Women Scientists in Fifties Science Fiction Films Women Scientists in Fifties Science Fiction Films BONNIE NOONAN McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA Noonan, Bonnie, ¡949– Women scientists in fifties science fiction films / Bonnie Noonan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-¡3: 978-0-7864-2130-5 (softcover : 50# alkaline paper) ¡. Science fiction films—History and criticism. 2. Women scientists in motion pictures. I. Title. PN¡995.9.S26N66 2005 79¡.43'6¡5—dc22 20050¡¡46¡ British Library cataloguing data are available ©2005 Bonnie Noonan. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover photograph: Faith Domergue and Kenneth Tobey in the ¡955 film It Came from Beneath the Sea (Photofest) Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com This book is “one small step” for my cousin Timm Madden Acknowledgments Thank you to Elsie B. Michie and Robin A. Roberts at Louisiana State University. Thanks also to Carol Lindsey, Karen Madden, Carol Mattingly, and Leslie Parr for their faith and support. Thanks to Rebecca Mark for giving me the idea to write about these films that I love in the first place. A final note of gratitude to my mother, Marie Louise Madden Noonan (July ¡5, ¡909—July ¡9, 2000). vii Contents Acknowledgments vii Preface 1 ¡. Definitions and Histories 9 2. Constructing a Canon of ¡950s B Science Fiction Films 25 3. Representation of Women Scientists 48 4. Professionalism and Femininity in the Giant Insect Films 72 5. Cinematically Representing a Heteroglot World 103 6. Dreaming, Analyzing, and Joking in the Women-in- Power Films 127 Conclusion. Where to Go from Here 155 Filmography 163 Appendix A: Female Leads and Their Father Figures 193 Appendix B: Female Leads and Their Love Interests 194 Notes 195 Bibliography 211 Index 215 ix