Red Planet Mars, an Example of Right Wing Anti-Communist Propaganda, Airs Today on Turner Classic Movies

Hollywood has often been accused of having a liberal bias. In the late 1940s and 1950s, in fact, a number of men and women who had committed no crime at all were at best stripped of several years of their career and at worst destroyed to the point of committing suicide when it was determined that the First Amendment simply did not extend to espousing such values as equality and the belief that employees are just as responsible for the success of a company as the fat man in the big corner office. These men and women were accused of injecting communist propaganda into mainstream Hollywood films. Interestingly, in light of the views of people like Joe Scarborough, Rectal Noun and Bill O'Reilly, the only propaganda ever explicitly and ham-fistedly placed into Hollywood films during this time period was right wing fascist ideals.

A pretty decent example of the right wing anti-communist propaganda movie-though certainly better than such dreck as My Son John-airs on Turner Classic Move today, January 1, 2007, at 2:00 PM eastern time. Red Planet Mars is a typical low budget 50s sci-fi flick every way but one: it is concerned less with cheesy special effects and scare tactics than others. Well, let me amend that. Red Planet Mars is concerned with scare tactics, but not the same kind as you might find in The Blob. The scare tactics at play in Red Planet Mars will be instantly recognizable to many modern day audiences. It is proof that the conservatives co-opted God and Christianity to uphold their skewed ideological perspective long before Jerry Falwell or Karl Rove sat down to their first all you can eat buffet.

The premise of Red Planet Mars is terrific: Television messages received on earth from Mars reveals that God controls that planet. The revelation of God results in turmoil and upheaval across the world; especially in the Soviet Union where the communist evil empire is overthrown by a rabid Christian cleric who may just remind you of a certain rabid Muslim cleric who was instrumental in overthrowing another kind of despot who took the title Shah. The anti-communist hysteria of the time is proudly on display here, making Russia-who was our ally in WWII remember-look like a place where Nazis went to learn to how to be evil. The view of communism you'll find here-even the twisted brand of Soviet communism-is a hoot. I imagine this film was instrument in developing the political outlook of Newt Gingrich.

Things take a weird turn-not for the last time, mind you-when an ex-Nazi scientist hiding in a cave comes forward to admit that it was he who was faking the messages from Mars. Just don't get fooled into thinking this plot twist will drive you to the end of the movie.

It is interesting to read reviews of Red Planet Mars. It contains both a strong pro-Christian and anti-communist message so, of course, conservatives tend to overlook the more ridiculous aspects of it and embrace it now as proof that that they were right all along: Red Planet Mars is seen as prophecy! On the other hand, left-leading reviewers rightly dismiss the wackier ideas, while also making the mistake of dismissing the fact that even though its ideology is simplistic, it is actually quite an ambitious attempt for a low budget 50s sci-fi flick.

Red Planet Mars is no masterpiece. It is as cheesy as you might expect and its politics are truly, deeply messed up, but as far as anti-communist flicks goes, this one is more enjoyable than most. The fact that it is, after all, a low budget science fiction movie lessens the discomfort of the right wing earnestness that most anti-communist propaganda had. (Watch Red Dawn for an example of what I'm talking about.) And besides, how often do you get a chance to watch right wing science fiction? By its very nature, science fiction tends to have a liberal, progressive slant suggesting that in the future the prejudices and mistakes of conservative thought will be rectified. It is also worth watching to see how the right wing has remained consistent in their ridiculous assumption that God not only approves of their bastardization of His word, but actually sanctions it.