# THEM! (1954 Movie), Paranoia & 9/11-what would happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848 "2011-12-11T21:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/1 "2011-12-11T21:40:10Z")
I remind you all of the giant ants in _THEM_. [Them - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Them)! > [@](#): > > Them! is a 1954 American black and white science fiction film about man’s encounter with a nest of gigantic irradiated ants. It is based on an original story treatment by George Worthing Yates. It was developed into a screenplay by Ted Sherdeman and Russell Hughes for Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., and was produced by David Weisbart and directed by Gordon Douglas. It starred James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon and James Arness. > > One of the first of the “nuclear monster” movies, and the first “big bug” film, Them! was nominated for an Oscar for Special Effects and won a Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing. The film starts off as a simple suspense story, with police investigating mysterious disappearances and unexplainable deaths. The giant ants are not even seen until almost a third of the way into the film. Well. Wasn’t that nice? After 9/11, America did many, many stupid things. We are still doing some of them to-day. What would have happened if, in 1954, the events of _THEM_ had taken place in **real life?** What kinds of paranoid stupidity would we have trotted out? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/2 "2011-12-11T22:29:15Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > What would have happened if, in 1954, the events of _THEM_ had taken place in **real life?** > > What kinds of paranoid stupidity would we have trotted out? If I understand your question, real life would have pretty much followed the film. Curfew in areas where the ants had been seen, National Guard/military presence, expert scientists being asked for advice, people detained and information withheld to avoid panic. The film is almost a template for response to an unknown attacker. What was unique about the film is that people in power actually listened to the experts (the scientists). If the film had been made 20 years later, some gung-ho general would have bombed the nests before checking to see if the queens were still there. But I don’t think I understand your question. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/3 "2011-12-11T22:48:45Z")
The answer he’s looking for is… “We’d lock up all the Ay-Rabs in detention centers and waterboard them until the ants descended upon every major city in the US. And even after that, some evil General would still be torturing John Q. Persian about how he created these affronts to God!” Right? Because otherwise, I don’t see what 9/11 has to do with giant ants. ETA: I guess I midread the OP. Bosda wanted to know what would have happened in 1954. Since my parents weren’t even born yet, I’m going to guess the movie was pretty accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/4 "2011-12-11T23:03:46Z")
It would depend on whether or not a Republican was in the White House. I know that’s politicizing, but it’s the honest truth. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/5 "2011-12-12T03:01:48Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > It would depend on whether or not a Republican was in the White House. I know that’s politicizing, but it’s the honest truth. There WAS a Republican in the White House. His name was Eisenhower. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/6 "2011-12-12T04:04:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > There WAS a Republican in the White House. His name was Eisenhower. Hah! By modern standards, he was a bleeding-heart liberal! Spoke out against the military-industrial complex as a huge problem for America and spent huge amounts of money on infrastructure to combat a recession! Which, joking aside, kind of points up the difficulty of the question … apples and oranges, the difference between then and now. We probably WOULD have had the CIA and the FBI looking into the possibility that Commies or Commie sympathizers had introduced the ants into America to destroy our precious … sugar … ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/7 "2011-12-12T04:55:46Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Which, joking aside, kind of points up the difficulty of the question … apples and oranges, the difference between then and now. We probably WOULD have had the CIA and the FBI looking into the possibility that Commies or Commie sympathizers had introduced the ants into America to destroy our precious … sugar … If had happened during the 00s, it would have lead to a war against hornets’ nests. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/8 "2011-12-12T07:01:48Z")
Actually, the MI complex would have tried to replicate the enormous growth of the ants under controlled conditions and tried to train to be living mobile weapons. Imagine the conflicts in Southeast Asia with American-trained giAnts ferreting out NKVD cells. OTOH, the Communists might have bought Japanese-bred giant lizards on the sly to retaliate. Yes, the Russians tried this as well, but the only success they had was breeding giant rabbits. Not terribly scary, but it put the mink coat industry out of business. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/9 "2011-12-14T04:19:36Z")
It won’t be a picnic, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/10 "2011-12-14T04:37:45Z")
HAIL ANTS rip ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/11 "2011-12-14T06:59:12Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > HAIL ANTS > > rip Aw sucks, twern’t nuttin’… ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/them-1954-movie-paranoia-9-11-what-would-happen/605848/12 "2011-12-15T16:58:52Z")
Good one, Ekers!