Picturing Extraterrestrials: Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture [Hardcover]

John F. Moffitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2003

In this witty, erudite, and thoroughly researched book, art historian, John Moffitt discusses the popular iconography depicting alleged extraterrestrial (ET) visitors and the widespread appeal of this New Age craze as a mass cultural phenomenon. A thorough sceptic, Moffitt is interested in kitschy ET portraiture, not as evidence of aliens among us, but for what this imagery reveals about contemporary culture. By brilliantly placing the present cultural moment in historical context, he demonstrates how typical portrayals of aliens reflect long-running (even ancient) cultural motifs. This sweeping and, above all, entertaining perusal of popular culture presents a sophisticated, yet very accessible and often funny dissection of our current obsession with the possibility that we are not alone.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an informative read and a much-needed work on the alien image in popular culture." -- Science Fiction Studies, 2004

"...extensively researched...this volume deserves serious attention from historians of science..." -- Isis, March 2004

"Moffitt's arguments are well-thought-out and meticulously documented...could be the basis for some very lively and interesting discussions." -- Tampa Tribune, September 21, 2003

From the Inside Flap

A recent Roper poll revealed that more than two-thirds of Americans believe the government is not telling the public everything it knows about UFO activity. Each week "The X-Files" is broadcast in sixty countries world-wide. And Steven Spielberg's blockbuster "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial" is among the highest-grossing films of all time. What do these facts say about contemporary culture? Why have we become so preoccupied with alien depictions? What is at the root of our infatuation with extraterrestrials?

In PICTURING EXTRATERRESTRIALS, art historian John F. Moffitt presents a thoroughly researched discussion of the popular iconography depicting alleged extraterrestrial (ET) visitors and the widespread appeal of this New Age craze as a mass cultural phenomenon. Moffitt is interested in kitschy ET portraiture, not as evidence of aliens among us, but for what this imagery reveals about contemporary culture. By brilliantly placing the present cultural moment in historical context, he demonstrates how typical portrayals of aliens reflect long-running (even ancient) cultural motifs.

Whether we realize it or not, among ET's precursors are the pagan gods and goddesses of ancient Greek art, the religious visions depicted in fifteenth-century Spanish paintings, and the popular images of witches and incubi from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today, in our postmodern space age, these timeless figures of the artistic imagination have taken on the other-worldly trappings of alien creatures. By the same token, centuries-old beliefs have evolved into the current New Age mythology that often surrounds the stories and pictures connected with aliens. Fueled by a huge entertainment industry and the mass media, alien imagery pervades our society, and the line between fantasy and reality becomes ever harder to discern.

Including 35 illustrations that trace the history of ET portraiture, this thoroughly entertaining perusal of popular culture presents a sophisticated yet very accessible and often funny dissection of our current obsession with the possibility that "we are not alone."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 595 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573929905
• ISBN-13: 978-1573929905
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unreadable, June 6, 2010

By 

Mark Phillips (Pacifica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Picturing Extraterrestrials: Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture (Hardcover)

It's possible that Professor Moffitt may have something to say. It's not possible to know, because he's so incapable of saying anything clearly. The book is 550 pages of parentheses, interpolations, snarky side comments, mean-spirited irrelevancies, odd and glaring logical errors, and downright ranting, presented in a rambling and repetitious prose which goes nowhere and leaves me wondering whether, cut to perhaps 100 pages, there might be an argument here. As it stands, good luck finding one.

To focus on the book's mean-spiritedness. Professor Moffitt seems to hate pretty much everyone. It's a long and tiring catalog. He quite irrelevantly emphasizes his intense antipathy for people who make more money than he does; who make less money than he does; who have more books in print than he has; who watch TV; who aren't trained as art historians; who belong to the bourgeoisie, or the petty-bourgeoisie, or the proletariat, or the lumpen-proletariat; who listen to popular music; who read paperback books. To show you that I'm not exaggerating, here's one random example, from page 521: "Pullulating at the lower rung of the (chronological) postmodernist audience culture are those bio-organisms who merely consume any sort of television, also patronizing rock concerts, blockbuster movies, and mass sports events, all essentially just to 'kill time.' These people, of which there are millions and millions, are to be found swarming at the bottom of the postmodernist cultural pond, essentially because this inferior siting seems to be their social, economic, and/or educational birthright." What this may or may not have to do with the way supposed extraterrestrials are pictured is not made clear. Not much of anything is made clear except that the professor has a large number of strong dislikes, which he catalogs on page after tiresome page.

When he touches on areas where I have specialized training, his discussion is superficial and frequently wrong. He contradicts himself at what seem to be key points. He doesn't seem to be able to argue coherently.

This is a shame. As noted, it's possible he might have something to say. If this book is where it's located, good luck finding it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better., July 3, 2010

By 

J. M. Black - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Picturing Extraterrestrials: Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture (Hardcover)

Let me preface this review by saying that I'm well educated. While I don't have a master's degree or Ph.D., I do have two bachelors (one BA and one BS) and two minors (one in history) from a well-known four year liberal arts university. I have read and still read plenty of academic works, and this book was obviously written by an academic for a limited academic audience. In this book, Dr. Moffitt has a penchant for using pretentious wording and foreign phrases which unfortunately is too common in academic writing. Apparently he has not read "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White, or if he has read it then the good doctor has chosen to ignore their advice about not using "a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready, and able." On the topic of using foreign languages, Strunk and White wrote that "some writers... from sheer exuberance or a desire to show off, sprinkle their work liberally with foreign expressions, with no regard for the reader's comfort. It is a bad habit." This describes "Picturing Extraterrestrials" succinctly. No matter; I happen to be fluent in French and I also know some Latin, though I must confess ignorance of German. While not as bad as other academic works I've read, the overly ornate word choices can be an unnecessary annoyance to readers as well as a hindrance to effective communication. As another reviewer said, this book is longer than it needs to be (in my opinion it is at least twice as long as it should be), and is a repetitious and tedious read.

Stylistic complaints aside, the description of this book is misleading and does not fit well with the content. I was very enthusiastic about reading this book. However, it turned out to be less about the history of extraterrestrial depiction in art and culture and more about debunking the UFO and alien abduction "phenomena." When it comes to UFOs or alien abductions, or anything considered "supernatural" for that matter, I'm thoroughly a skeptic (though I think such topics can make interesting works of fiction). However, Dr. Moffitt's criticisms are not scientific and, as another reviewer said, they are quite mean-spirited. While I agree with the overall assessment that UFOs and alien abductions are almost certainly misinterpretations of natural phenomena such as hypnagogic hallucinations, misidentification of aircraft, or are hoaxes, or are false memories, or are products of overactive imaginations (often perpetuated by media and profitmaking), I believe that the way the criticisms are presented in this book has the potential to do more harm than good if the goal is to show "True Believers" through well-reasoned arguments why their way of thinking is fallacious or their beliefs untrue or unproven.

However, since this book seems to be written for an audience already dismissive of claims about UFOs and alien abductions rather than for "True Believers" in an effort to persuade them away from nonsense, perhaps the harsh ridicule doesn't really matter. This is all for the best as this book lacks a strong persuasive thesis, strong supporting evidence, and focus. The evidence which is presented is as subjective, anecdotal, and boring as that from UFO witnesses, "abductees," or "contactees." What this book does have is plenty of overgeneralizations, as well as many examples of straw man and argumentum ad hominem logical fallacies. While some logical errors may be permitted in any work, in this book they were of such frequency that they became obnoxious about halfway through it.

Anyone wanting a kinder and more logically consistent introduction to skepticism should consider Carl Sagan's "The Demon Haunted World," a book from which Dr. Moffitt quotes, but has chosen to ignore Sagan's advice about not being condescending when reasoning with "True Believers." As an aside, my copy of Sagan's book is a paperback... I'd be interested in hearing Dr. Moffitt's criticism in that regard. Many of my other non-fiction reference books are also paperbacks (some of them from Harvard, Oxford, and Princeton). I say this because while I have always assumed that the format of bookbinding was chosen due to reasons of economics, convenience, or availability (which are some of the my main considerations when I buy a book regardless of binding), Dr. Moffitt frequently seems to express the idea that binding type has some correlation to the quality of the ideas being presented in those books. Given his derision of paperback books, I'm surprised that this book is not gilded...

While I don't hold a Ph.D. in art history, just as Dr. Moffitt does not hold a Ph.D. in psychology (sorry), I expected this book to focus on the presentation of extraterrestrial images in modern culture (as the title would suggest), and perhaps with a lot more images and analyses. The subject of this book has great potential to be compelling, and the content which is on topic in this book is interesting but it could have been much more than another poorly defended attack on popular belief and culture. Instead, this book is mostly an unfocused and pretentious rant of an academic who is clearly annoyed by the subject (leaving one to wonder why he bothered writing it at all) and it lacks both in effective skeptical argument and in interpretation of art.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, December 16, 2010

By 

Abyssal (WV, USA, North America, Earth, Sol System, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Picturing Extraterrestrials: Alien Images in Modern Mass Culture (Hardcover)

A great look at its subject matter, but the author is arrogant to the point of it being a significant detriment to the book.