MovieChat Forums > The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Discussion > message of the movie

message of the movie

posted 18 years ago by philipphs
8 replies | jump to latest

From what I have read about this movie over the years,it's meaning has to do with the the uncertainty of man's place in creation/the universe in the wake of the revolutionary scientific and technological advances that had taken place in the years from the end of WW II to the movie's creation.

For centuries man was believed to hold a unique place in creation/the universe.
Unprecedented break throughs in physics(A-Bomb,H-Bomb,gamma radiation,space exploration(rockets,carting deep space,genetics(Watson & Crick and DNA)-to name a few- all functioned to shed new light on the physical world and the order and importance of all things in it,including man.

Shrinking is a metaphor for science impuning the exhalted stature of pre mid 20th century man.
No devine love child,no fallen angel,no paradise lost,no nothing! Just a mass of protoplasm governed by the laws of the physical world.As far as the universe was concerned the spider,the cat and Scott Carey were all equal.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] philipphs 18 years ago

Just trying to interpret the story,I don't even know if I'm right..I don't have an opinion or at least I'm not asserting one,one way or the other.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] superhet 10 years ago

I agree, philipphs. I hope you've read the novel, which adds several layers to your interpretation, including questions about Carey's identity as a heterosexual man who feels obligated to prove his value by making love to his wife--or at least to a woman. He frets more about the growing distance between him and his wife than he does about the black-widow spider, which represents every nightmare he can imagine.

I haven't finished the book yet, so I won't speculate what Matheson thought of the "spiritual" end to the film that another writer tacked on.

[–] hockeyhrs 9 years ago

That's pretty much how I interpreted the movie's message, too. If I wanted to read more into it, I'd add "the individual's shrinking importance in a globalized world where government, commerce, and industrialization take over more and more functions, thus attenuating each man's autonomy".

[–] scamper67 9 years ago

The cat and spider were in no wise equal to the man, even though he was smaller, he still had the intellect and soul of a human. The size of the body has nothing to do with the size of the spirit.