Editing Mars in fiction (section)

== Life on Mars ==
{{Redirect2|Martian|Martians}}
{{Anchor|Martians}}
The term ''Martians'' typically refers to inhabitants of Mars that are similar to humans in terms of having such things as [[language]] and [[civilization]], though it is also occasionally used to refer to [[Extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrials]] in general.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=LaBare |first1=Sha |title=Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8470-6 |editor-last=Hendrix |editor-first=Howard V. |editor-link=Howard V. Hendrix |pages=152 |language=en |chapter=Chronicling Martians |editor-last2=Slusser |editor-first2=George |editor-link2=George Slusser |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjIglebU6CIC&pg=PA152}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jenner |first=Nicky |title=4th Rock from the Sun: The Story of Mars |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4729-2251-9 |pages=17 |language=en |chapter=Mars Fever |quote=In a way, the word 'Martian' has become synonymous with 'alien' |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od7oDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16}}</ref> These inhabitants of Mars have variously been depicted as enlightened, evil, and decadent; in keeping with the conception of Mars as an older civilization than Earth, Westfahl refers to these as "good parents", "bad parents", and "dependent parents", respectively.<ref name="WestfahlMars">{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=[[Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia]] |date=2021 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-6617-3 |pages=427–430 |language=en |chapter=Mars and Martians |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WETPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA427}}</ref><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /><ref name="ReadingMars" />

Martians have also been equated with humans in different ways. Humans are revealed to be the descendants of Martians in several stories including the 1954 short story "[[Survey Team]]" by [[Philip K. Dick]].<ref name="MarkleyTransformingMars" /><ref name="StanwayWeAreTheMartians">{{Cite web |last=Stanway |first=Elizabeth |author-link=<!-- No article at present (July 2024); Stanway is an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick who has been published in [[Foundation (journal)]], among others (see https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction); Wikidata Q127710708 --> |date=2023-02-26 |title=We are the Martians |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/we_are_the |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402120633/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/research/astro/people/stanway/sciencefiction/cosmicstories/we_are_the/ |archive-date=2023-04-02 |access-date=2024-03-26 |website=[[Warwick University]] |series=Cosmic Stories Blog}}</ref> Conversely, Martians are the descendants of humans from Earth in some works such as the 1889 novel ''Mr. Stranger's Sealed Packet'' by Hugh MacColl, where a close approach between Mars and Earth in the past allowed some humans to get to Mars,<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="CrossleyInventingANewMars" /><ref name="Webster" /> and Tolstoy's ''Aelita'' where they are descended from inhabitants of the lost civilization of [[Atlantis]].<ref name="CrossleyBestTradition" /> Human settlers take on the new identity of Martians in the 1946 short story "[[The Million Year Picnic]]" by [[Ray Bradbury]] (later included in the 1950 [[fix-up]] novel ''[[The Martian Chronicles]]''), and this theme of "becoming Martians" came to be a recurring motif in Martian fiction toward the end of the century.<ref name="GreenwoodMars" /><ref name="TheNewMartianNovel" /><ref name="CrossleyThreshold">{{Cite book |last=Crossley |first=Robert |title=[[Imagining Mars: A Literary History]] |date=2011 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6927-1 |pages=195–221 |language=en |chapter=On the Threshold of the Space Age |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3TDEDfEPdEC&pg=PA195}}</ref><ref name="Rabkin" />

=== Enlightened ===
[[File:Klaatu - screenshot from trailer for Day the Earth Stood Still.jpg|alt=Still frame from the trailer for the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still, showing the character Klaatu|thumb|[[Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)|Klaatu]], the Martian who visits Earth in the 1951 film ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'']]
The portrayal of Martians as superior to Earthlings appeared throughout the [[utopian fiction]] of the late 1800s.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="MarkleyTurnOfTheCentury" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> In-depth treatment of the nuances of the concept was pioneered by Kurd Lasswitz with the 1897 novel ''Auf zwei Planeten'', wherein the Martians visit Earth to share their more advanced knowledge with humans and gradually end up acting as an occupying colonial power.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="MarkleyTurnOfTheCentury" /><ref name="Roberts1850–1900" /> Martians sharing wisdom or knowledge with humans is a recurring element in these stories, and some works such as the 1952 novel ''[[David Starr, Space Ranger]]'' by [[Isaac Asimov]] depict Martians sharing their advanced technology with the inhabitants of Earth.<ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> Several depictions of enlightened Martians have a religious dimension:<ref name="AshleyLostMars">{{Cite book |last=Ashley |first=Mike |title=Lost Mars: Stories from the Golden Age of the Red Planet |date=2018 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-57508-7 |editor-last=Ashley |editor-first=Mike |editor-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |pages=7–26 |language=en |chapter=Introduction |author-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOl3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7}}</ref> in the 1938 novel ''[[Out of the Silent Planet]]'' by [[C. S. Lewis]], Martians are depicted as Christian beings free from [[original sin]],<ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> the Martian [[Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)|Klaatu]]{{efn|Although Klaatu's planet of origin is not named in the 1951 film, [[science fiction scholar]] [[Gary Westfahl]] notes that the information provided uniquely identifies it as Mars.<ref name="ReadingMars" /><ref name="MartiansOldAndNewStillStandingOverUs" /> See {{section link|Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still)|Analysis}} for further details.}} who visits Earth in the 1951 film ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' is a [[Christ figure]],<ref name="ReadingMars" /><ref name="MartiansOldAndNewStillStandingOverUs">{{Cite magazine |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Westfahl |date=June 2001 |editor-last=Pringle |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Pringle |title=Martians Old and New, Still Standing Over Us |url=https://archive.org/details/interzone-168-2001-06-bogof-39/page/56/mode/2up |magazine=[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]] |issue=168 |pages=57–58 |issn=0264-3596}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherman |first=Theodore James |title=[[The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders]] |date=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32951-7 |editor-last=Westfahl |editor-first=Gary |editor-link=Gary Westfahl |pages=20 |language=en |chapter=Allegory |quote=Klaatu is also a Christ figure |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/greenwoodencyclo0000unse_k2b9/page/20/mode/2up}}</ref> and the 1961 novel ''[[Stranger in a Strange Land]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]] revolves around a human raised by Martians who brings a religion based on their ideals to Earth as a [[prophet]].<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="AshleyLostMars" /><ref name="CrossleyScientificAdvances" /> In [[comic book]]s, the superhero [[Martian Manhunter]] first appeared in 1955.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="WestfahlMars" /> In the 1956 novel ''[[No Man Friday]]'' by [[Rex Gordon]], an astronaut stranded on Mars encounters [[pacifist]] Martians and feels compelled to omit the human history of warfare lest they think of humans as savage creatures akin to [[Human cannibalism|cannibals]].<ref name="CrossleyThreshold" /> On television, the 1963–1966 [[sitcom]] ''[[My Favorite Martian]]''—later adapted to [[children's animation]] in 1973 and to [[My Favorite Martian (film)|film in 1999]]—portrayed a Martian comedically; the contemporaneous science fiction [[anthology series]] ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' and ''[[The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)|The Outer Limits]]'' also occasionally featured Martian characters,<ref name="ReadingMars" /> such as in "[[Mr. Dingle, the Strong]]" where they find disappointment in human lack of altruism<ref name="HartzmanMarsInvadesPopCulture" /> and "[[Controlled Experiment]]" where murder is a foreign concept to them.<ref name="Westfahl2022PastAndFuture">{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters |date=2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8659-2 |pages=92 |language=en |chapter=The Past and Future—Time Out of Mind: Journeys through Time in Science Fiction |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7WREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92}}</ref>

=== Evil ===
There is a long tradition of portraying Martians as warlike, perhaps inspired by the planet's association with the [[Mars (mythology)|Roman god of war]].<ref name="Westfahl2022Venus">{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters |date=2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8659-2 |pages=165–166, 169 |language=en |chapter=Venus—Venus of Dreams ... and Nightmares: Changing Images of Earth's Sister Planet |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7WREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166}}</ref><ref name="CrossleyAlternativeVisions" /> The seminal depiction of Martians as evil creatures was the 1897 novel ''The War of the Worlds'' by H. G. Wells, wherein the Martians attack Earth.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /> This characterization dominated the [[pulp era of science fiction]], appearing in works such as the 1928 short story "[[The Menace of Mars]]" by [[Clare Winger Harris]], the 1931 short story "[[Monsters of Mars]]" by [[Edmond Hamilton]], and the 1935 short story "Mars Colonizes" by [[Miles J. Breuer]].<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="ReadingMars">{{multiref2|{{cite magazine |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Westfahl |date=December 2000 |title=Reading Mars: Changing Images of Mars in Twentieth-Century Science Fiction |magazine=[[The New York Review of Science Fiction]] |issue=148 |pages=1, 8–13 |issn=1052-9438}}|{{Cite book |last=Westfahl |first=Gary |title=The Stuff of Science Fiction: Hardware, Settings, Characters |date=2022 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-8659-2 |pages=146–163 |language=en |chapter=Mars—Reading Mars: Changing Images of the Red Planet |author-link=Gary Westfahl |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q7WREAAAQBAJ&pg=PA146}}}}</ref> It quickly became regarded as a [[cliché]] and inspired a kind of [[countermovement]] that portrayed Martians as meek in works like the 1933 short story "[[The Forgotten Man of Space]]" by [[P. Schuyler Miller]] and the 1934 short story "[[Old Faithful (short story)|Old Faithful]]" by [[Raymond Z. Gallun]].<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /> The 1946 novel ''[[The Man from Mars]]'' by [[Polish science fiction]] writer [[Stanisław Lem]] likewise depicts a Martian mistreated by humans.<ref name="MarsAntologiaPolskiejFantastyki" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Booker |first=M. Keith |title=Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction in Literature |date=2014 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-8108-7884-6 |pages=160 |language=en |chapter=Lem, Stanisław (1921–2006) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRi7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA160}}</ref>

Outside of the pulps, the [[alien invasion]] theme pioneered by Wells appeared in [[Olaf Stapledon]]'s 1930 novel ''[[Last and First Men]]''—with the twist that the invading Martians are cloud-borne and microscopic, and neither aliens nor humans recognize the other as a sentient species.<ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="CrossleyBestTradition" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Huntington |first1=John W. |title=Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8470-6 |editor-last=Hendrix |editor-first=Howard V. |editor-link=Howard V. Hendrix |pages=82 |language=en |chapter=The (In)Significance of Mars in the 1930s |editor-last2=Slusser |editor-first2=George |editor-link2=George Slusser |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjIglebU6CIC&pg=PA82}}</ref> In film, this theme gained popularity in 1953 with the releases of ''[[The War of the Worlds (1953 film)|The War of the Worlds]]'' and ''[[Invaders from Mars (1953 film)|Invaders from Mars]]''; later films about Martian invasions of Earth include the 1954 film ''[[Devil Girl from Mars]]'', the 1962 film ''[[The Day Mars Invaded Earth]]'', a [[Invaders from Mars (1986 film)|1986 remake]] of ''Invaders from Mars'' and [[List of works based on The War of the Worlds#Adaptations|three different adaptations of ''The War of the Worlds'']] in 2005.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> Martians attacking humans who come to Mars appear in the 1948 short story "[[Mars Is Heaven!]]" by Ray Bradbury (later revised and included in ''The Martian Chronicles'' as "The Third Expedition"), where they use [[Telepathy|telepathic]] abilities to impersonate the humans' deceased loved ones before killing them.<ref name="AshgateExtraterrestrial" /><ref name="JennerDeathStars" /><ref name="Rabkin">{{Cite book |last1=Rabkin |first1=Eric S. |title=Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8470-6 |editor-last=Hendrix |editor-first=Howard V. |editor-link=Howard V. Hendrix |pages=95, 98, 102–103 |language=en |chapter=Is Mars Heaven? ''The Martian Chronicles'', ''Fahrenheit 451'' and Ray Bradbury's Landscape of Longing |editor-last2=Slusser |editor-first2=George |editor-link2=George Slusser |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjIglebU6CIC&pg=PA95}}</ref> Comical portrayals of evil Martians appear in the 1954 novel ''[[Martians, Go Home]]'' by [[Fredric Brown]], where they are [[little green men]] who wreak havoc by exposing secrets and lies;<ref name="CrossleyThreshold" /> in the form of the cartoon character [[Marvin the Martian]] introduced in the 1948 short film "[[Haredevil Hare]]", who seeks to destroy Earth to get a better view of Venus;<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="HotakainenMarsFiction" /><ref name="JennerMarvin">{{Cite book |last=Jenner |first=Nicky |title=4th Rock from the Sun: The Story of Mars |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4729-2251-9 |pages=45–62 |language=en |chapter=Marvin and the Spiders |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od7oDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT52}}</ref><ref name="HartzmanMarsInvadesPopCulture" /> and in the 1996 film ''[[Mars Attacks!]]'', a pastiche of [[History of science fiction films#Post-War and 1950s|1950s alien invasion films]].<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mann |first=George |title=The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |date=2001 |publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers |isbn=978-0-7867-0887-1 |pages=390 |language=en |chapter=Mars Attacks! |author-link=George Mann (writer) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mammothencyclope00mann/page/390/mode/2up}}</ref>

=== Decadent ===
[[File:Planet stories 195103.jpg|alt=Refer to caption|thumb|Decadent portrayals of Martians were popularized by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], inspiring many authors such as [[Leigh Brackett]]. Seen here is the March 1951 cover of ''[[Planet Stories]]'', featuring Brackett's "[[Black Amazon of Mars]]".]]
The conception of Martians as decadent was largely derived from [[Percival Lowell]]'s vision of Mars.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="SFELowell" /> The first appearance of Martians characterized by decadence in a work of fiction was in the 1905 novel ''[[Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation]]'' by [[Edwin Lester Arnold]]—variously considered one of the earliest examples of, or an important precursor to, the [[planetary romance]] subgenre.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: The Definitive Illustrated Guide |date=1996 |publisher=Carlton |isbn=1-85868-188-X |editor-last=Pringle |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Pringle |pages=23 |language=en |chapter=Planetary Romances |oclc=38373691 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateencyclop0000unse_a8c7/page/23/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="SFEPlanetaryRomance">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2013 |title=Planetary Romance |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/planetary_romance |access-date=2025-04-01 |edition=4th |author1-last=Clute |author1-first=John |author1-link=John Clute |author2-last=Langford |author2-first=David |author2-link=David Langford |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref> The idea was developed further and popularized by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] in the 1912–1943 ''[[Barsoom]]'' series starting with ''[[A Princess of Mars]]''.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /> Burroughs presents a Mars in need of human intervention to regain its vitality,<ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> a place where violence has replaced sexual desire.<ref name="CrossleyMasculinistFantasies" /> Science fiction critic {{Interlanguage link|Robert Crossley|qid=Q55188564}}, in the 2011 non-fiction book ''[[Imagining Mars: A Literary History]]'', identifies Burroughs's work as the archetypal example of what he dubs "masculinist fantasies", where "male travelers ''expect'' to find princesses on Mars and devote much of their time either to courting or to protecting them".<ref name="CrossleyMasculinistFantasies" /> This version of Mars also functions as a kind of stand-in for the bygone [[American frontier]], where protagonist [[John Carter of Mars|John Carter]]—a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] veteran of the [[American Civil War]] who is made [[Superhuman strength|superhumanly strong]] by the lower [[gravity of Mars]]—encounters indigenous Martians representing [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref name="CrossleyMasculinistFantasies" /><ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref name="NewellLamont" />

Burroughs's vision of Mars would go on to have an influence approaching but not quite reaching Wells's,<ref name="Webb">{{Cite book |last=Webb |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Webb (scientist) |title=All the Wonder that Would Be: Exploring Past Notions of the Future |date=2017 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51759-9 |series=Science and Fiction |pages=71–72 |language=en |chapter=Space Travel |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-51759-9_3 |quote=''War of the Worlds'' is an archetypical piece of science fiction, and one of the most influential books in the canon. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVPJDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA71}}</ref> inspiring the works of many other authors—for instance, [[C. L. Moore]]'s stories about [[Northwest Smith]] starting with the 1933 short story "[[Shambleau]]".<ref name="LiptakDestinationMars">{{Cite magazine |last=Liptak |first=Andrew |date=May 2015 |title=Destination: Mars |url=https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liptak_05_15/ |magazine=[[Clarkesworld Magazine]] |issue=104 |issn=1937-7843}}</ref> Another author who followed Burroughs's lead in the decadent portrayal of Mars and its inhabitants—while updating the politics to reflect shifting attitudes toward [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]] in the intervening years—was [[Leigh Brackett]],<ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref name="NewellLamont" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> the "Queen of the Planetary Romance".<ref name="AshleyLostMars" /> Brackett's works in this vein include the 1940 short story "[[Martian Quest]]" and the 1944 novel ''[[Shadow Over Mars]]'', as well as the stories about [[Eric John Stark]] including the 1949 short story "[[Queen of the Martian Catacombs]]" and the 1951 short story "[[Black Amazon of Mars]]" (later expanded into the 1964 novels ''[[The Secret of Sinharat]]'' and ''[[People of the Talisman]]'', respectively).<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="NewellLamont">{{Cite book |last1=Newell |first1=Diana |title=Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science |last2=Lamont |first2=Victoria |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8470-6 |editor-last=Hendrix |editor-first=Howard V. |editor-link=Howard V. Hendrix |pages=73–79 |language=en |chapter=Savagery on Mars: Representations of the Primitive in Brackett and Burroughs |editor-last2=Slusser |editor-first2=George |editor-link2=George Slusser |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjIglebU6CIC&pg=PA73}}</ref>

Decadent Martians appeared in many other stories as well. The 1933 novel ''[[Cat Country (novel)|Cat Country]]'' (''貓城記'') by [[Chinese science fiction]] writer [[Lao She]] portrays feline Martians overcome by vices such as opium addiction and corruption as a vehicle for [[satire]] of contemporary Chinese society.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2023<!-- 6 February --> |title=China |encyclopedia=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/china |access-date=2023-05-13 |edition=4th |author1-last=Clements |author1-first=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Clements |editor1-last=Clute |editor1-first=John |editor1-link=John Clute |editor2-last=Langford |editor2-first=David |editor2-link=David Langford |editor3-last=Sleight |editor3-first=Graham |editor3-link=Graham Sleight}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lozada |first=Eriberto P. Jr. |title=Religion and Science Fiction |date=2012 |publisher=ISD LLC |isbn=978-0-7188-4096-9 |editor-last=McGrath |editor-first=James F. |editor-link=James F. McGrath |pages=66–67 |language=en |chapter=Star Trekking in China: Science Fiction as Theodicy in Contemporary China |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XezEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA66}}</ref> In the 1950 film ''[[Rocketship X-M]]'', Martians are depicted as disfigured [[cavepeople]] inhabiting a barren wasteland, descendants of the few survivors of a [[nuclear holocaust]];<ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Thomas Kent |title=Mars in the Movies: A History |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2626-0 |pages=46 |language=en |chapter=''Rocketship X-M'' (1950) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7R5DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT56}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Henderson |first=C. J. |title=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies |date=2001 |publisher=New York: Facts On File |isbn=978-0-8160-4043-8 |pages=356 |chapter=Rocketship X-M |oclc=44669849 |author-link=C. J. Henderson (writer) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsc0000hend/page/356/mode/2up}}</ref> in the 1963 novel ''[[The Man Who Fell to Earth (novel)|The Man Who Fell to Earth]]'' by [[Walter Tevis]] a survivor of nuclear holocaust on Mars comes to Earth for refuge but finds it to be similarly corrupt and degenerate.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="CrossleyScientificAdvances" /><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: The Definitive Illustrated Guide |date=1996 |publisher=Carlton |isbn=1-85868-188-X |editor-last=Pringle |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Pringle |pages=233–234 |language=en |chapter=Walter Tevis |oclc=38373691 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ultimateencyclop0000unse_a8c7/page/233/mode/2up}}</ref> Inverting the premise of Heinlein's ''Stranger in a Strange Land'', the 1963 short story "[[A Rose for Ecclesiastes]]" by [[Roger Zelazny]] sees decadent Martians visited by a preacher from Earth.<ref name="Webster">{{Cite magazine |last=Webster |first=Bud |author-link=Bud Webster |date=2006-07-01 |title=Mars — the Amply Read Planet |url=http://www.philsp.com/articles/pastmasters_01.html |url-status=live |magazine=[[Helix SF]] |id=[https://isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?32655 ISFDB series #32655] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004211726/http://www.philsp.com/articles/pastmasters_01.html |archive-date=2021-10-04 |access-date=2022-06-21}}</ref>

=== Past and non-humanoid life ===
In some stories where Mars is not inhabited by humanoid lifeforms, it was in the past or is inhabited by other types of life. The ruins of extinct Martian civilizations are depicted in the 1943 short story "[[Lost Art (short story)|Lost Art]]" by [[George O. Smith]] where their [[perpetual motion machine]] is recreated and the 1957 short story "[[Omnilingual]]" by [[H. Beam Piper]] in which scientists attempt to [[Decipherment|decipher]] their fifty-thousand-year-old language;<ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /> the 1933 novel ''[[The Outlaws of Mars]]'' by [[Otis Adelbert Kline]] and the 1949 novel ''[[The Sword of Rhiannon]]'' by Leigh Brackett employ [[time travel]] to set stories in the past when Mars was still alive.<ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref name="CrossleyThreshold" />

The 1934 short story "[[A Martian Odyssey]]" by [[Stanley G. Weinbaum]] contains what Webster describes as "the first really alien aliens" in science fiction, in contrast to previous depictions of Martians as monsters or essentially human.<ref name="Webster" /> The story broke new ground in portraying an entire Martian [[ecosystem]] wholly unlike that of Earth—inhabited by species that are alien in anatomy and inscrutable in behaviour—and in depicting extraterrestrial life that is non-human and [[Extraterrestrial intelligence|intelligent]] without being hostile.<ref name="D'AmmassaAMartianOdyssey" /><ref name="CriticalStudiesWeinbaum" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Gary K. |title=James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction |date=2018 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-68383-590-5 |editor-last=Prince |editor-first=Chris |pages=<!-- the book has no page numbers --> |language=en |chapter=Alien Life |quote=This introduced the idea not only that some aliens might be friendly or helpful or even cute, but also that they might just be really ''different'', neither humanoid nor monstrous—and that some of them might simply be indifferent to us. |author-link=Gary K. Wolfe |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FU1XDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA1914}}</ref> In particular, one Martian creature called [[Tweel (A Martian Odyssey)|Tweel]] is found to be intelligent but have thought processes that are utterly inhuman.<ref name="CrossleyBestTradition">{{Cite book |last=Crossley |first=Robert |title=[[Imagining Mars: A Literary History]] |date=2011 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6927-1 |pages=168–194 |language=en |chapter=Quite in the Best Tradition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3TDEDfEPdEC&pg=PA178}}</ref><ref name="CriticalStudiesWeinbaum">{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |title=Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day |date=1999 |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |isbn=0-684-80593-6 |editor-last=Bleiler |editor-first=Richard |editor-link=Richard Bleiler |edition=2nd |pages=883–884 |chapter=Stanley G. Weinbaum |oclc=40460120 |author-link=Brian Stableford |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefictionwr0000unse/page/883/mode/2up}}</ref> This creates an impenetrable language barrier between the alien and the human it encounters, and they are limited to communicating through the [[universal language]] of [[mathematics]].<ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref name="D'AmmassaAMartianOdyssey">{{Cite book |last=D'Ammassa |first=Don |title=Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |date=2005 |publisher=Facts On File |isbn=978-0-8160-5924-9 |pages=246–247 |language=en |chapter="A Martian Odyssey" |author-link=Don D'Ammassa |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsc0000damm/page/246/mode/2up}}</ref> Asimov would later say that this story met the challenge [[science fiction editor]] [[John W. Campbell]] made to science fiction writers in the 1940s: to write a creature who thinks at least as well as humans, yet not ''like'' humans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Asimov |first=Isaac |title=Asimov on Science Fiction |date=1981 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-17443-5 |pages=221–222 |language=en |chapter=The Second Nova |author-link=Isaac Asimov |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/asimovonsciencef0000asim/page/220/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rudick |first=Nicole |date=2019-07-18 |title=A Universe of One's Own |language=en |work=[[The New York Review of Books]] |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/07/18/universe-of-ones-own-women-science-fiction/ |url-status=live |access-date=2022-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111211043/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/07/18/universe-of-ones-own-women-science-fiction/ |archive-date=2021-11-11 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref>

Three different species of intelligent lifeforms appear on Mars in C. S. Lewis's 1938 novel ''Out of the Silent Planet'', only one of which is humanoid.<ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |title=The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places |date=1999 |publisher=Wonderland Press |isbn=978-0-684-84958-4 |pages=189 |chapter=Malacandra |author-link=Brian Stableford |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofscie0000unse/page/189/mode/2up}}</ref> In the 1943 short story "[[The Cave (short story)|The Cave]]" by P. Schuyler Miller, lifeforms endure on Mars long after the civilization that used to exist there has driven itself to [[extinction]] through [[ecological collapse]].<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="MarkleyLimitsOfImagination" /> The 1951 novel ''[[The Sands of Mars]]'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]] features some indigenous life in the form of [[Oxygen production|oxygen-producing]] plants and Martian creatures resembling Earth [[marsupial]]s, but otherwise depicts a mostly desolate environment—reflecting then-emerging data about the scarcity of life-sustaining resources on Mars.<ref name="WestfahlMars" /><ref name="GreenwoodMars" /><ref name="ReadingMars" /><ref name="MarkleyTransformingMars" /> Other novels of the 1950s likewise limited themselves to rudimentary lifeforms such as [[lichen]]s and [[tumbleweed]] that could conceivably exist in the absence of any appreciable atmosphere or quantities of water.<ref name="MartianMusings">{{Cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=Kim Stanley |title=Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8470-6 |editor-last=Hendrix |editor-first=Howard V. |editor-link=Howard V. Hendrix |pages=146–151 |language=en |chapter=Martian Musings and the Miraculous Conjunction |author-link=Kim Stanley Robinson |editor-last2=Slusser |editor-first2=George |editor-link2=George Slusser |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjIglebU6CIC&pg=PA146}}</ref>

=== Lifeless Mars ===
[[File:Mariner_4_craters.gif|alt=A photograph of Mars from the Mariner 4 probe|thumb|Data returned from [[Mars exploration]] missions in the 1960s and 1970s, such as this photograph by the [[Mariner 4]] probe, led to stories of [[life on Mars]] becoming unfashionable.]]
In light of the ''[[Mariner program|Mariner]]'' and ''[[Viking program|Viking]]'' probes to Mars between 1965 and 1976 revealing the planet's inhospitable conditions, almost all fiction started to portray Mars as a lifeless world.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="MillerMars" /> The disappointment of finding Mars to be hostile to life is reflected in the 1970 novel ''Die Erde ist nah'' (''[[The Earth Is Near]]'') by [[Czech science fiction]] writer [[Luděk Pešek]], which depicts the members of an [[Astrobiology|astrobiological]] expedition on Mars driven to despair by the realization that their search for life there is futile.<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="CrossleyScientificAdvances">{{multiref2|{{Cite book |last=Crossley |first=Robert |title=[[Imagining Mars: A Literary History]] |date=2011 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-6927-1 |pages=222–242 |language=en |chapter=Retrograde Visions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3TDEDfEPdEC&pg=PA222}}|{{Cite book |last1=Crossley |first1=Robert |title=Visions of Mars: Essays on the Red Planet in Fiction and Science |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8470-6 |editor-last=Hendrix |editor-first=Howard V. |editor-link=Howard V. Hendrix |pages=165–174 |language=en |chapter=Mars as Cultural Mirror: Martian Fictions in the Early Space Age |editor-last2=Slusser |editor-first2=George |editor-link2=George Slusser |editor-last3=Rabkin |editor-first3=Eric S. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjIglebU6CIC&pg=PA165}}}}</ref> A handful of authors still found ways to place life on the red planet: [[microbial life]] exists on Mars in the 1977 novel ''[[The Martian Inca]]'' by [[Ian Watson (author)|Ian Watson]], and intelligent life is found in [[hibernation]] there in the 1977 short story "[[In the Hall of the Martian Kings]]" by [[John Varley (author)|John Varley]].<ref name="SFEMars" /><ref name="StablefordMars" /><ref name="MillerMars" /><ref name="CrossleyScientificAdvances" /> By the turn of the millennium, the idea of microbial life on Mars gained popularity, appearing in the 1999 novel ''[[The Martian Race]]'' by [[Gregory Benford]] and the 2001 novel ''[[The Secret of Life (novel)|The Secret of Life]]'' by [[Paul J. McAuley]].<ref name="MillerMars" />