Talk:Harry Bates (writer)

Claiming too much for Bates' short story?
The article says "Instead, the alien seeks to promote peace and to warn mankind of the dangers of science and technology when they are exploited and corrupted. Not only did war threaten mankind, but also the misuse of technology and science. Was man a master of science or was man a slave to it? The giant alien robot, Gnut in the short story, Gort in the film, represented mankind's relationship to its technology. Who controlled whom? What was the future of mankind? Would machines control man? Could mankind transcend the lust for power and for conquest? Will there be an end to wars?"

This is really reading far too much into Bates' short story. There is virtually no development in the actual story of the themes mentioned above. The short story says of Klatuu: "The first thing he did was to raise his right arm high in the universal gesture of peace; but it was not that which impressed those nearest so much as the expression on his face, which radiated kindness, wisdom, the purest nobility. In his delicately tinted robe he looked like a benign god." Then some deranged individual shoots and kills him. Where's all the stuff about the misuse of technology and science, lust for power and conquest, end to wars? Lacking entirely as far as I can see.

I agree that it shows the alien man and the robot in a very positive light. Also has striking images of the impervious robot standing as sentinel outside the space ship - images put to great use in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. But what were these time travellers from the "Unknown" actually on about? We never find out. Like a lot of SF short stories it seems to be built around its punch-line, where the robot says (gently) "You misunderstand, ... I am the master." I can see why Bates only got $500 for the film rights to this story.

It seems to me that some of the ideas expressed in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still have been read back into the original story. Some re-writing could clarify this. Gerry246 (talk) 05:21, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

I have re-written parts of the section on The Day the Earth Stood Still to clarify the relationship between the short story and the film. Also, I think it is essential to point out that, in the 1951 film, a race of robots (including Gort) was created by aliens to stop wars in space by wiping out the combatants. Gerry246 (talk) 08:12, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

One other thing, I removed the description of TDtESS as "timeless" because the 1951 movie (as well as the 2008 one) are very much creations of their own time, with their own particular concerns and issues. Gerry246 (talk) 08:24, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

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