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Valeria C. Guerrero del Pozo

Professor Dana Polan

Hollywood Cinema to 1960

9 December 2014

Sexism and Sensationalism in the Camp Classic Queen of Outer Space

A voluptuous female scientist is clad in split maxi dresses rather than lab ropes, a posse

of vacuous, robot-like and mini-skirted Amazons parades itself mindlessly throughout a

palace… One does not need particularly sharp analytical skills to realize the blatant and

unabashed sexism in Queen of Outer Space (1958). In exploring the nuances to its sexist

discourse and the different contexts in which it appears one can understand why this film is

the quintessence of Hollywood cinema in the fifties.

In a dystopic future in the planet Venus, a tyrant queen named Yllana (Laurie Mitchell)

has established a matriarchal rule in which most men have been exterminated. In this context,

Queen of Outer Space appears as an attempt to symbolically restore masculinity through a

misogynistic representation of the Amazon leader. Indeed, Yllana is evil, hysteric, irrational,

crazy, despotic, Hitler-like and possibly lesbian; her character comes across as a rude

statement against women in power. However, the movie does not completely succeed in its

attempt to restore masculinity. In the end, Zsa Zsa Gabor’s character, Talleah, is the new

ruler of Venus. Her figure screams femininity and sex appeal and she seems to dream about

the domestic bliss of maternity; however, it is still a woman and not a man who is in power.

Additionally, sexism in the movie is also necessary to understand the film’s

unconventional representation of masculinity. Two of the Earthmen that arrive to Venus, the

lieutenants, exhibit an excessive sexual drive. Their constant innuendoes and sexist

comments seem as a desperate attempt to compensate for a lack of virility in other aspects of

their characters. For instance, Lt. Turner, who displays the most intense sexual drive, is also
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the one who at first seriously thinks they have arrived to heaven when he heard he had fallen

in snow.

Thus, the film’s sexism is explained in part by its attempt to restore masculinity and in

change reinforce traditional female roles and stereotypes. However, far from being an end to

itself, the misogynistic representation of women in the film can be understood within the

context of its sensationalism. In that way, women are perhaps the most important but still

only one of the several decorative props that lighten up the spectacle. The recipe also includes

elements as different as a poorly drawn ray light and an out of the blue spider attack. It goes

beyond sexism to the idea of the spectacle for the sake of it. In that sense, the plot seems to be

more of an accessory than the main focus of the film. Therefore, Queen of Outer Space seems

like a hodgepodge of sex, sexism and spectacle, quite a 50s’ combination.

The film’s sexism is a reflection of the tension and insecurities about the changes in

the gender roles in American society. It seems like a last-ditch effort to return to a lost

patriarchal order. In that way, the misogynistic representation of Queen Yllana reflects the

efforts to undermine female authority. Far from being a fair leader, she is a tyrant who lacks

even the most basic honor code, something she proves when shooting a loyal subject in the

back. The movie emphasizes her nature as a deranged man-hater by comparing her to Hitler.

Lt. Turner makes a clear reference to nazism when, facing the council, he tells Yllana, “Why

don't you girls knock off all this Gestapo stuff and try to be a little friendly”. Most

significantly, the Queen attributes the problems of a nation—Venus, Germany—to a specific

group of people—men, Jews. So does Talleah suggests when explaining how Yllana

managed to overthrow the men, “She said that men caused the ruin of this world and it was

time for women to take it over.”

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All these characteristics of Yllana are explained as a problem of lack of ‘normal’

heterosexual sexuality in her life. It is all explained by the fact that, in a conflict with the

planet Mordo, Venusian men used radiation to fight the war, which disfigured her face. Being

unable to attract men because of her lack of physical attraction, she lost her mind. Thus, her

despotism and her desire for power are ways to compensate for the lack of sex in her life. Her

hatred for men is seen as an absurd mobilization of anger against men’s legitimate necessity

for the use of powerful weapons to fight a war, as well as an expression of her resentment

against them for not paying attention to her.

This is suggested in several ways throughout the film. Patterson says in several

occasions how her power is monstrous (“You’re denying man’s love, substituting hatred and

a passion for this monstrous power you possess”) and how she really is a woman in need: “I

don’t think you’re a tyrant. I think you’re just a woman who’s been hurt, hurt so badly you

can never repay it.” She expresses her desire for Patterson when he encounters him in private,

confesses her loneliness and, when she is alone and contemplates her deformity, she breaks

down and cries.

Thus, her stubbornness in insisting that the Earthmen are in Venus to invade the Earth

is a plot to finally fulfill her ultimate desire of manly ‘consolation’. She wishes to force

Patterson into staying with her; if he does not tell ‘the truth’—how his crew planned to

conquer Venus, something impossible considering they did not know life was possible in this

planet—, she will destroy the Earth.

Therefore, in its portrayal of Yllana the film suggests that the many complexities of a

woman’s psyche can be explained by two elements: personal physical appearance and men.

An alteration in these two will result in women going crazy and acquiring an abnormal desire

for power, alien to a woman’s true vocation inside the house. The movie includes typical

stereotypes such as the notion that women cannot separate emotions form logic.
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In a further attempt to undermine her authority, the film masculinizes her, suggesting

that women can be in power only if they act as men. Unlike all the characters in the film, she

tends to wear less provocative outfits and pants whenever she is in the public sphere,

executing her role as a leader. For instance, in her first appearance, she wears black pants and

a black, round-collared loose robe, when the other members of the court are wearing low-cut,

v-shaped, mini-skirted dresses. Apart from her solemn, deep voice, she wears an androgynous

mask. These male traits combined with her irrational hatred towards men seem to point at her

being a lesbian, as part of the stereotypical view of this sexual identity.

This characterization aims at reinforcing the notion that, although a woman is in

power, men are the ones that are really in control. Such is evident in the representation of

science, of masculine domain in the film. Some of the remaining Venusian men, isolated in

the planet’s moon—which in fact has none—, built the beta disintegrator, the weapon that

Yllana plans to use to kill them and destroy the Earth. In fact, they do not seem really

concerned about the initial death sentence Yllana put upon them until they find out who built

this device. In fact, although Talleah is supposed to be a scientist, in the few shots devoted to

her in her professional role she is portrayed more like a healer, making herbal concoctions.

At the other end of the spectrum is Talleah, who embodies the desires for the return to

the old patriarchal order. She seems to exhibit a ‘healthy’ desire for domesticity. In order to

persuade Capt. Patterson to let her friends and her go with the crew of Earthmen when they

are running away from the palace, she says that they wish to go because, “We have no life

here without love, children.” Voicing Talleah’s desires, Patterson tells Yllana afterwards,

“These women aren’t alone. There are thousands like them, desperately wishing for the old

order. And now they’re going to have it.” So, in attempting to reinstate masculinity, the

movie replaces Yllana with a more conservative Talleah in power.

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However, her being in power appears as contradictory, considering the constant

undermining against female authority that the movie does through the persona of Yllana.

Meaning, in a different context, one could be tempted to interpret this plot twist as a way to

counterbalance the negative portrayal of Yllana with a positive female figure of authority.

However, in this campy and sensationalistic film, her being in power appears as a concession,

and reflects an acquiescence of the increasing participation of females in the public sphere. In

a recognition of the impossibility of changing back to the prewar domestic bliss, a more

‘acceptable’ and ‘normal’ woman is left in power, not a man.

This questioning of the role of females in postwar America is reflected in other ways

in the film. Talleah is not a submissive and virginal creature. An innuendo she utters can be

understood as the recognition that women can be forthright about their sexual desires. When

Patterson asks what she had decided to run away with them, she answers, “if we can’t change

the civilization here, I thought perhaps we can go someplace and start one on our own.”

When Konrad reacts to this line by commenting on the “grave responsibility” that lies in

Patterson now, she answers: “I’m sure that the Captain is dependable in everything.” What is

more, she utters a comment that might even be considered progressive. When Capt. Patterson

says that on Earth a woman “would rather die than show her real feelings,” she replies,

“What a silly waste of time. I think if a girl wants a man, she should tell him so.” Indeed, this

idea is compatible to the sensibilities of a sixties’ woman.

Furthermore, the relationship between sexism and masculinity helps us understand how

the movie explores its masculine roles. Two of the male characters of the film, Lieutenants

Cruze and Turner, frequently recur to misogynistic and sexually charged comments,

objectifying and patronizing the female gender and reaffirming their masculinity. When

Patterson suggests that Venusian women could have been the ones to destroy the space
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station with the weapon that attacked them, Lt. Cruze answers, “Oh, come off it! How could a

bunch of women invent a gizmo like that?” Lt. Turner remarks, “Sure, and even if they

invented it, how could they aim it? You know how women drivers are!” The movie celebrates

this instance of misogyny with comic sound effects.

However, these attitudes reflect the insecurity of the characters regarding the power of

their virility. Both of them exhibit at some point certain childish or quite naive behaviors that

diminish their degree of ‘manly’ authority. It seems that, in the movie, the degree of naiveté

is in inverse proportion to the degree of libido of the character. Thus, Cruze, who seems more

vulgar and rude in general rather than extremely lascivious, has a mild childish episode; he

tells the Professor Konrad, “Yeah, but, Doc, what about all those things we learned at school?

You know, the atmosphere of Venus is supposed to be unbreathable.” He refers to Konrad as

if he were a five year old addressing his school teacher, suddenly faced with some

contradiction he does not understand.

On the other hand, Turner exhibits quite a strong sexual drive from the very beginning

of the film. In a comic turn, the movie ends with Turner delaying the crew because he cannot

stop kissing a woman. When he arrives to Venus, in almost every scene he is looking at

women with desire and referring to them with sexist words such as ‘babe’ or ‘doll’. Thus, his

naiveté is proportionally more noticeable. Upon their arrival to Venus he seriously thinks

they have died and have arrived to heaven. Also, he believes that people in Venus are, “little

bitty guys” with green bodies and eyes suspended in antennas, even though he read that in

“one of those thriller dollar magazines.” Therefore, the character’s excessive sexual libido is

a form to compensate for a weaker masculinity.

On the other hand, Captain Patterson and especially Professor Konrad seem somewhat

impotent: they display little or no sexual desire. Patterson reacts quite modestly to Talleah’s

strong advances, while Professor Konrad seems little interested at all in women. Not much
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else can be said in this regard, though, because their apparent lack of sexual interest could

also be a consequence of the poor acting on their part; neither of them seem to display any

type of emotions.

It is unlikely, not to say impossible, that the the director and producer of this space

age kitsch film had set out to do a critique of female authority or a reconsideration of

masculine roles. Consistent with the larger trend of B films, Queen of Outer Space is a highly

unpretentious and entertaining movie produced within the least possible budget. As such, its

sexism is probably the main way, but still only one of the several forms in which the movie

manifests its relationship to the aesthetic of the cinema of spectacle. Therefore, even the

disruptions in the narrative continuity, related to its condition as a B-film, make sense as part

of this aesthetics, alternative to the narrative realism.

In accordance with this sensationalistic approach, all women in the film seem to be on

screen to entertain the male spectator. Even the masculine Yllana, when in the private with

Capt. Patterson, wears a split maxi dress. More provocative variations of this attire is all that

Talleah wears throughout the film, with an unrealistic and sensationalist effect. Even if she is

presented as a scientist, she never wears a lab coat, not even when she is working in her

laboratory. She changes into different dresses in almost every scene, sometimes without any

plot motivation. However, neither she nor the other girls bother to change into more suitable

clothes when they venture out into the jungle. In the scenes she always seems to be in some

posture that will allow her to exhibit her leg through the split of her dress.

But the main two female characters are at least that, characters. The same cannot be

said of the rest of the female cast in the film. For instance, describing the Queen’s posse as

stupid is tantamount to characterizing a chair as such; it is out of place because it is an

inanimate object, incapable of showing any feelings nor intelligence. They act as merely
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decorative elements in the setting. As such, the Earthmen openly persuade Capt. Patterson to

try to seduce the Queen with the guards standing in the back saying nothing. In fact, the

guards seem unable to speak except to say “Botchino!” with a mechanic, robot-like voice.

Even Motiya (Lisa Davis) and Kaeel (Barbara Darrow), the girls that engage in a relationship

with Lt. Turner and Lt. Cruze, respectively, are rather passive characters that have very few

lines to say throughout the film, even though they play a more relevant role in the plot. It is

clear, thus, that women in this film are there to exhibit their physical attributes; so does the

director Edward Berns confirmed in an interview, “We casted members of Queen Yllana’s

posse for size and good looks. We wanted beautiful Amazons” (qtd. in Tom Weaver).

However, women are only one of the few ways in which the cinema of spectacle is

reflected in the film. The film is full of inconsistencies, resulting from its condition as a B

movie, which are constantly disrupting the illusion of reality. Such is the case of acting, either

highly stylized—an example of such is when Professor Konrad cries when he sees the space

station explode—or completely inexpressive—practically all of Patterson’s performances.

Within the pre-credit sequence—which is, quite notably, 15 minutes long—, in a moment

when the spaceship is under attack, all the members of the crew are focused in static medium

shots, although these are intercut with long shots of the ship in great movement. Upon

arriving to Venus, the jungle is right next to the snow. When the men have escaped and are

inserting themselves into the jungle, the same crooked tree appears three times. In the final

scenes, the Earth visible through the ‘electronic telescope’ is clearly a globe, since it has

visible meridians and parallels.

There are other style elements and plot developments that seem to be there to put on a

show for the spectator, without regard for the narrative continuity. The exaggerated use of

color seems to be calling attention upon this technological development. Within the first few

minutes of the film we see a woman clad in a quite infelicitous color combination, bright
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green and red, who after a warm goodbye with Lt. Turner goes completely unmentioned

throughout the rest of the film. The palace is full of intense pink, yellow and green; the

guards wear red, blue and yellow. Additionally, the scene inside the cave in which the

couples exchange kisses and ‘sweet nothings’ does not contribute at all to the development of

the plot; its purpose is to entertain the audience. Earlier in that same sequence, a giant spider

attacks Lt. Turner. It is the only attack of the type present in the film and after it the

characters go on with their kissing without discussing the incident. In fact, the director seems

to have included this scene because a similar one had been successful in a previous movie of

his (Weaver).

The final scene is probably the best example of how the production characteristics of

the B film influence directly its sensationalism. Due to the budget constraints, the final

confrontation between Yllana’s and Talleah’s forces is not shot in the manner of epic battle

scenes, with several shot-counter shots; rather, it is shot in medium long shot. As a result, the

climatic conflict of the film is, instead of an epic battle scene, an utterly ridiculous skirmish

aimed at entertaining the male audience. At certain points, even some of the guards appear to

be laughing. But probably the peak of this sequence is Yllana’s death. She is inside the booth

of the beta disintegrator, trying to fix it. A fire starts, but it is too far away from her to harm

her. Suddenly, without any visible cause, she screams and falls on her back, with a comical

result. Only a few seconds afterwards we see her remains, completely charred.

Queen of Outer Space appears as a perfect example for the Hollywood cinema of the

fifties. Among its sexism, its sensationalism and its patchwork production, the film questions

the traditional roles of femininity and masculinity. In fact, its condition as a B film only adds

to its sensationalism.
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Works Cited

Weaver, Tom and Laurie Mitchel. “Audio Commentary.” Queen of Outer Space. Dir. Edward

Bernds. Perf. Zsa Zsa Gabor and Eric Fleming. Allied Artists Pictures Corp., 1958.

DVD.