Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Nuclear warfare in motion pictures--History.; Communists in motion pictures--History.; Civil defense--United States--History--20th century.; Civil defense; Communists in motion pictures.; Nuclear warfare in motion pictures.; United States; 1900-1999; Academic theses.; History;
Abstract
This thesis looks at nuclear films, commercial and governmental, that were released between 1951 and 1964. Special attention is paid to the recursivity that existed between the propagandic, often outrageously inaccurate Civil Defense films made by the United States government and the subversive popular films made by visionary dissidents.
The films are divided into three periods. The earliest period focuses on Samuel Fuller's Pickup on South Street and the Robert Aldrich 's Kiss Me Deadly (based on the novel by Mickey Spillane), along with some of the earliest Civil Defense films. Special attention is paid to the politically minded creation of the Civil Defense Bureau, as well as how the governmental films grounded their exploitative power in patriotism, fear, and the supposedly manifest goodness of the American government.
The second period focuses on the liberalization of the post-McCarthyist film industry and the production of more overtly antinuclear films, including the chilling On the Beach. This era of dissent, punctuated by frank discussions of the danger of nuclear war, segues into critical readings of nuclear war that focus on the uniquely theoretical danger that a potential all-out nuclear exchange poses, pinning much of the danger of nuclear war on the very existence of nuclear discourse.
Year of Submission
2007
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Languages and Literatures
Department
Department of English Language and Literature
First Advisor
James O'Loughlin
Date Original
2007
Object Description
1 PDF file (75 pages)
Copyright
©2007 Tristan Edward Abbott
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Abbott, Tristan Edward, "Bomb Media 1951-1964" (2007). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 1591.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/1591
Comments
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