A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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to evacuate from <strong>the</strong> space <strong>of</strong> public discourse. Spiritualism and <strong>the</strong> movements that followed it<br />
acted with <strong>the</strong> understand<strong>in</strong>g that rational comprehension <strong>of</strong> that realm—<strong>the</strong> realm <strong>of</strong> spirit—was<br />
<strong>the</strong> miss<strong>in</strong>g piece <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> struggle to achieve earthly bliss. The eng<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> displaced utopian<br />
imag<strong>in</strong>ary was noth<strong>in</strong>g less than <strong>the</strong> impossible—<strong>the</strong> rational comprehension <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> irrational.<br />
UFOs, <strong>in</strong> contrast to <strong>the</strong>ir promise <strong>of</strong> material f<strong>in</strong>ality, proved ra<strong>the</strong>r to be emblematic <strong>of</strong> that<br />
impossibility.<br />
The two narratives, that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> UFO and attempts to arrest it and <strong>the</strong> ongo<strong>in</strong>g space<br />
bro<strong>the</strong>rs’ saga, stand <strong>in</strong> stark contrast. While <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs cont<strong>in</strong>ued to <strong>of</strong>fer <strong>the</strong> hope <strong>of</strong><br />
utopia achieved, <strong>the</strong> saucer appeared and disappeared—<strong>of</strong>fer<strong>in</strong>g a fleet<strong>in</strong>g glimpse <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
possibilities only to recede upon closer exam<strong>in</strong>ation. Carl Jung suggested that UFOs, as<br />
mandalic symbols <strong>of</strong> totality, appeared as an expression <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dissociation brought about by <strong>the</strong><br />
onset <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> cold war. The iron curta<strong>in</strong>, <strong>in</strong> Jung’s view, del<strong>in</strong>eated a traumatic dissociation—east<br />
v. west—<strong>of</strong> two parts <strong>of</strong> a whole. The saucer promised a tantaliz<strong>in</strong>g vision <strong>of</strong> wholeness, a<br />
still<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> turmoil brought about by <strong>the</strong> violent sunder<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> east and west. 195<br />
Jung argued<br />
that <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> saucer itself <strong>in</strong> its roundness recalled noth<strong>in</strong>g so forcefully as <strong>the</strong> archetype<br />
<strong>of</strong> totality and wholeness. In an era troubled by an unprecedented global split and <strong>the</strong> specter <strong>of</strong><br />
atomic war (set <strong>in</strong> motion by <strong>the</strong> splitt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> atom) <strong>the</strong> saucer held out <strong>the</strong> promise <strong>of</strong><br />
195<br />
Along with represent<strong>in</strong>g a heal<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dissociation brought about by <strong>the</strong> Cold War, <strong>the</strong> saucer was also<br />
emblematic <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> immanent threat <strong>of</strong> Soviet communism. One <strong>in</strong>itial <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> presence <strong>of</strong> fly<strong>in</strong>g saucers<br />
<strong>in</strong> U.S. skies was that <strong>the</strong>y were a Soviet secret weapon. While this hypo<strong>the</strong>sis was quickly dismissed by <strong>of</strong>ficial<br />
government <strong>in</strong>quiries <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> UFO phenomenon, it cont<strong>in</strong>ued to haunt <strong>the</strong> public imag<strong>in</strong>ation—particularly <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
allegorical forms <strong>of</strong>fered by science fiction c<strong>in</strong>ema. In <strong>the</strong> visions <strong>of</strong> 1950’s and 60’s science fiction, saucers<br />
functioned as harb<strong>in</strong>gers <strong>of</strong> physical and cultural destruction at <strong>the</strong> hands <strong>of</strong> an alien ideology. This more paranoid<br />
vision <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> UFO figured centrally <strong>in</strong> nei<strong>the</strong>r ufology nor space bro<strong>the</strong>r religions <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> period under discussion <strong>in</strong><br />
this chapter. It would not be until after <strong>the</strong> advent <strong>of</strong> abduction, <strong>the</strong> subject <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ensu<strong>in</strong>g chapter, that <strong>the</strong> paranoia<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cold War truly came to roost with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> prec<strong>in</strong>cts <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> displaced utopian imag<strong>in</strong>ary.<br />
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