Dr. Strangelove's America: Society and Culture in the Atomic AgeUniversity of California Press, 1997 - 451 עמודים Did America really learn to "stop worrying and love the bomb," as the title of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film, Dr. Strangelove, would have us believe? Does that darkly satirical comedy have anything in common with Martin Luther King Jr.'s impassioned "I Have a Dream" speech or with Elvis Presley's throbbing "I'm All Shook Up"? In Margot Henriksen's vivid depiction of the decades after World War II, all three are expressions of a cultural revolution directly related to the atomic bomb. Although many scientists and other Americans protested the pursuit of nuclear superiority after World War II ended, they were drowned out by Cold War rhetoric that encouraged a "culture of consensus." Nonetheless, Henriksen says, a "culture of dissent" arose, and she traces this rebellion through all forms of popular culture. At first, artists expressed their anger, anxiety, and despair in familiar terms that addressed nuclear reality only indirectly. But Henriksen focuses primarily on new modes of expression that emerged, discussing the disturbing themes of film noir (with extended attention to Alfred Hitchcock) and science fiction films, Beat poetry, rock 'n' roll, and Pop Art. Black humor became a primary weapon in the cultural revolution while literature, movies, and music gave free rein to every possible expression of the generation gap. Cultural upheavals from "flower power" to the civil rights movement accentuated the failure of old values. Filled with fascinating examples of cultural responses to the Atomic Age, Henriksen's book is a must-read for anyone interested in the United States at mid-twentieth century. |
תוכן
Knowing Sin | 1 |
Vertigo The Unhinged Moral | 38 |
Psycho The Emergence | 81 |
The Snake Pit America as an Asylum | 112 |
Wild Ones Youths in Revolt | 148 |
Is God Dead? An American | 183 |
Laughter and a New Myth of Life | 240 |
Judgment Day | 303 |
Godless Violence and Transcendent Hope | 345 |
Notes | 389 |
437 | |
מהדורות אחרות - הצג הכל
מונחים וביטויים נפוצים
Alfred Hitchcock Amer America's atomic anxiety apocalyptic atomic age atomic bomb attack beat black humor Bokonon bomb shelter bomb's Bonnie and Clyde Cat's Cradle civil defense Cody cold cold war communist corruption counterculture criminal Cuban missile crisis culture of dissent culture's danger dead death dehumanized destruction dialogue taken directly dreams early Eichmann Eisenhower Elvis evil fallout father fear film film noir film's forces guilt H-bomb Hiroshima Hoenikker human Ibid ice-nine innocence insanity Kennedy kill Klaatu live McMurphy military moral mother Mumford murder nation Nazi Newsweek nonetheless novel nuclear past peace political postwar President prod psychological quoted radical reality rebellious responsible Rhoda scenes and dialogue scientists seemed shelter craze sixties society Soviet Union spiritual Strangelove survival symbol Tatum television thermonuclear thing threat tion Truman Turgidson Vietnam violence vision weapons World War II York Yossarian young youth