History YMMV / TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A first-time viewer these days may find themselves distracted from the plot by pondering just how incredibly influential this film became over the next few decades. It's a main TropeCodifier for movies that depict a FirstContact, and explore all the dramatic implications it would have on modern society, particularly on ordinary people. Everything from ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' to ''Film/{{Starman}}'' to ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' to ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' to ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' draw from it, to name just a few.

** In a greater scope, humanity in general. Klaatu arrives with zero warning, shuts down all power on Earth (with the exception of hospitals and in-flight airplanes), which potentially caused thousands of deaths, all to deliver a message of complete annihilation if they do anything remotely "threatening" to a planet they didn't even know existed (and mentioned above, still don't) solely because Earth has the ''theoretical'' capability to attack them, not because of any action Earth intentionally or unintentionally made against them. This makes Klaatu's planet look ''extremely'' hostile and xenophobic, ruining the film's intended message.

* {{Anvilicious}}: "Grow up and stop being [[HumansAreBastards Bastards]] or someone out there will make you stop." This is a damned good one, though. They way Klaatu delivers the message at the end, the audience is made to feel as if he is talking directly to ''them.'' Especially poignant when you remember that this film was released during the height of the Cold War.

* NarmCharm: Gort visibly creases at the knees when he walks, rather spoiling the illusion of an all powerful robot, but the film is good enough that you just don't care.

** Gort visibly creases at the knees when he walks, rather spoiling the illusion of an all powerful robot.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Unfortunately the film loses the WhamLine from the end of the original short story, where the protagonist fearfully begged Gnut (Gort) to relay to his masters that what happened with Klaatu was an accident and the people of Earth meant them no malice.

* ValuesDissonance: TheFifties, when a mother was okay with her ten year old boy going off with a strange man she had met last night.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Towards the end of the film, [[spoiler: Was Klaatu resurrected only for a short period of time, or would he fully live out the rest of his life and die by natural causes? His explanation is rather vague in its implications.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: Billy Gray ([[Series/FatherKnowsBest Bud Anderson]]) plays Bobby Benson, and Frances Bavier ([[Series/TheAndyGriffithShow Aunt Bee]]) plays another one of the boarding house residents.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A first-time viewer these days may find themselves distracted from the plot by pondering just how incredibly influential this film became over the next few decades. It's a main TropeCodifier for movies that depict a FirstContact, and explore all the dramatic implications it would have on modern society, particular on ordinary people. Everything from ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' to ''Film/{{Starman}}'' to ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' to ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' to ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' draw from it, to name just a few.

* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Klaatu takes the human name John Carpenter. Any similarities to Jesus Christ are entirely on purpose.
** Creator/RobertWise later said that while most of the Christ allegories were intentional, the use of the name "Carpenter" was a coincidence that he never noticed until it was pointed out to him years later.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The humans are lambasted for "striking first", but the craft landed with little warning in a capital city, Klaatu walks directly at the humans with an object held up that snaps open unexpectedly within melee range -- and didn't expect humans to flinch?

* {{Anvilicious}}: "Grow up and stop being [[HumansAreBastards Bastards]] or someone out there will make you stop." [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped This is a damned good one.]] They way Klaatu delivers the message at the end, the audience is made to feel as if he is talking directly to ''them.'' Especially poigniant when you remember that this film was released during the height of the Cold War.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The theme of the whole movie [[{{Anvilicious}} whacks you over the head]] with the idiocy of paranoia and violence, and ''it works''.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: Gort visibly creases at the knees when he walks, rather spoiling the illusion of an all powerful robot.

*** Not necessarily. We don't know anything about Klaatu's culture or their history with nuclear weaponry, but the fact that they came to Earth to tell people to give up their nukes shows us that their interaction with nuclear energy could not have been positive. It is possible there reaction is less xenophobic and more of a rational decision from a peaceful people who have seen civilizations destroy other nations (or each other) immediately after getting their hands on nuclear technology, making Klaatu's actions more of an attempt to prevent humanity from repeating the mistakes of others.
*** The hospitals and airplanes business is to indicate not only is Klaatu capable of shutting down technology but he can do so on a microscopically specific level across the globe. As such, almost certainly no one was killed.

** Earth gets vilified more often for being suspicious of Klaatu when he lands in Washington, shuts down the planet for an hour and ultimately delivers a message of preemptive destruction.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Patricia Neal admitted in interviews that she was completely unaware during the filming that the film would turn out so well, and become one of the great science-fiction classics of all time. She assumed it would be just another one of the then-current and rather trashy flying saucer films, and she found it difficult to keep a straight face while saying her lines.

* VichyEarth: Some can interpret the message of "abide by our rules or be destroyed" as an unofficial conquest of Earth. The aliens come across as KnightTemplar types who while having the noble goal of ending all conflict on Earth, puts everyone in a state of eternal paranoia. What if some other nation attacks yours? Do you turn the other cheek and surrender or fight back and risk being annihilated by Klaatu? Or are you annihilated anyway? Klaatu has effectively forced Earth into surrender and become property of his home planet.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A first-time viewer these days may find themselves distracted from the plot by pondering just how incredibly influential this film became over the next few decades. It's a main TropeCodifier for movies that depict a FirstContact, and explore all the dramatic implications it would have on modern society, particular on ordinary people. Everything from ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' to ''Film/{{Starman}}'' to ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' to ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' draw from it, to name just a few.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A first-time viewer these days may find themselves distracted from the plot by pondering just how incredibly influential this film became over the next few decades. It's a main TropeCodifier for movies that depict a FirstContact, and explore all the dramatic implications it would have on modern society, particular on ordinary people. Everything from ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' to ''Film/{{Starman}}'' to ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' to ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' draws from it, to name just a few.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A first-time viewer these days may find themselves distracted from the plot by noticing just how incredibly influential this film became over the next few decades. It's a main TropeCodifier for movies that depict a FirstContact, and explore all the dramatic implications it would have on modern society, particular on ordinary people. Everything from ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'' to ''Film/{{Starman}}'' to ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' to ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' draws from it, to name just a few.