THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER
(1958; dir. Ronnie Ashcroft, w. Frank Hall)

Present belongs to man, past + future woman: prologue narrator describes ancient civilization that self-destructed via hubris, causing great sundering (alleged Goddess civilizations possibly wiping selves out via same oppressive devices that mark patriarchy; also, child’s memory of Mom-separation at birth [womb the previous "world"]), just as man’s atomic hubris today threatens his domination.

Title figure sent from distant planet (deepest racial unconscious) to right situation (1st victim phallic snake), discovered by ge-ologist ("earth" or under-world/subconscious, dedication to nature vs nuke scientists’ desire to "sunder" it/split atom) Cutler out w/ dog soon replaced by kidnapped socialite (encounter w/ woman "elevating" man out of animal state) Maggie, abducted by Underworld (vs Outer Space: conflict btwn lower + higher consciousness) types; lunkhead driver Brad run off road (fwd-moving consc’ss ground to halt in sleep) by vision of "nekkid woman": infantile eroticism + mother-attachment derailing kidnappers’ (lower selves’) attempt to ascend – animal drives which must be controlled before hero can deal w/ Goddess-image + successfully love.

Gangsters original primal unity of (master)mind Nat, body Brad + drunken (fallen) former-socialite soul Moll, latter Maggie’s future unless she recognizes own earthy Goddesshood (hero’s elevation her Fall + vice versa), each opposite good-3 (respectively) scientist, dog + Maggie, w/ ambiguous oversoul (angel, similarly descended – à la drunk – from heavens) ASM; deaths transcendence of present misogynist corruption (leader Nat’s constantly berating moll) + dreamer’s descent into sleep/center of own earth/universe, where climax reveals feared-woman (mother, in Boy + His Dog adolescent idyll) to be benign emissary from Out There (adulthood: the usual "advanced civilization") inviting them to join league of planets (maturity: controlling one’s nuclear/instinctual tendencies 1st step in socialization).

Maggie on similar journey, on way to Europe/high society; similarly comes "down to earth" romancing geo/ego (+ biting Bradlike dog), creating new middle-ground/equilibrium, tho his killing Her (acids used to penetrate her protective shell eternal pornotion of "melting" Ice Princess’s defenses [cf Arctic Deadly Mantis, et al] to make her vulnerable: dsn’t he realize "Earth’s" atmosphere might kill Maggie, too?).

Outside cabin (rustic subconscious-theater partially stocked w/ modern technological equipment [logic + analytic reasoning]) is forest primeval where stalks Goddess-past, cabin/consciousness only place she can be overpowered (other place Her domain): buried, infantile, pre-conscious nature of threat; can only be confronted in dream (where heroic consc’ss still interprets it wrong [headlights out on his jeep: w/o clue in dark otherworld, w/o dog to guide him]), truth left in mandalic necklace she leaves behind in case he Dsn’t Get It.

Triumph over Mater Ge (Mother Earth) as over mater-ialism (lowly dog + "unknown metal" shell; earlier argument in which he sez "A lot of our modern American millionaires have earned their wealth" paradoxically defending capitalism [gangsters taking easy way the atomic scientist stealing God’s secrets (cf ’52 The Thief)], sim contradiction in narrator’s perversely snide tone twd all), bringing stupid, overreacting hero higher consciousness we hope he’ll use in future.