Nuclear Iconography in Post-Cold War Culture
I wish in this paper to sketch a project involving nuclear iconography and post-Cold War culture. At the heart of this project is the claim that the current historical moment forms a legitimation crisis for the scientific, military, industrial, governmental, and "cultural" institutions whose interests are configured in the design, manufacture, deployment, and "use" of nuclear weapons. Within this moment, a variety of progressive and regressive movements have been intitiated through the production and reception of nuclear weapons rhetoric. The role of visual iconography in nuclear hegemony has traditionally received minor attention (e.g., compared with the "nukespeak" of foreign policy, mass media news coverage, and literary works). Recent scholarly articles and books have attempted to correct this verbalist imbalance by examining the genres and discourses of nuclear art (e.g., painting), cinema and photography. Collectively, this work establishes that the Bomb is -- after W.J.T. Mitchell -- an "imagetext" in which verbal and iconic discourses interanimate to produce ways of (not) seeing and forms of (not) feeling that have historically positioned cultural subjects in relation to the technologies, policies, figures, locations, events, and institutions (in both senses as "customary practices" and "formal organizations") which have constituted the nuclear condition . . .
"Now Do You See It?": Post-Cold War Nuclear Iconography
I am interested in the role of visual rhetoric in maintaining this "war of position" between military, environmental, arms-control, pacifist, industrial, scientific and federal interests [in post-Cold War culture]. Issues in this research include the nature of verbal and visual codes in nuclear representations (e.g., in critical disagreement over the success of nuclear landscape photography in evoking viewer knowledge of the deadly, invisible radiation which "really" suffuses its depicted objects), the uses to which images are put in various social contexts (e.g., in museum exhibits commemorating the Japanese atomic bombings), and the consequences of images for existing power relations between nuclear authorities and citizens (e.g., in legitimating the "accelerated" -- and arguably incomplete -- cleanup of contaminated nuclear weapons plants by federal agencies and their contractors) . . .
. . . A preliminary survey of prominent nuclear weapons images suggests [this] "new" theme in this process, unique to the post-Cold War era . . .
. . . "Museumification"
This theme describes the inter-related processes by which the partially decrepit and moribund nuclear apparatus is being dismantled, appropriated, recycled, commodified, and memorialized in contemporary culture (e.
Throughout American history, people have had an image of how country folks should present themselves. For example, many people see them as being pious, strict, and honest. Flannery O’Connor, author of “Good Country People,” approaches the images societies have formed of country people from a different and eye-opening perspective. Her story goes against what society thinks of these lowly people. Although O’Connor may come across as being critical of others in her short story “Good Country People," she uses symbolism, character development, and irony, to get her point across, which is, there are hypocritical people in every part of society, whether it is in the city or in the country.
Most of us would like to think that history is based on civil negotiations between representatives from around the world. The fact is, war has always been a disease that spreads not only in the battle field, and infects all those who come in contact with it. In the case of nuclear weapons, the United States, like many countries, raced to produce some of the most deadly weapons. Kristen Iversen shares her experiences surrounding a nuclear production facility in Boulder Colorado called Rocky Flats. The events at Rocky Flats are fuelled by secrecy and widespread hazards, it is the integration of these concepts to various aspects of her life that are at the center of Full Body Burden.
Stanley Kubrick’s sexual parody, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, illustrates an unfathomed nuclear catastrophe. Released in the midst of the Cold War, this 1964 film satirizes the heightened tensions between America and Russia. Many sexual insinuations are implemented to ridicule the serious issue of a global nuclear holocaust, in an effort to countervail the terror that plagued America at that time. Organizing principles, such as Kubrick’s blunt political attitudes about the absurdity of war and the satirical genre, are echoed by the film style of his anti-war black comedy, Dr. Strangelove.
In the third decade of the Cold War, less than two years after the United States population had been scared half-way to death by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dr. Strangelove invaded the nation's movie theatres and showed the country the end of the world. Touted by critics then and now as the film of the decade, Dr. Strangelove savagely mocked the President, the entire military defense establishment, and the rhetoric of the Cold War. To a nation that was living through the stress of the nuclear arms race and had faced the real prospect of nuclear war, the satiric treatment of the nation's leaders was an orgasmic release from deep fears and tensions. Its detractors argued that the film was juvenile, offensive, and inaccurate. Viewed, however, in its context of the Cold War and nuclear proliferation, Dr....
Most writers take sides, either for or against the atom bomb. Instead of taking sides, he challenges his readers to make their own opinions based on their personal meditations. One of the key questions we must ask ourselves is “Are actions intended to benefit the large majority, justified if it negatively impacts a minority?” The greatest atrocity our society could make is to make a mistake and not learn from it. It is important, as we progress as a society, to learn from our mistakes or suffer to watch as history repeats itself.
Through his uses of descriptive language Hersey exposes to the reader the physical, emotional, Psychological and structural damage caused by a nuclear attack. He shows the reader how peoples are physically changed but also how emotional psychologically scared by this act of horror. Through Hersey’s graphic detail of the horror after the bomb and the effects years after he shock the reader while also give the message that we shouldn’t let this happen again. In the book Hiroshima the author John Hersey exposes that a nuclear attack is not simply a disaster that fades away when the rubble is removed and buildings are rebuilt but an act of horror that changes the course of people’s live.
This photograph, taken in 1967 in the heart of the Vietnam War Protests, depicts different ideologies about how problems can be solved. In the picture, which narrowly missed winning the Pulitzer Prize, a teen is seen poking carnations into the barrels of guns held by members of the US National Guard. This moment, captured by photographer Bernie Boston symbolizes the flower power movement. Flower power is a phrase that referred to the hippie notion of “make love not war”, and the idea that love and nonviolence, such as the growing of flowers, was a better way to heal the world than continued focus on capitalism and wars. The photograph can be analyzed through the elements of image as defined by ‘The Little Brown Handbook’ on page 86. There are a total of nine elements that contribute to the communicative quality of an image. The message that this particular image tries to convey is the strong sense of way that conflict should be handled; by way of guns or by way of flowers. The ‘way of guns’ is violence and excessive force which heavily contradicts the ‘way of flowers’ which is a more peaceful and diplomatic way of handling conflict or disagreement. This photograph depicts these ideologies through its use of emphasis, narration,point of view, arrangement, color, characterization, context and tension.
Holloway, David, Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy 1939–1956, (New Haven:Yale University Press, 1994).
Crowley, Robert. "The Cold War Museum." Cold War Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014.
...wer struggle for sexual domination through the characters of Scottie and Madeline, and also with the use of certain colors. Vertigo shows the loss of masculinity or the impotent male because of a lack of female submissiveness. The main image of the film is that of a downward spiral. This image perfectly illustrates the idea of women as man's downfall that is stressed throughout the entire film. Vertigo also tries to support gender norms for women with some of the female characters. This film is an ideal example of the sexual confusion and anxiety felt by much of American society at this time, proving that film is a cultural product.
O'Connor, Flannery. "Good Country People." Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002. 130-143.
The Cold War is famous not only for its long engagement between the two super powers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but also because of the heightened physical tension that nuclear power brought to the global stage. Winning the war at the cost of human annihilation was not abnormal political conversation, and from the 1940s onward, fear of global destruction became a daily concern (Granieri, 2011). The circumstances of the Cold War made it different than previous international conflicts because it was the first conflict that could potentially lead to massive, worldwide destruction. Without the dangers of nuclear power, the Cold War wouldn't have differed much from previous historical conflicts between powerful states.
In 1917 a young female right out of high school started working at a radium factory in Orange, New Jersey. The job was mixing water, glue and radium powder for the task of painting watch dials, aircraft switches, and instrument dials. The paint is newly inventive and cool so without hesitation she paints her nails and lips with her friends all the while not knowing that this paint that is making them radiant, is slowly killing them. This was the life of Grace Fryer. Today there are trepidations on the topic of radiation from fears of nuclear fallout, meltdowns, or acts of terrorism. This uneasiness is a result of events over the past one hundred years showing the dangers of radiation. Although most accidents today leading to death from radiation poisoning occur from human error or faults in equipment, the incident involving the now named "radium girls" transpired from lack of public awareness and safety laws. (introduce topics of the paper)
Engagement ring indicates that the person wearing it is engaged to be married particularly in western culture. In most cases, women wear sapphire engagement rings in view of the fact that they feature diamonds or other gemstones. In some cultures, men and women wear diamond ring and in other cultures, engagement rings are used as wedding rings. As a point of fact, engagement rings have been the ultimate symbol of love for thousands of years. A man presents the woman’s ring as an engagement gift to his probable spouse while he proposes marriage or after she accepts marriage proposal. In many countries, engagement rings are placed on the middle finger on the left hand implying that the finger contained a vein that led to the heart. Henry Swinburne popularized this idea whereby the majority of people believed that an engagement ring was originally part of the bride price, which represented purchase as well as ownership of the bride.
As written by Paul Francis Webster “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing” (en.wikipedia.org) that being said love comes in many forms unconditional, romantic and passion/lust. When love not construed with human emotion love becomes as beautiful as the rising sun over a dew-covered meadow. Love through definition, a strong affection for another, seems so simple and precise, but forgets to bring in the human element, making it less certain and definite. Love affects all of us. Love’s ability to bring down walls, change a world and bring joy to a child’s eye makes love the most beautiful human emotion ever known to man.