Insigificance in the "Modern" World

I watched an old movie the other night, a movie made back in 1957. I recalled the movie but did not go to see it at a movie theater. Perhaps you've seen it? It is called The Incredible Shrinking Man .

1957 was a year in which the Cold War was on most Americans' minds. Radiation was a threat greatly feared. The movies were full of animals and bugs that had been mutated by radiation into giant and fearsome things. In this particular movie, the protagonist (Scott Carey, played by Grant Williams) is lounging on a motorboat on vacation with his wife. When his wife goes below to get him a cold beer, the boat encounters a strange cloud and Scott is contaminated by a mixture of radiation and some unnamed pesticide. But he doesn't know  this and neither does his wife (who is not affected by this at all). They ignore this until some 6 months later, he realizes his clothes do not fit him like they used to. They are too loose, too large. He goes to a doctor and eventually extensive tests are run which reveal the pesticide involvement but not the radiation. All attempts to rid him of the affliction are without success and our hero continues to shrink until he is living in a doll house. There are scenes of him fleeing the family pet (a cat) and ending up trapped in the basement, so small he cannot get back up the stairs and is being menaced by a spider.

As I recall, but can no longer find any reference to, the story was a metaphor for the diminution of man in the modern world of the 50's and his struggle to retain his dignity and necessity.

In the end, he finds some solace but no cure, no answers, and we are left to believe he will continue to shrink until he falls between the atoms which make up all things as he ponders his fate and his place in the vast universe.



Something I do every day...