politics were generallyeither theocratic or dynastic. Red Martians dominated Barsoom, although this doesn’t mean they had a single, global government. Instead, they were organized into several competing city-states, with the polity Helium being of particular import in the first book. Red Martians were highly civilized, with a strict code of honor. They respected personal property, formed families and strong alliances. Their technology was advanced (especially compared with Burroughs’s Earth) and included flying machines, both civilian and heavily armed warcraft. Barsoomian scientists had mastered genetic engineering, medical transplant techniques, faxes, and television and had incorporated radium into their long-distance weaponry. Radium was discovered in 1898 and first extracted in metallic form in 1910, so this was cutting-edge stuff.
Red Martians were bred as a hardy race that would help them survive the increasingly dry conditions of Barsoom. They were a mixture of the Yellow, White, and Black Martians, all of whom had nearly died out. While the Martians had mastered advanced technology, they preferred to fight hand to hand with swords and comparable weapons. This makes the descriptions of the battles exciting and vivid.
Green Martians can be visualized as barbarians. The males are 15 feet tall and the females are 12 feet tall and appear to be the outcome of a genetic experiment gone awry. They were nomadic and warlike. Any enemy captured by a Green Martian was tortured, frequently to death. Rising in the social structure always involved battle, and becoming a leader of the various warring tribes could only be attained by winning mortal combat. There was no family structure in Green Martian civilization; allegiance was only to the tribe.
Yellow Martians lived in a few small and domed cities near the North Pole. They were exceptionally cruel and used a tractor beam to pull down aircraft so they could enslave the crew. They show up rarely in the series.
White Martians were once the master race of Barsoom. They were once thought to be extinct, but various isolated populations were revealed over the course of the eleven books. One population called the Lotharians had evolved to be reclusive intellectuals who lived separately from all other Martians and spent their time debating philosophy. Another group called the Therns inhabited the Valley Dor, which was the terminus of the River Iss. The valley was actually populated by vicious creatures controlled by the Thern. These creatures typically killed Barsoomians taking their journey to paradise and ate their flesh.
Black Martians inhabited a hidden fortress near the South Pole. Theycalled themselves “the First Born” and considered themselves to be unique among the Martians. They sometimes raided the Thern, but they don’t show up often in the series.
The plot of Barsoom tales are hardly complex. A male hero, noble and brave, is forced to travel to a faraway place to rescue a woman he loves. The woman has been captured by a powerful man who desires her both sexually and as a means to make political gains. Along the way, the hero encounters many adventures: battles, captures, escapes; action is the norm and subtlety rare.
Burroughs’s Barsoom stories had many themes that would have resonated with his early twentieth-century readers. A civilized, European/American hero enters a barbaric world, which could easily be related to Kipling’s stories of West Asia or tales of the conquest of Africa or the American West. By 1912, the era of frontiers was fading, and Americans were beginning to romanticize their history. The term “spaghetti western” was more than half a century in the future, but Burroughs’s readers would have appreciated Clint Eastwood movies, with a flawed, but fundamentally brave and noble protagonist, a distinctly evil villain, and a brave, but vulnerable, heroine. A lawless world, inhabited by hard men, and a hero who must live by the local rules
Red Martians were bred as a hardy race that would help them survive the increasingly dry conditions of Barsoom. They were a mixture of the Yellow, White, and Black Martians, all of whom had nearly died out. While the Martians had mastered advanced technology, they preferred to fight hand to hand with swords and comparable weapons. This makes the descriptions of the battles exciting and vivid.
Green Martians can be visualized as barbarians. The males are 15 feet tall and the females are 12 feet tall and appear to be the outcome of a genetic experiment gone awry. They were nomadic and warlike. Any enemy captured by a Green Martian was tortured, frequently to death. Rising in the social structure always involved battle, and becoming a leader of the various warring tribes could only be attained by winning mortal combat. There was no family structure in Green Martian civilization; allegiance was only to the tribe.
Yellow Martians lived in a few small and domed cities near the North Pole. They were exceptionally cruel and used a tractor beam to pull down aircraft so they could enslave the crew. They show up rarely in the series.
White Martians were once the master race of Barsoom. They were once thought to be extinct, but various isolated populations were revealed over the course of the eleven books. One population called the Lotharians had evolved to be reclusive intellectuals who lived separately from all other Martians and spent their time debating philosophy. Another group called the Therns inhabited the Valley Dor, which was the terminus of the River Iss. The valley was actually populated by vicious creatures controlled by the Thern. These creatures typically killed Barsoomians taking their journey to paradise and ate their flesh.
Black Martians inhabited a hidden fortress near the South Pole. Theycalled themselves “the First Born” and considered themselves to be unique among the Martians. They sometimes raided the Thern, but they don’t show up often in the series.
The plot of Barsoom tales are hardly complex. A male hero, noble and brave, is forced to travel to a faraway place to rescue a woman he loves. The woman has been captured by a powerful man who desires her both sexually and as a means to make political gains. Along the way, the hero encounters many adventures: battles, captures, escapes; action is the norm and subtlety rare.
Burroughs’s Barsoom stories had many themes that would have resonated with his early twentieth-century readers. A civilized, European/American hero enters a barbaric world, which could easily be related to Kipling’s stories of West Asia or tales of the conquest of Africa or the American West. By 1912, the era of frontiers was fading, and Americans were beginning to romanticize their history. The term “spaghetti western” was more than half a century in the future, but Burroughs’s readers would have appreciated Clint Eastwood movies, with a flawed, but fundamentally brave and noble protagonist, a distinctly evil villain, and a brave, but vulnerable, heroine. A lawless world, inhabited by hard men, and a hero who must live by the local rules
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