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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 NUCLEAR IMAGERY IN FILM 1980-85 by Daniel Owen Crawford submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American University in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Arts in Film and Video Signatures of Committee: Chair: yrrX^' (Lj& £. Dean of the College December 21, 1990 Date 1990 The American University 7 Washington, D.C. 20016 ffHE MEPJCAN U17I7EEGITY LIBPM^V © COPYRIGHT by DANIEL OWEN CRAWFORD 1990 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NUCLEAR IMAGERY IN FILM BY Daniel Owen Crawford ABSTRACT Before the development of the atomic bomb, the unknown was a successful element of drama. Horror films of the 1950s showed the movie audience a multitude of monsters that were the result of exposure to radiation. The results of radiation and atomic warfare have been incorporated into films of a variety of genres to the present day. This paper will discuss the images that nuclear warfare and the "mushroom cloud" have taken in a select group of films produced in the five-year period 1980-1985. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Eric Smoodin, director of my thesis committee for his patience and understanding through the long process of completing this thesis, as well as Dr. Huma Ibrahim and Professor Ronald Sutton, my committee members. I would also like to thank Dr. Spencer Weart, author of Nuclear Fear: A History of Images for his sensitive and intelligent approach to the subject of nuclear imagery. Finally, I would like to thank my mother for her spiritual nature, and my father for his logic and insight. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................... iii INTRODUCTION ........................ 1 THE ATOMIC C AFE .................................... 6 HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR .................................. 10 ALTERED STATES .................................... 13 BLADE RUNNER ...................................... 19 THE ROAD WARRIOR .................................... 26 TESTAMENT ............................................ 34 CONCLUSION .......................................... 40 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... 45 FILMOGRAPHY .......................................... 47 INTRODUCTION Before the development of the atomic bomb, the unknown was a successful element of drama. Orson Welles' radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds in 1938 was a documented case of mass hysteria, brought on by the public's misunderstanding of a radio drama that portrayed the invasion of the earth by alien beings. Horror films of the 1950s showed the movie audience a multitude of mutant beings that were the result of exposure to radiation. This plot device proved to be a popular one through the present day— from The Incredible Shrinking Man to the recent film Night of the Comet. Radiation and life on a dying planet are ideas that play on a viewer's sense of the unknown and adventure. It can be said that we fear the nuclear holocaust and make a cognitive correlation of the shape of the mushroom cloud to total destruction. The shape of the mushroom cloud in casual, simplistic reference has come to represent a symbol of destruction. The opening sequence of the new Twilight Zone, based on the original Rod Serling series, features a montage of images set against the now clichd starlit sky— a doll that comes to life, the 1 2 halo of light that contains Rod Serling appearing from the grave, and the mushroom cloud of an atomic blast. The Twilight Zone traditionally lures its viewers with a menu of story lines based on the unknown, the macabre, and the haunted. By choosing the atomic blast for its opening credits, the production team of the show illustrates that the fear of nuclear destruction is as deeply rooted in the general public as ghosts, alien invaders, or zombies rising from the dead. A 1989 television advertisement for Ocean Pacific ski wear, geared toward the young, trendy consumer shows a skier lunge off a mogul and into footage of a nuclear blast. Here the mushroom cloud is used by Madison Avenue to evoke a feeling of ultimate conquest to the consumer, the nuclear blast representing unparalleled power and strength over nature. The 1990 television series The Wonder Years tells the story of a boy's adolescence in the late 1960s. The show carefully dresses the stage in 1960s props and sentiments— the war in Vietnam, the fashions, the music— a sense of "the greening of America." In one episode, the main character is rejected when he asks a girl on a date. The scene cuts to a shot of a nuclear blast to represent his feelings of rejection. The choice was very effective and humorous— yet the universal understanding of the image 3 is frightening. The use of a symbolic image requires understanding by the audience to be effective. If not understood by the viewer, the image has no impact. This use of the mushroom cloud in The Wonder Years illustrates an understanding by the writer that fear of nuclear war is internalized by the general public. Years earlier, the image of the nuclear blast was used by the media to conjure a variety of feelings in the viewer. A 1955 Atomic Energy Commission film stated that "the towering cloud of the atomic age is a symbol of strength . for freedom-loving people everywhere.1,1 "Most striking of all, a 1947 magazine article about the medical benefits of nuclear energy was illustrated with a smiling man rising from a wheelchair, lifted, as it were, by a superimposed golden atomic cloud."2 How these images of atomic and nuclear destruction have been absorbed by popular culture films will be addressed in this paper, by showing a sample of the images and story lines presented in films in a five-year period (1980-85): ‘Spencer R. Weart, Nuclear Fear; A History of Images (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1988), 403. 2Spencer Weart, from pamphlet "Atomic Tests in Nevada" (Atomic Energy Commission, 1955), 403. 4 • Altered States. 1980 This film chronicles the experiences of a scientist who experiments with altered states of consciousness. His experiments bring him face to face with his deepest fears. Among them is nuclear warfare. In a hallucination sequence he experiences nuclear destruction, and images of the mushroom cloud are utilized. • Blade Runner. 1982 An emotionally traumatized policeman is called out of retirement to dispose of human replicants, against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic city. Although not overtly concerned with warfare as a theme, it definitely questions the quality of life possible following nuclear attack, and in our present, technology-based society. • Testament, 1982 In a remote area of California as an ordinary day in the life of a family ends with their realization of a nuclear attack. As the mechanized world comes to a halt, they are forced to reflect on their sense of purpose and community. • The Road Warrior. 1982 Incorporating the nihilistic attitudes of the "punk" movement and drawing upon the elements of the classical western, this second film in the Mad Max trilogy utilizes the post-apocalyptic landscape as "the new frontier." Max must decide between his lone survival techniques, and the need to belong to a community.3 A documentary film, The Atomic Cafe4 (1982) will be used to reflect on the history of nuclear imagery, because the film's production date fits within the time frame chosen for this paper. Hiroshima. mon Amour5 (1958) will be discussed briefly, to illustrate how earlier films addressed the issue of nuclear war. 3Altered States, directed by Ken Russell, with William Hurt, Blair Brown, Charles Haid (Warner Brothers, 1980); Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, with Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, M. Emmet Walsh, and Joanna Cassidy (Warner Brothers, 1982); Testament. directed by Lynn Litman, with Jane Alexander and William Devane (Paramount, 1983); The Road Warrior, directed by George Miller, with Mel Gibson (Warner Brothers, 1982). 4The Atomic Cafe (Archives Project, Inc., 1982). Hiroshima. mon Amour. directed by Alain Resnais, with Emmanuelle Riva, Elji Okada, and Bernard Fresson (Argo: Pathe, 1959). THE ATOMIC CAFE The Atomic Cafe (1982), produced and directed by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, and Peirce Rafferty, is a documentary on the introduction of atomic warfare and how Americans reacted to its reality.