Postscript

The postscript surveys a number of changes that can be found in the key SF memes and their treatment as animation moved into postwar film and television. It frames these alterations in terms of a question that is often asked about cartoons: whether they are simply harmless amusements or “instrumental” works that can motivate their audiences after the fashion that, many argue, the best SF literature does. The chapter chronicles a variety of postwar scientific and technological developments that would quickly appear in and become staples of both live-action and animated films, including rockets, robots, computers, and the space race. The popularity of these elements demonstrates the postwar persistence of the SF memes explored in the previous chapters and suggests how animation was working, much like SF literature, not only to familiarize audiences with the impact of science and technology, but also to make that impact less threatening and more acceptable to popular culture.