Hello Everyone!
Having seen the trailers for the fourth Terminator movie, I can't help but comment on the strange twist that the portrayal of nuclear war has taken. Many people missed the irony of "Der Governator's" character going from the bad guy in the first movie to the good guy in the second and third. Even more, I'm sure will miss the irony of a Russian immigrant playing Kyle Reese the future father of John Connor, and the good guy of the first film-which was shot during the most dangerous decade of the actual Cold War. The former underscores the ability of a Hollywood persona to completely overshadow the deeper and more complex messages in many films. The latter seems to symbolize how little society's thinking about nuclear weapons has changed, even after the Cold War has ended.
And I can already here the objections to this sort of conversation coming. "But surely people aren't going to see the movie Terminator Salvation and think that living in the aftermath of a nuclear war is going to be cool." One would definitely think so. And hope so. But I've learned not to take any such thing for granted. As one long time author and activist noted, even much darker portraits of even conventional war don't deter every youngster who sees them.
Nor is it sensible to not question post-apocalyptic portraits that gloss over the likely realities of radiation sickness, contagious diseases, horrific filth, starvation, inability to dispose of decaying bodies, exposure, and other horrors. I have not yet seen the movie, but I've noticed that the humans in that post apocalyptic world generally look rather healthy, show relatively few signs of a history of serious illness or injury, and even have nice teeth. Very few appear to be malnourished, or (genuinely) look like they scavenged their clothes and possessions. Most of the people do not shows signs of chronic or terminal illness, disability (ei blindness, burns, or TBI), and those who appear young enough to have been born after "Judgement Day" do not appear to have problems like stunted growth, congenital deformities, or any mental or physical disabilities. All likely to be massive issues in a world after a nuclear war. (If humanity is around that is.) And while plant life appears to be scarce in this "post Judgment Day" world, I suspect that there will be little serious reference to how the ecology of earth might have been affected, while the attention goes to a high special effects portraits of warfare between humans and machines.
Of course the term "Judgement Day" for a nuclear war itself deserves a bit of questioning. What does it mean in the context of a predominantly Christian culture, where many people buy into a literalist interpretation of the Bible? Of course, no credible theologian or Biblical scholar would take this literalist view seriously, but a shockingly high portion of American society does. Many of these individuals hold major positions of power, including a certain individual who as of this time last year had the power to use the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. Also last fall another, a woman with an even more extreme version of this belief system, was a contender to be the second in command and first in the line of succession if a very elderly man replaced this individual. Could having this equation in the culture convince voters that a nuclear war might be somehow preordained or even a good thing? Or at a minimum cause a lot of people to resign themselves to the idea that such an "end" is inevitable at one level? Certainly this blog is not the first source to notice the fact that the attitudes of most people seem to react to the threat of nuclear warfare with a certain schizophrenia between denial and fatalism.
Another disturbing aspect to the Terminator serial is the idea of a war against machines. In my mind, this is perhaps the ultimate glorification of warfare, because it avoids the most troubling aspect of warfare: People killing other people.
However, I see no reason for people to engage in denial, fatalism, or glorification of such grim fates. There is a history of resistance to the fate of a nuclear Holocaust, and even a new President who seem radically hospitable to such resistance.
This is Amy Scanlon, and if you are reading this you ARE the campaign for nuclear disarmament.
Say Goodnight Readers!
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