On a recent visit to the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., I was delighted to discover some recognition of the work of a Prometheus-winning author. And not just any author, but the Golden Age Grand Master who has received more Prometheus Awards than anyone else: Robert A. Heinlein.
Destination Moon, a 1950 Technicolor feature film co-written by Heinlein, is highlighted in the Destination Moon gallery (Gallery 206) at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
FLY ME TO THE MOON
The display, which explores fictional lunar voyages, features a wall-mounted showcase titled “Fly Me to the Moon.” This part of the display traces 2,000 years of imaginary lunar travel and showcases clips and promotional materials from four early feature films imagining humanity’s future in space.
Destination Moon, released in 1950, is the most recent and by far the most technically accurate and realistic of the four films featured in the Smithsonian exhibit.
A Technicolor feature film, Destination Moon was produced by George Pal (The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine) with a screenplay by Heinlein, Rip Van Ronkel and James O’Hanlon.
According to an online encyclopedia, Destination Moon was the first major U.S. science fiction film to deal with the practical scientific and engineering challenges of space travel and to speculate on what a crewed expedition to the Moon would look like.
According to the encyclopedia, “the film’s premise is that private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon, and that the U.S. government will be forced to purchase or lease the technology to remain the dominant power in space. Different industrialists cooperate to support the private venture.”
A short video about the film shows a brief scene of the creators of the film, including its writers. I spotted Heinlein (who I met at the 1981 Denver Worldcon and interviewed for a Texas publication at the 1983 L5 Society convention in Houston), but I fear most museum visitors might not recognize him.
Plus, many visitors likely wouldn’t already know that this film’s screenplay was co-written by one of the best-known and most enduring science fiction writers of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
That’s because the exhibit doesn’t list the names of the director, producer or writers of Destination Moon.
I consider that a missed opportunity to reinforce the theme of the exhibit. Acknowledging Heinlein’s contributions to the film and to the future could only enhance the exhibit’s cultural connections.
OTHER EARLY FILMS IN THE EXHIBIT
The Smithsonian exhibit highlights three other early science-fiction films – all less widely known than Destination Moon. (In fact, I’ve studied film in college, worked as a film critic for many years and I hadn’t heard of the 1929 and 1936 films in the exhibit.)
The earliest film made was A Trip to the Moon (1902), a poetic and pioneering French silent film directed by George Méliès. The fantastical film short included some whimsical touches, most famously showing the “man in the moon” getting the bullet-shaped rocket ship in his “eye” when it lands.
Woman in the Moon (1929), a German film, presented the basics of rocket trail for the first time to a mass audience.
The film was directed by Fritz Lang, who previously directed Metropolis, now considered the first classic SF film (included in the Sight and Sound once-a-decade worldwide-critics’ ranked list of the 100 greatest films ever made). After emigrating from Germany to become a well-known Hollywood-studios director, Lang directed quite a few major films of the 1930s and 1940s – including the 1949 film version of Ayn Rand’s 1943 noel The Fountainhead.
Cosmic Voyage (1936), a Russian silent film, was one of the earliest films to represent a realistic spaceflight, including weightlessness.
THE DESTINATION MOON EXHIBIT
The four films help set the stage with the early imaginings of our possible future in space before displaying Apollo-era artifacts like the Apollo 11 Comand Module Columbia, Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit, the Mercury Freedom 7 capsule, and the Mercury spacesuit that Alan Shephard wore during his flight as the first American to fly into space on May 5, 1961.
Overall, the well-designed exhibit – which opened in October 2022 – incorporates a recognition of the powerful influence of art, culture and the imagination in shaping future possibilities in science, technology and exploration.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTISTIC IMAGINATION
More broadly speaking, this recognition of the diffuse but powerful process of culture echoes aspects of the broader vision that inspired the Prometheus awards.
The libertarian feminist thinker Wendy McElroy recognized that vision when she was a presenter at the Prometheus Awards ceremony at the 2000 Worldcon.
“People come to libertarianism through fiction,” McElroy said.
“They come through Ayn Rand… Robert Heinlein…. L. Neil Smith. When he established the Prometheus Awards, Smith was acknowledging the political contributions that fiction makes to libertarianism. He recognized its importance and influence, namely that it fire the imagination, it fires the vision of man and woman, and it is absolutely essential to inspire people.”
Or to quote a Libertarian Futurist Society statement often incorporated into our blog posts:
“Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.”
So it’s nice to see a major museum honor and celebrate the advance of science and technology from early flight to the modern space age – and in so doing, honor the science fiction films and artists who imagined such a future – including Heinlein.
ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of the 106 works that have won a Prometheus since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
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