Schiaparelli’s findings led to widespread belief that there was intelligent life on Mars.  This led to a boom in science fiction work about that.  The first novels dealing with this subject matter painted Mars as a wondrous, advanced society that posed no threat to us.  However, as we moved into the war-torn 20th century, the sci-fi changed to fit the inter-national climate and the role of the Martian changed to menacing.  Martian science fiction flourished and the boom continued throughout the first half of our century.

Early Martian Sci-Fi

Peaceful Martians from Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Taken from: http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/pop.html     The first novels inspired by Schiaparelli’s canals painted Mars as a wondrous, advanced society that posed no threat to us.  However, as we moved into the war-torn 20th century, the sci-fi changed to fit the international climate and the role of the Martian changed to menacing.  Martian science fiction flourished and the boom continued throughout the first half of our century, an era commonly referred to as “the Golden Age of Science Fiction.”
    Most of the first Martian sci-fi books were closely tied to the beliefs held by astronomers of the day.  Schiaparelli himself wrote the post-script on Louis Pope Gratacap’s 1903 novel The Certainty of a Future Life on Mars, which was about human beings being reincarnated as aliens on Mars. Mars was usually described as socially superior to Earth, as in Edgar Welch’s 1883 novel Politics and Life in Mars: A Story of a Neighboring Planet.
    Much of the fiction focussed on how we would contact the Martians.  Percy Greg wrote Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record in 1880.  In his book, humans developed a force field that worked by “negative gravity” to reach Mars. This inspired the idea of antigravity space travel.  Robert Cromie’s 1890 novel A Plunge into Space also used antigravity spacecraft to reach Mars.
 

The Golden Age of Science Fiction

Picture from: http://war-of-the-worlds.org

   In the 20th century, Mars moved from novels to pulp magazines, cheap sci-fi comics that were created by imaginative young writers.  Some of the most popular titles were Amazing Stories and Astounding Science Fiction.   The pulp magazines were so popular that they inspired two more genres: comic books and serial films like Flash Gordon.
    Near the end of the 19th century, H.G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds.  This marked a turning point in Martian science fiction, as the role of the Martian changed from peaceful neighbor to threatening invader.  Well’s novel was about the superior technologically Martians invading Earth and eventually being destroyed by the less advanced earthlings.  Orson Wells adapted the book for his famous radio broadcast on Halloween Eve, 1938.  His radio play was set-up like a mock newscast and, despite repeated disclaimers, it caused a panic among thousands of listeners who believed we were really under attack.
 
 

Martian Monster Movies

Taken from: http://humbabe.arc.nasa.gov/mgcm/fun/pop.html

     The success of War of the Worlds, along with other Mars related books and pulp comics, lead to a boom of films concerning Martian invaders.  Cashing in on Cold War paranoia, these films were mainly B-movie monster flicks that portrayed Martians as an alien menace that could masquerade as human.  The Martian menace was an obvious metaphor for the Red menace from the Soviet Union, and audiences responded.
One of the earliest and most famous Martian invader films was Invaders from Mars, released in 1953.  The film concerns a young boy who lives in a town where all the adults have begun acting strange after he sees strange lights behind a hill near his town.  It turns out that the adults of the town have been taken under the control of Martians.   This is a similar theme in many Martian monster movies, the idea of aliens taking control of human beings minds secretly.  Again, this stems from the Cold War paranoia of the time.
The most famous film with alien invader film is Invasion of the Body Snatchers, released in 1956.  This film concerns another town where people begin to start acting weird.  It turns out that aliens have taken over various citizens’ bodies, and replaced them with their own copy.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers is looked at by some people as a paranoid 1950’s anti-communism piece, or as a critical look at McCarthyism and the Red Scare.   Either way, few films have been able to match the intense feelings of paranoia conveyed in the film.
 
 

Mars in Modern Sci-Fi

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall.  Image taken from: http://greatsci-fimovies.hypermart.net/total_recall

    Over the next few decades, Mars’ place in pop culture changed.  After the Mariner missions discovered that there is no advanced civilization on the Red Planet, Mars stopped being used as a serious metaphor for Cold War anxiety and began to be comedy fodder.  From Chuck Jones’ “Marvin the Martian” Looney Tunes to “My Favorite Martian,” it looked as though a serious use of Martian threat was passé. Some serious Martian science fiction was still produced, most notably the works of Robert A. Heinlein and Philip Dick.  And, some Martian movies are still produced, most notably Total Recall and Mars Attacks!  However, the golden age of Martian sci-fi is clearly over, as the mystery of whether intelligent life exists has been answered.  However, the mystery of whether life ever existed on Mars is still alive and well.  In the next few years, missions to Mars will tells us more than we've ever known about the Red Planet.  Perhaps their discoveries will trigger another boom like the one that happened in 1877 with Schiaparelli’s mistake.