online:Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twitter at @podcast_topics."Like" to follow our Special Topics in Media Page on Facebook (search Special Topics in Media). Join the Special Topics in Media Facebook Group and share your reviews of the film or this episode.Subscribe to Dr. Castleberry's academic YouTube Channel.Garret's academic website is available at https://garretcastleberry.academia.edu/.Support the show