Comparison Of Forbidden Planet And The Martian Chronicles

German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, ‘’Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.’’ In both the 1956 film Forbidden Planet and Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, the loss of free will/individuality does happen in a fatal and tragic mannerism. In Forbidden Planet, a space crew from Earth is sent to planet Altair IV to investigate the whereabouts of the missing first expedition that has been unheard from in 20 years. Captain Adams, the main protagonist of the film, comes across a multitude of questions for this mission as why are there only two survivors, Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira, the planet being vacant, and the mysterious monster that has been said to kill the entirety of the last expedition. It is then up to Captain Adams to discover the answers to these questions before it’s too late for him and his crew. The Martian Chronicles short story, ‘’The Martian’’ tells the story of an elderly couple that now lives on Mars that travelled from Earth come face to face with their supposedly dead son Tom. As the husband, LaFarge, comes to discover it is yet but a Martian in disguise who has the ability to shift into a person an individual misses the most or is on their mind the most. LaFarge and his wife Anna then take ‘Tom’ with open arms as both are influenced by their ache for their son. However, ‘Tom’ is seen

This setting signals into our fear of loss of free will/individuality by presenting a world where ‘’Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira have somehow survived a hideous monster which roams the planet.’’ (IMDB) and ‘’What they discover is how and why an alien race of geniuses destroyed itself overnight while leaving their technology intact at some point in the distant, distant