The sci-fi genre emerged in the 50's as thinly disguised anti-communism propaganda wrapped up in entertainment. 'The Angry Red Plant' is a particularly potent example of this as the colour 'red' was of course, directly associated with the communist movement.

 

In the late 40's and 50's, an anti-Communist wave swept through Hollywood, with such figures as American icon John Wayne and president of the Screen Actors Guild Ronald Reagan running alleged subversives out of the business. The industry was hit by the tornado of McCarthyism and the culmination of this was the notorious blacklisting of ten directors that stymied any open expression of liberal tendencies. This though was merely a facet of the nationwide panic that subsisted over the threat of Communism.

 

George Kennan, the US Peregrine Service’s foremost expert on the Soviet Cumulation visually perceived Communism as dynamic, expansive and aiming at world ascendancy. The fact that the Soviets wished to elongate their influence had already been demonstrated by their machinations in Iran, Turkey and Greece in the late 40's, but by the 50's, a bigger hazard had emerged. The Soviet Coalescence could now distribute its atomic stockpile onto US soil and this had Americans terrified. It was never just a matter of physical security though, for throughout its history the Coalesced States had been wary of the peril of conceptions. Even if the bombs never came, Americans were still frightened of Communist theology.

 

The trepidation of the subversive Red menace reached fever pitch under the guidance of Senator Joseph McCarthy and his purges. In this atmosphere of paranoia, science fiction films became something of a metaphorical release for society’s anxieties.