Editing Mars in fiction (section)

=== 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>