Popular Culture Review 29.2
showing this moment twice ? And the answer has to do with seeing this movie as an anti-colonialist , anti-imperialist work of art . In other words , it ’ s clear that it is a satire .
Figure 5
The scientists are shown as buffoons . But it is also obvious that they are horrible people in general : the moon is harmed by their going there . The moon , personified , is assaulted by humanity ’ s landing on it . And once the scientists arrive , things only get worse . They murder the natives�unprovoked and without any apparent emotion other than joy . They swat the natives with their umbrellas and pulverize them , marveling at the wonders of this new world they have discovered while destroying it at the same time . Later , when the colonizers return home , they bring with them one of the natives , forcing him to dance and entertain the masses , even dragging him along in bondage to be part of the celebration that ends with the parade taking everyone to a grotesque statue of an imperialist scientist stomping on the moon , the moon ’ s face a twisted vision of pain with the lunar rocket stuck in its mangled eye . Here , then , is one of the earliest depictions of our voyage beyond the Earth . And it is set clearly within the world of violence and empire-building .
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