Revisiting a Science Fiction Classic: Interpreting The Day the Earth Stood Still for Contemporary Film Audiences.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a rich and complex science fiction film that was clearly trying to communicate many messages to the American film audience of 1951. The film's Cold War themes resonated with its original viewers. But could a contemporary audience extrapolate any meaning from this film nearly six decades after its theatrical release? The author describes how this classic Hollywood film has telling reverberations for what has transpired in America post-9/11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]