The Day After (1983) The Day After was an effective way of instilling a sense of both fear and respect for nuclear war into the minds of the American people. By portraying realistic doomsday scenarios that are played out in the lives of relatable families in a small city not unlike any other we would find in America, this film contextualizes the events prior to, during, and immediately after nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia was unleashed onto our own soil. Background Nuts and Bolts The Day After was a film originally envisioned by Brandon Stoddard, president of ABC Motion Picture Division, who wanted to explore the effects of a nuclear exchange on United States soil. The script was written in 1981 by an Edward Hume, commissioned by Stoddard, being focused primarily on the world’s aftermath of the nuclear attack rather than on the war itself in an attempt to contextualize the story to the life of the average American. The original script Hume concocted did not have Kansas City being bombed. Instead, he chose only the local air force base as the destination for the Russian bomb with survivors staggering in to the town for help. Instead, the producers at ABC chose to have Kansas City included in the bombing sites with main filming being taken at Lawrence, Kansas. The US Government wanted to make it absolutely clear in the film that the soviets were the instigators for the nuclear exchanges, however the ABC producers were set on making the instigator unclear in the movie in order to not have the audience be focused on taking one side versus the other, but to have the audience focus on the repercussions of the blast. Because of this disagreement, the government did not allow the producers to use stock footage... ... middle of paper ... ...session and possible use of nuclear weapons, Carl Sagan states at this debate, “Imagine a room awash in gasoline, and there are two implacable enemies in that room. One of them has nine thousand matches, the other seven thousand matches. Each of them is concerned about who's ahead, who's stronger." He indicates that no matter the quantity of nuclear warheads, a number often touted in the international realm when comparing relative strengths of each nation, the simple possession of a nuclear warhead can have devastating consequences for world stability. Several politicians who saw the movie claimed it was a massive anti-nuclear campaign. People accused the producers and cast of wanting to disarm the country and leave the United States vulnerable to attack with no retaliation. Historical Significance Themes and Motifs Silence - Desperation - Analytic Conclusion
... the fall of 1983, a US national television network took advantage of the uneasy feeling of the American public and released the television movie “The Day After”. A film that depicted the eventual extinction of humankind after a full-scale nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union, more than 100 million viewers watched the movie during its initial broadcast. Though fictional, it effectively alarmed multitudes of US citizens, and reportedly even startled Ronald Reagan himself.
The day nuclear war started marked the day when hundreds of major United States cites, such as Orlando, Tampa, Omaha, Washington, and countless others, were destroyed. This day “was known simply as The Day. That was sufficient (Frank123).” “People… inclined to split time split time into two periods, before The Day, and after The Day, the time off, what then seem...
Stanley Kubrick’s sexual parody, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, illustrates an unfathomed nuclear catastrophe. Released in the midst of the Cold War, this 1964 film satirizes the heightened tensions between America and Russia. Many sexual insinuations are implemented to ridicule the serious issue of a global nuclear holocaust, in an effort to countervail the terror that plagued America at that time. Organizing principles, such as Kubrick’s blunt political attitudes about the absurdity of war and the satirical genre, are echoed by the film style of his anti-war black comedy, Dr. Strangelove.
Often, we find ourselves facing dramatic events in our lives that force us to re-evaluate and redefine ourselves. Such extraordinary circumstances try to crush the heart of the human nature in us. It is at that time, like a carbon under pressure, the humanity in us either shatters apart exposing our primal nature, or transforms into a strong, crystal-clear brilliant of compassion and self sacrifice. The books Night written by Elie Wiesel and Hiroshima written by John Hersey illustrate how the usual lifestyle might un-expectantly change, and how these changes could affect the human within us. Both books display how lives of civilians were interrupted by the World War II, what devastations these people had to undergo, and how the horrific circumstances of war were sometimes able to bring out the best in ordinary people.
Impact of the Film, Dr. Strangelove, on American Attitudes Towards the Atomic Bomb and Cold War
Through his uses of descriptive language Hersey exposes to the reader the physical, emotional, Psychological and structural damage caused by a nuclear attack. He shows the reader how peoples are physically changed but also how emotional psychologically scared by this act of horror. Through Hersey’s graphic detail of the horror after the bomb and the effects years after he shock the reader while also give the message that we shouldn’t let this happen again. In the book Hiroshima the author John Hersey exposes that a nuclear attack is not simply a disaster that fades away when the rubble is removed and buildings are rebuilt but an act of horror that changes the course of people’s live.
bomb was stolen by an American communist. With the Communist take over in Russia with Stalin
Scott D. Sagan, the author of chapter two of “More Will Be Worse”, looks back on the deep political hostilities, numerous crises, and a prolonged arms race in of the cold war, and questions “Why should we expect that the experience of future nuclear powers will be any different?” The author talks about counter arguments among scholars on the subject that the world is better off without nuclear weapons. In this chapter a scholar named Kenneth Waltz argues that “The further spread of nuclear weapons may well be a stabilizing factor in international relations.” He believes that the spread of nuclear weapons will have a positive implications in which the likely-hood of war decreases and deterrent and defensive capabilities increase. Although there
It is natural that the significance of events decays with the passage of time, such events remain alive in the history forever for reference of generations ahead. The episodes of events that may be termed as the most significant of the last century is the Cold War that happens to retain any relevancy in modern times. With the death of Soviet union and world turning from bipolar to unipolar shape, the incredible saga of cold war is over but its distressing memories are still alive in the minds of the people around the world as it happened to shape up the destiny of at least a couple of generations in every corner of the world. In particular, the cold war affected every aspect of American life for over 30 years. The foreign policy, political doctrines, economy, education and even the media felt the impact of cold war for a painful amount of time. In that way, the cold war shaped up the lives of entire American nation and they lived a life of uncertainty for more than a quarter century. Before coming back to the subject of impact of cold war on films, it is imperative to understand a brief history of cold war. The origins of the cold war dates back to decade of 1910’s when American felt the scare of communism for the first time. American Skepticism of communism, spearheaded by Soviet Union, as the potential threat to American sponsored ideology of democracy remained consistent for next 20 years and it even aggravated with the usurpation of Josef Stalin's ferocious regime. The apprehensive feelings attributed towards Soviet Union in the mindset of American leadership subsided for a while; rather they took a sharp reversal of policies, as the clouds of Nazi threat appeared on the skies of world politics. With the advent of 2nd world ...
Today, even though such devastating things happened in the past, that was the life of war. There were many devastating facts on this topic, and still are. But the most facts that people wonder about are the following: the reasons for this attack, Who made the decision and why, What are the names of the Atomic bombs, and what was the outcome of this decision? It's all based upon World War II, and will never be forgotten
This movie follows the fictional Dr. Strangelove and the US president as they struggle to avoid all out nuclear war with the Soviet Union, along with also avoiding the dreaded Soviet Doomsday Device. The countdown begins when General Ripper, who is afraid that adding florid to US water supplies is a soviet plot, calls for a all out nuclear strike on the soviet union and he is the only man who can recall it. The main argument made in this film is how the largely absurd Red Scare after World War 2 looks when viewed in a comedic way. Not only does this film highlight the Red Scare but other “hot topics” of the time, including: Fluoridation of US waters, US use of Nazi Scientists and movies sexualization of the time.
The journalists and executive producers who covered these stories had to make sure that no one involved could have any communist activities pinned on them cause that would contradict their stories. These journalist also made sure that all parties represented such as the man who was kicked out of the navy for his father's activities and the navy commanders that kicked him
The movie Thirteen Days is 2000 docudrama and is directed by Roger Donaldson who is Australian and tries to portray the film in a serious manor. The movie is based on the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and shows the perspective of the US political leadership, specifically Special Assistant to the president Kenny O’Donnell, President John F. Kennedy and the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. This film is not based on the book of the same name written by Robert F. Kennedy like the first docudrama film about the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Missiles of October; this film was meticulously researched and was based on The Kennedy Tapes: inside the white house during the Cuban Missile Crisis which was written by Ernest May and Phillip Zelikow. This is a positive for the film because Thirteen Days had the possibility to become an almost accurate film due to the declassification of important documents, but this was not the case due to the ‘Hollywood effect’ which is a key reason why this film is not history but entertainment. This film exposes how close America actually came to a Nuclear Holocaust. In this essay I shall cover all the positives and negatives to show whether or not the film is a good source of history but or actually was made for entertainment purposes. There are two main historical issues with this film that make it more entertainment than History; the first being Kevin Costner’s portrayal of Special Assistant Kenny O’Donnell, although the film is seen through his eyes and shows him to be in John F. Kennedy inner circle; in reality he may not have played an important role as the film portrays, since he was only Kennedy’s appointment secretary not the Personal advisor he is portrayed as in this film. Another historical w...
I ask the people of the United States of America to share with me today this moment of achievement. In the peaceful movement of power, a celebration of our country's unity that a main cause of our freedom is occurring. We the people of America, and our many allies, are going through a rough period of chaotic trials. These many trials are showing how heroic, how intelligent, and how quick we are to resolve drawbacks in our government.On the Fourth of July, North Korea passed crucial debut: it launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile powerful enough to reach the mainland United States. In response,on July 21st, authorities in Hawaii announced that they would rejuvenate a series of Cold War-era sirens, to warn the public about
Roger Donaldson’s film, Thirteen Days dramatizes the Kennedy administration reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film discusses a time when the United States had come close to a nuclear war with other nations. The film mainly focuses on showing the audience the United States perspective of the crisis. The Cuban Missile crisis was a thirteen-day long confrontation between the United States, Cuba, and the Soviet Union. This crisis started out when both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to be seen as the most superior nation in the world. Therefore, both nations decided to use the technology they had in order to produce nuclear missiles and other weapons to show the globe how powerful they were as nations. The United States and