ABSTRACT
Film genre is perpetuated by the fundamental intertextuality of Hollywood film. Hollywood turned to the emerging film genre of science fiction to subtly capitalize upon the audience's concern with questions that were suppressed in official channels. An estimated five hundred film features and shorts produced between 1948 and 1962 can be indexed under the broad heading of science fiction. Before 1950, few science fiction films came out of Hollywood. The genre played a crucial role in the evolving presentation of atomic themes in Hollywood film and the exploration of the negative aspects of atomic technology. Radiation manifested itself in films featuring an abundance of mutated animals, insects, and humans. The emphasis upon the dangers and possible effects of radioactive fallout, particularly the mutation of common creatures, became a major element in films produced between the years 1952 and 1961. Independent filmmakers sought to capitalize upon science fiction's success with a variety of films in science fiction genre.
