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Nuclear weapons in popular culture

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Since their public debut in August 1945, nuclear weapons and their potential effects have been a recurring motif in popular culture,[1] to the extent that the decades of the Cold War are often referred to as the "atomic age."

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 symbols of the power 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 cloud that followed. After the United States began a regular program of nuclear testing in the late 1940s, continuing through the 1950s (and matched by the Soviet Union), 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—not the more powerful weapons developed more recently. Diagrams of the bombs' internal workings have only been available in the last few years: the design of nuclear weapons has been the most closely guarded secret until long after the secrets had been independently developed—or stolen—by all the major powers and a number of lesser ones.

During the 1950s, many countries developed large civil-defense programs designed to aid the populace in the event of nuclear warfare. These generally included drills for evacuation 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 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. Many Americans—at least among the wealthier classes—built back-yard fallout shelters, which would provide little protection from a direct hit, but would keep out wind-blown fallout, for a few days or weeks (Ironically, Switzerland, which never attempted to acquire nuclear weapons, although it had the technological sophistication to do so long before Pakistan or North Korea, has built nuclear blast shelters that would protect most of its population from a nuclear war.) [citation needed]

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 a perception that nuclear war meant the potentially instant end of all civilization: in fact, the explicit strategy of the nuclear powers was called Mutual Assured Destruction. Nuclear weapons became synonymous with apocalypse, and as a symbol this resonated through the culture of nations with freedom of the press. Several popular novels—such as Alas, Babylon and On the Beach—portrayed the aftermath of nuclear war. Several science-fiction novels, such as A Canticle for Leibowitz, explored the long-term consequences. Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb satirically portrayed the events and the thinking that could begin a nuclear war.

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.

In fiction, film, and theater

  • 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's investigating him, due to concern over a potential breach of security on the Manhattan Project. (see Silverberg).
  • 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.
  • 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. The 1962 film This is Not a Test addresses the reactions and emotions of a group of people in the minutes prior to a nuclear attack.
The Day After became known for its realistic representation of nuclear war and groundbreaking special effects for a television movie.
  • 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 a young computer hacker who nearly starts World War Three when he inadvertently breaks into a fictional NORAD supercomputer named WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) to play the latest video games; The Terminator (3 films, 1984, 1991, 2003) features a post-apocalyptic future (all James Cameron films from 1986 through 1994 deal with nuclear explosions); 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 radiation, Miracle Mile (1988), 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).
  • 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.
File:Caprica burning.jpg
In the miniseries Battlestar Galactica, Caprica(pictured) and the Twelve Colonies of Kobol suffered a massive nuclear attack from the Cylons.
  • The second season of the television series 24 involves Muslim 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.
  • 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 completes 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. The film The Hills Have Eyes (2006) features a group of miner's descendants in the New Mexico desert, who have become genetically mutated due to the radiation caused by the atomic tests, and terrorize travelers in the area, who are lured to their mines in the hills by a gas station owner who profits from the victim's jewelry.
  • At the beginning of the film Akira, Tokyo explodes in what is then believed to be a nuclear explosion, triggering World War III. This sets the stage for the film.
  • In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), set in 1957, Indiana Jones finds himself in a nuclear test site in Nevada that has been set up to resemble a suburban area while being chased by Soviet soldiers. Realizing he has a matter of seconds before an atomic bomb detonates, he locks himself in a lead-lined refrigerator. The bomb flings the refrigerator a safe distance away, where Jones emerges without any serious injuries.

In Literature and Books

In art

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

In music

Along with other forms of culture, there have been many songs related to the topic of nuclear weapons and warfare. Many of them have been protest songs or warning songs, while others use the motif as an allusion to great destruction in general.

Some of the more famous nuclear war songs include: 99 Luftballons (1983) by the German group Nena, which depicts accidental nuclear war begun by an early-warning system identifying a group of balloons with enemy bombers or missiles; and Bob Dylan's A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall (1963), which premiered shortly before the Cuban Missile Crisis. In many cases the allusions to nuclear war are not explicit, however. Iron Maiden's 'Brighter than a Thousand Suns,' on their album A Matter of Life and Death is a recent example.

Heavy metal as a genre has been concerned with nuclear warfare since the days of Black Sabbath. Their heavy metal classic, War Pigs, is among the first metal songs to describe war and political corruption. In the early eighties, Iron Maiden wrote a number of songs which described nuclear war including Two Minutes to Midnight (a song about the doomsday clock), The Trooper (a song about a military engagement with Russian troops), and the aforementioned 'Brighter than a Thousand Suns' to name a few. The theme continued in heavy metal through the early nineties, especially in the thrash metal subgenre. Metallica wrote many popular songs about nuclear war and political corruption such as Fight Fire with Fire, ...And Justice For All, and Blackened. Other thrash bands such as Megadeth and Anthrax also wrote a number of songs on the topic. The genre even inspired bands like Nuclear Assault and Warbringer to adopt the subject in their band names themselves.

Among the many songs alluding to nuclear weapons and nuclear war in the 1980s was the song Manhattan Project (1985) by the band Rush, one of the only songs with copious literal references to historical events leading to the first nuclear weapons.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's 1980 song Enola Gay depicts the events of the 1945 deployment of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima from the point of view of the crew of the B29 Superfortress Bomber Enola Gay. Clear references are made to the exact time the bomb detonated ("It's eight fifteen, and that's the time that it's always been"), and questions are asked as to whether the action was necessary. The song also references a supposed radio message in which the crew detail no anomalies as a result of nuclear detonation ("We got your message on the radio - conditions normal and you're coming home"); the American government denied any rumours of radiation sickness associated with the dropping of the bombs.

Satirical artists such as Tom Lehrer and "Weird Al" Yankovic have drawn upon the motif of nuclear war for humor in their songs (as discussed below).

The album cover for the single Teenagers by My Chemical Romance is a mushroom cloud. The image also appears in the video for the song.

The glam metal band Warrant released a song off their 1992 album Dog Eat Dog entitled "April 2031" which depicts life after a nuclear holocaust.

In comedy

File:Nuclearlespaul.jpg
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 That Was the Year That Was 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 instantaneously 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!").

In video games

  • In the game Missile Command the player must defend a city against a never ending series of incoming nuclear missiles.
  • Guerre Nucléaire (translates,from French ,as Nuclear War )is an interactive fiction game. This text game is a simulation of a war between the USSR and USA.
  • Frontlines: Fuel of War includes the detonations of two tactical nuclear warheads to destroy American tank battalions.
  • Several RTS games have the possibility to use nuclear devices as "superweapons", Command & Conquer series, Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander are typical examples.
  • 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 Civilization series features nuclear weapons as a possible area of research in their extensive "tech trees." A player must construct their own version of the Manhattan Project to unlock the construction of nuclear weapons; afterward all players with sufficient technology can build nuclear weapons. In all versions of Civilization the use of nuclear weapons destroys all units in the area that was attacked, pollutes the surrounding area, and contributes to global warming. If hits on or near a city, rather than annihilating the city, it just decreases the population of the city.
  • 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 ends the game.
  • Trinity was a text adventure game that featured a plotline involving time travel to various sites related to nuclear weapons. The title refers to the Trinity test site.
  • In Starcraft, the Terran can call down nuclear strikes to attack their foes. It seems this ability will make a comeback in Starcraft II
  • In the Microsoft Windows strategy game World in Conflict, the United States uses tactical nuclear weaponry to halt the advance of the Soviet Union in America. The weapons are also available in multiplayer games.
  • The Metal Gear Solid Series by Konami, revolves around Metal Gear, a weapon described as a giant solo-operating tank capable of firing nuclear missiles at any target on the planet's surface.
  • Several games feature a tactical nuclear missile launcher (For example the Rachet and Clank series, Fallout 3, and Unreal Tournament II) that the player can find (or upgrade to) and use.
  • The Soviets in both Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, and the Chinese in Generals can launch small tactical missiles to destroy key units and buildings, although the destruction is nowhere near it's reality counterpart. However, in Red Alert one mission requires the player prevent a strategic nuclear strike on Paris, and in Red Alert 2, the Soviets successfully destroy Chicago with a large nuclear bomb. In the game's expansion pack, Yuri's Revenge, the main villan nukes Seattle Washington several times to extort money from a computer corporation.
  • In Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a group of the warlord Al-Asad's forces in a fictional Middle Eastern country under occupation by the USMC detonate a Russian nuclear warhead annihilating themselves, nearly the entire invading US Marine forces and the capital city. Later in the game, the USMC must work together with the SAS in order to stop two SS-27 Topol M missiles with MIRV, sent by the Russian ultranationalist forces, from destroying eight US cities: Boston, Hartford, New York City, Philadelphia, Richmond, Norfolk, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
  • In Tom Clancy's EndWar Saudi Arabia and Iran have destroyed each other with nuclear weapons which sets the basis for the storyline of the game. The Russian Spetsnaz Guards Brigade have a mini tactical nuclear weapon as their weapon of mass destruction.
  • In Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots you can access nuclear missiles once you are at an advanced enough age.
  • In the popular Halo franchise of video games and novels, nuclear weapons are used in both space and land combat.
  • In Warhammer 40,000, nuclear weapons are used in the destruction of worlds (the methods collectively being called an "Exterminatus", a mass execution of a population through futuristic weapons) and in combat.
  • In Mercenaries 2, the main objective of the player is to obtain a Nuclear bunker buster to penetrate the main enemy's hardened bunker (after which the bomb can be purchased and used according to the player's wishes).
  • In Spore's Civilization stage, where one controls a nation with the goal of establishing world dominance, militaristic nations may use two types of nuclear weapon, once certain prerequisites have been fulfilled - the Gadget Bomb, which can wipe out all structures of a city and capture it instantly, and the ICBM, which can be used to wipe out every nation on the planet simultaneously. Both severely impact international relations, and produce radioactive rubble within the cities struck.

Others

See also

References

  1. ^ Professor Ferenc M. Szasz and Issei Takechi, "Atomic Heroes and Atomic Monsters: American and Japanese Cartoonists Confront the Onset of the Nuclear Age, 1945-80," The Historan 69.4 (Winter 2007): 728-752.
  • 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).
  • Matthew Alexander King
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