Art serves many purposes, like providing us with an inside look at the fears and neuroses of society at any given time in history.
This month marked the 80th anniversary of when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, killing an estimated 200,000 people, though there have been many estimates made over the years. The attack also led to widespread fears about nuclear warfare spreading further.
It was a collective state of tension that permeated globally for decades. With the threat of nuclear warfare springing up again in global politics, what can we learn from filmmakers responding to that moment and expressing that anguish?
NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel and investigations correspondent Sacha Pfeiffer joined NPR guest host Emily Kwong as they looked back on some of the most iconic films to come from the nuclear age.
The Day After (1983)
For Pfeiffer, the experience of growing up Gen-X meant living under the looming shadow of nuclear war. Her first pick is a TV movie that stuck with her from a young age — The Day After.
"This was before there was cable, so there were just a few stations. Most of the country watched The Day After. It was basically a nuclear holocaust movie. It scared me so badly that I can remember the next day saying to my parents, 'Are we going to die?'" she said.
According to Brumfiel's research, it wasn't just Pfeiffer who was impacted by The Day After.
"About 100 million Americans watched it at the time. So, a huge portion of the population saw it, including [former President] Ronald Reagan, who actually had it privately screened about a month before it aired," Brumfiel explained.
"In his diary, he wrote the movie was 'powerfully done and left me greatly depressed.' And it's believed that actually this was one of the factors — not the only one — but one of the reasons Reagan started pushing for some nuclear arms control during his presidency," Brumfiel added.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964)
For Brumfiel, there is one obvious standout in this canon and it's Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy, Dr. Strangelove.
"It is a very, very funny movie about humans screwing up with the help of machines and ending all life on the planet," Brumfiel explained.
According to Kubrick, what originally started as a drama wound up a comedy.
"I think this is a feature of some of the great nuclear movies is that they don't always kind of try and play out the straight drama of a nuclear apocalypse, whether it's a monster, like Godzilla, or it's a comedy, like Dr. Strangelove. They kind of look slightly askance at the horror of nuclear war, and I think that helps viewers to process it," said Brumfiel.
Godzilla (1954)
Since its original release, Godzilla has become one of the most well-known monsters in cinematic history. And to many viewers, the giant lizard itself serves as a metaphor for the destruction wrought on civilians by the atomic bomb.
"What's also interesting to me," added Brumfiel. "[Is that] they're sort of wrestling with these larger issues. The humans in Godzilla, whether they're the scientists or the military men — they're always making the wrong decision."
Brumfiel continues that so much of the film focuses on the civilian experience, on the burning homes and hospitals.
"It must really feel as though some sort of ancient beast deep inside all of us has been awoken. And, you know, I think that there's sort of that interesting juxtaposition as well. The H-bomb is something new, and yet, these fears and destructive tendencies are very old. And those parts of human nature are what led to these devices in the first place."
On The Beach (1959)
In this old-timey apocalypse flick, the inhabitants of Australia are left to deal with the limited time they have before radiation from detonated bombs reaches them in their isolation.
"So, you see people wrestling with, 'How much time do we have left? What do we do? Should we end our lives preemptively, and how?'" explained Pfeiffer.
"I think the unifying message is, be very careful. And sometimes the movies say it's too late, and sometimes the movies say there's still hope."
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