Professor Burton said something today in class that first struck me as odd, but then I realized how different the world might have been. "Most of our understanding of the atomic age is based in video".
How odd, was my first reaction to this statement. After all don't we read about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? But after some reflection, film is what brings not only these horrific events to life, but also the destructive force created by the bombs in general. Here are a couple of short clips that illustrate my point. How different would it have been to read about these events? Could you picture what actually happened without film?
Along with these short clips many other films, listed here, were produced in the 50s and 60s that not only portrayed the fear of the Atom , but also of Red Communism and later McCarthyism.
The important role that television and the media, especially film, played at this time is most evident in retrospect. Would the world have held so much fear if the masses had only heard about the events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki? My answer is probably not. There is an emotional difference between reading about the horrors of the atom and then confronting them in film, even if that film proves to be a bit of an exaggeration.
I think thats why countries who practice censorship are so vigilant of TV and Internet Video Streams. When people can physically see an event, they are better able to personally connect to it.
ReplyDeleteAnd not only connect, but use what they see to change their world. The world saw the atomics bombs explode, and never wanted to live through that again.
ReplyDeleteI also once had a history teacher explain that communism fell in the USSR because the people found a way to see how the west really lived, and they liked it.