Conspiracy Past And Present

Readers of Againstwot with a little time on their hands could do worse than check out this highly esoteric series of podcasts by Ken Hollings, a British writer with a remarkable knowledge of US pulp culture. 'Welcome to Mars' is an investigation of the post-war (from 1948-1959) American's relationship with science, government and one another, illustrated by reference to popular films and books, social history, and technological innovation.

The episodes are somewhat inconsistent, as is to be expected given that Hollings' recordings are entirely unscripted. We found the first few episodes to be the richest and most coherent (in particularly the second "1948-49: Flying Saucers over America"). Nonetheless, what is consistent is the atmospheric character of the broadcasts. Effective, if intentionally somewhat dated, futuristic music floats over Hollings' calm narration. It suggests both 1950's ‘B’ movie science fiction and future worlds.

The narrative is not a simple argument. Rather Hollings tries to capture the essence of the period, not by attacking the question directly but through a suggestive collage of contemporary material. In so doing he presents a powerful portrait of confusion, alienation, and suspicion. This is a time in which, as it does in Hollings' dialogue, government atomic programs intertwine with the rise of psychiatry, while the denizens of the new Levittown watch the skies for the evidence of extraterrestrial visitors, and their neighbors for evidence of communist sympathies. The echoes with our own time recur frequently. People suspect the Eastern Bloc, their own government, and even one another, of manipulating them. Meanwhile governments and mainstream media (including Life Magazine) undertake serious investigations of the UFO phenomenon. Above all it is a world in which people feel powerless and without context.

That said, the series is not entirely satisfying. The open ended character of the narration is ultimately a little anti-climatic. We are left with endless suggestion, with one intriguing anecdote after another, but without any sense of what Hollings really believes about the 1950s. At one point, he cites a line from a contemporary film in which a female actress, undergoing groundbreaking psychiatric treatment, asks "Dr, when I am real?". Again, brilliantly suggestive, but we could equally throw the question back at Hollings; does he really believe in government cover-ups of extra terrestrial visitation? Finally though, this may be one of the strengths of Hollings experimental work. By refusing to pin himself down, he reproduces the shifting narratives and understandings of that period. He keeps us wondering and questioning, just like those initial residents of Levittown.

Of course, the parallel between the two period should not be taken too far. Underwriting the odd disquiet that Hollings illuminates, seems to be the sense that 'anything could happen'. And, indeed, it might. The war's end was ushering in a period of massive social change and economic expansion. Technological advance made possible both the construction of Levittown and the atomic bomb. The fantasies of Hollings' subjects are often as much about the promise of the future, as the uncertainty it brings. They reflect the anticipation of what may lie behind the many doors being opened. By contrast our contemporary age does not believe 'anything can happen', it believes 'the worst thing can happen'. The doors remain firmly shut, but we nonetheless conjure up the monsters behind them.