Nuclear weapons in popular culture

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The 1957 photograph of Miss Atomic Bomb, a Las Vegas showgirl with a mushroom cloud dress, has often been used as representative of Cold War kitsch and a symbol of the effects of nuclear weapons on American popular culture.
The 1957 photograph of Miss Atomic Bomb, a Las Vegas showgirl with a mushroom cloud dress, has often been used as representative of Cold War kitsch and a symbol of the effects of nuclear weapons on American popular culture.

Since their dramatic public debut in August 1945, nuclear weapons have been a recurring motif in popular culture, to the extent that the decades of the Cold War are often referred to as the "atomic age."

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[edit] Images of apocalypse

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ushered in the "atomic age", and the bleak pictures of the bombed-out cities released shortly after the end of World War II became potent symbols of the strength of the new weapons (it is worth noting that the first pictures released were only from distances, and did not contain any human bodies — such pictures would only be released in later years).

The first pictures released of a nuclear explosion — the blast from the Trinity test — focused on the fireball itself; later pictures would focus primarily on the mushroom clouds which followed. After the United States began a regular program of nuclear testing in the late 1940s, continuing through the 1950s (and matched by the USSR), the mushroom cloud has served as a symbol of the weapons themselves. Pictures of nuclear weapons themselves (the actual casings) were not made public until 1960, and even those were only mock-ups of the "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" weapons dropped on Japan.

During the 1950s, many countries developed large civil defense programs designed to aid the populace in the event of nuclear warfare. These generally included evacuation drills to fallout shelters, popularized through popular media such as the US film, Duck and Cover. These drills, with their images of eerily empty streets and the seemingly ineffective activity of hiding from a nuclear bomb under a schoolroom desk, would later become symbols of the seemingly inescapable and common fate created by such weapons.

After the development of hydrogen bombs in the 1950s, and especially after the massive and widely-publicized Castle Bravo test accident by the United States in 1954, which spread nuclear fallout over a large area and resulted in the death of at least one Japanese fisherman, the idea of a "limited" or "survivable" nuclear war became increasingly replaced by one in which nuclear war meant the potentially instant end of all civilization. Nuclear weapons became synonymous with apocalypse, and as a symbol this resonated through the culture of nations with open presses.

The now-familiar peace symbol was originally a specifically anti-nuclear weapons icon.
The now-familiar peace symbol was originally a specifically anti-nuclear weapons icon.

Nuclear weapons are also one of the main targets of peace organizations. The CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) was one of the main organisations campaigning against the 'Bomb'. Its symbol, a combination of the semaphore symbols for "N" (nuclear) and "D" (disarmament), entered modern popular culture as an icon of peace.

[edit] In fiction and film

In the 1950s, a common expression in popular culture of the fears of nuclear war and testing were tales of giant, "mutated" animals, such as in the science fiction film Them! (1954).
In the 1950s, a common expression in popular culture of the fears of nuclear war and testing were tales of giant, "mutated" animals, such as in the science fiction film Them! (1954).

Nuclear weapons are a staple element in science fiction novels. The phrase "atomic bomb" predates their existence, back to H. G. Wells' The World Set Free (1914) when scientists had discovered that radioactive decay implied potentially limitless energy locked inside of atomic particles (Wells' atomic bombs were only as powerful as conventional explosives, but would continue exploding for days on end). Robert A. Heinlein's 1940 Solution Unsatisfactory" posits radioactive dust as a weapon that the US develops in a crash program to end World War II; the dust's existence forces drastic changes in the postwar world. Cleve Cartmill predicted a chain reaction-type nuclear bomb in his 1944 science fiction story "Deadline," which led to the FBI investigating him due to concern over a potential breach of security on the Manhattan Project. (see Silverberg). In Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune series, nuclear weapons (referred to as "family atomics") are owned by many of the noble Houses of the Landsraad as heirlooms. Though such possession is necessary to secure power, their use against human targets is forbidden under the Great Convention. Nuclear weapons also play a prominent role in Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Legends of Dune prequel series in which humanity uses galactic-wide planetary atomic bombing in their jihad against the thinking machines.

Many of the characteristics of nuclear weapons themselves have played on ages-old human themes and tropes (penetrating rays, persistent contamination, virility, and, of course, apocalypse), giving their standing in popular culture and politics a particularly emotional valence (both positive and negative). For example, the book Down to a Sunless Sea (1979 novel) is set in a post-holocaust environment, as what may be one of the last planeloads of survivors tries to find a place to land.

Nuclear weapons have even featured in children's works: The Butter Battle Book, by Dr. Seuss, deals with deterrence and the arms race.

Many films, some of which were based on novels, feature nuclear war or the threat of it. Godzilla (1954) is considered by some to be an analogy to the nuclear weapons dropped on Japan, and was the start of a more general genre of movies about creatures mutated or awakened by nuclear testing. Them! (1954) (giant ants in Los Angeles sewers) is based on a similar premise. The Incredible Shrinking Man (novel) ( film, 1957) starts with a sailor irradiated by a bomb test, based on a real incident of irradiation of Japanese fisherman. In A Canticle for Leibowitz, (novel, no film, 1959) the previous war is known as the "Flame Deluge"; On the Beach (novel 1957, film 1959) is most famous for making the end of humanity a theme in popular thinking on nuclear war; Final War (Japan, 1960) nuclear war erupts after the USA accidentally bombs South Korea.

In Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), a group of post-apolcalyptic mutants worship their "god", a nuclear bomb.
In Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), a group of post-apolcalyptic mutants worship their "god", a nuclear bomb.

Some nonfiction works of the time had an effect on cultural works. Herman Kahn's innovative non-fiction book On Thermonuclear War, (1961) describing various nuclear war scenarios, was never popular, but the outlandishness of its projections and the possibility of a "Doomsday Machine", an idea Kahn got from the 1958 novel Red Alert, as a way to prevent war were direct inspirations for director Stanley Kubrick to handle Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as a black comedy. (Menand, 2005) The 1964 film was loosely based on Red Alert, and a later novelization of the film was also written by the original author Peter George. Fail-Safe (novel 1962) (film 1964) (live-tv remake 2000) was a dramatic version of a similar accidental war that came out soon after. The War Game (BBC tv film, 1965), Planet of the Apes (novel) (5 films, 1968-1973), Damnation Alley (1977) features a chilling launch and destruction sequence, followed by a trek across a ruined America; Taiyō o nusunda otoko / The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979), When the Wind Blows (British graphic novel 1982, animated film 1986). The Day After (1983) was a "made for TV" movie that became fodder for talk shows and commentary by politicians at the time due to its depiction of explosions on American soil and alleged political content. Testament (1983), another postwar vision; WarGames (1983), features young computer nerds and their mischief; The Terminator (3 films, 1984, 1991, 2003) features a post-apocalyptic future; Red Dawn (film, directed by John Milius) (1984), Mad Max (3 films, 1979-1985), Manhattan Project (1986, not about the Manhattan Project), Threads (BBC TV production made 1984, shown 1985), based on British government exercise Square Leg, Project X (1986) which deals with animal testing on exposure to nuclear radition, Miracle Mile (1988), Akira (1988) a Japanese anime which contains many obvious metaphors for nuclear weapons and warfare, By Dawn's Early Light (1990), True Lies (1994), Broken Arrow (1996) ("Broken Arrow" is military jargon for an accidental nuclear event, the event depicted in the film would actually be classified as Empty Quiver); The Peacemaker (1997), The Sum of All Fears (novel) (2002); Battlestar Galactica (2003), depicted a massed nuclear attack across an entire planet (not Earth) and against a spaceship. In fact, the Cylon attack portrayed in the Battlestar Galactica miniseries is likely the largest such nuclear strike ever imagined in popular culture (a possible total of 12 planets or moons and countless other human habitats and ships were attacked). During the exodus from the Twelve Colonies nuclear ordnance was used by both the Cylon fleet and the Battlestar Galactica. In Stargate SG-1 several episode feature Naqahdah enhanced nuclear weapons including a Mark IX "Gatebuster", developed by Samantha Carter and a team of engineers for the purpose of "disintegrating Stargates and anything else inside a one hundred mile radius." seen in the episode Beachhead

The James Bond are also known to have plots surrounding nuclear weapons. Films like Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World Is Not Enough involves a plot of nuclear warfare by the enemy, but in a more lighter point on view.

In the 2003 miniseries Battlestar Galactica, the human planet suffered a massive nuclear attack from the robotic Cylons.
In the 2003 miniseries Battlestar Galactica, the human planet suffered a massive nuclear attack from the robotic Cylons.

Though not as well known as Battlestar Galatica, the sci-fi wargame BattleTech also has multi-planet nuclear strikes as part of its background, in the First and Second Succession Wars, along with recent reemergence in the description of the opening years of the Word of Blake's war against the rest of the Galaxy, the frightening prospect of one planet, Outreach, carpet bombed with nukes over every inch of its surface.

The second season of the television series 24 involves Arab terrorists smuggling a nuclear bomb across the Mexican border and planning to detonate it in Los Angeles. The sixth season also involves nuclear weapons as a major theme, with a group of terrorists having access to a series of five nuclear suitcase bombs.

There have been a few fictionalized accounts of historical events relating to nuclear weapons as well. The Manhattan Project itself, for example, was depicted in the 1989 movie Fat Man and Little Boy.

In the comic "The Invisibles", writer Grant Morrison references Oppenheimer using the "Destroyer of Worlds" quote as a mystic phrase and using the moment of detonation as part of a magical ritual. The roleplaying game GURPS Technomancer repeats this theme, depicting an alternate history where Oppenheimer unwittingly complete a necromantic ritual that releases magic back into the world at Trinity.

The CBS Television Drama Jericho (2006) focuses on a small town that is left without communications and basic necessities after a nuclear attack on major US cities.

[edit] In art

The stunning power and the astonishing visual effects of atomic weapons have inspired many artists. Some notable examples include:

[edit] In music

See List of protest songs for a list of songs about nuclear weapons, and List of songs about nuclear war.

[edit] In humor

The mushroom cloud is familiar enough to be treated with humor in a Les Paul advertising campaign.
The mushroom cloud is familiar enough to be treated with humor in a Les Paul advertising campaign.

The comedian/lyricist Tom Lehrer penned a number of humorous and well known songs relating to nuclear weapons. His song Who's Next? took up the issue of nuclear proliferation, chronicling the acquisition of nuclear weapons by various nations, then theorizing on "Who's Next," ending with Luxembourg, Monaco, and Alabama becoming nuclear powers, while We Will All Go Together When We Go looked at the brighter side of nuclear holocaust (not having to mourn over the death of others, since "When the air becomes uranious/ We will all go simultaneous"). It assumes that the entire planet will be instantaiously wiped clean by nuclear fire, and bypasses the much grimmer idea of radiation poisoning. A third song by Lehrer, "So Long Mom (A Song From World War III)", was introduced as existing because, "If any songs are going to come out of World War III, we had better start writing them now," and tells the tale of a young soldier marching off to nuclear war, promising his mother that "Although I may roam, I'll come back to my home/ Although it may be a pile of debris" and also satirizing the likely extremely short duration of a major nuclear war ("And I'll look for you when the war is over/ An hour and a half from now!").

Another song in a similar vein ("Political Science" on Randy Newman's Sail Away album) cheerfully advocates planetwide colonization by the United States, and the chorus is basically a list of why each part of the world deserves to be nuked (except Australia).

"Weird Al" Yankovic also made a light hearted spin on nuclear annihalation in his song "Christmas at Ground Zero", which describes "A Jolly Holiday underneath a Mushroom cloud".

The card game Nuclear War and its expansion sets are rife with atomic weapons.

[edit] In computer games

  • The 2006 game DEFCON by UK-based independent developer Introversion Software puts the player in charge of one of six world territories in a situation which inevitably deteriorates to global thermonuclear war. The game uses a graphical and audio style which deliberately evokes images from films such as WarGames, cited by the developers as a major inspiration. With the sense that nuclear war is being commanded by distant generals in deep underground bunkers using abstract images, the game gives an unsettling impression of how popular culture imagined nuclear war would look to the people responsible for starting it. Under the tagline 'Everybody Dies', DEFCON is extremely difficult to win, as all sides will inevitably suffer nuclear attack. In the game's terminology, the victor is the player who 'loses the least'.
  • The Fallout series of computer games contains numerous direct and indirect allusions to nuclear wars and potential nuclear holocaust, with a distinct 1950s cold war style. The game itself is set in a post-nuclear-war wasteland, and the main character of the first game is a 'Vault Dweller', a survivor from a self-contained nuclear shelter.
  • The game Balance of Power, written by Chris Crawford and published in 1985 puts the player in the position of the President of the United States or the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, with the goal of increasing "prestige", balanced out by the need to avoid a nuclear war, which effectively ends the game.
  • The Command & Conquer series has several installments where certain factions have access to nuclear weapons.
  • In the game Perimiter, the Empire faction has a nuclear missile silo as it's superweapon.
  • The game Supreme Commander features an arms race in which nuclear weapons are but a stepping stone. However, the UEF faction is quite fond of them for their raw destructive power.
  • 3DO's BattleTanx series allows players to pick up and use the Nuke power-up that's capable of leveling the entire playing field as well as everyone caught in the blast.
  • The popular strategy game StarCraft features the Terran army which has the ability to obtain and launch nuclear missles with devastating power and range.
  • The Metal Gear video game series contains strong thematic elements related to nuclear proliferation.

[edit] See Also

[edit] References

  • Paul S. Boyer. By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age (New York: Pantheon, 1985).
  • Margot A. Henriksen, Dr. Strangelove's America: society and culture in the atomic age (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), ISBN 0-520-08310-5, LoC E169.12.H49 1997.
  • Louis Menand, "Fat Man: Herman Kahn and the Nuclear Age," The New Yorker, June 27, 2005 online
  • Stephen Petersen, "Explosive Propositions: Artists React to the Atomic Age" in Science in Context v.14 no.4 (2004), p.579-609.
  • Nuclear Paranoia a book by Chas Newkey-Burden
  • Jerome F. Shapiro, Atomic Bomb Cinema (New York: Routledge, 2002). [2]
  • "Reflections: The Cleve Cartmill Affair" by Robert Silverberg
  • Spencer R. Weart, Nuclear fear: a history of images (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988).
  • Allan M. Winkler, Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety About the Atom (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).


[edit] External links

  • "Conelrad", a sardonic look at the Cold War culture of the fifties and sixties
  • "Nuke Pop", page on nuclear weapons in popular culture by a professor of English at Washington State University
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