Celluloid Mushroom Clouds: Hollywood And Atomic Bomb

by Joyce Evans

Overview

Celluloid Mushroom Clouds is a historical account of how the movie industry responded to specific economic and political forces over the postwar years. Joyce Evans investigates the transformation of the imagery associated with atomic technology found in Hollywood films produced and distributed between 1947 and 1964. Incorporating qualitative and quantitative research methods, over 90 are analyzed in terms of their historical context and the context of film production and distribution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813391410
Publisher:	Westview Press
Publication date:	04/09/1999
Series:	Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries Series
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1590L (what's this?)

About the Author

Joyce A. Evans teaches courses on popular culture, Hollywood film, and communication theory at the University of California at San Diego.

Table of Contents

Introduction — Hollywood After the Bomb, 1946–1953 — MGM and the Cold War — Experimentation with Atomic Themes — Hollywood Science Fiction, 1954–1959 — Radiation-Produced Monsters — Alien Invaders and Atomic Espionage — Postnuclear Scenarios — The Nuclear Future, 1960–1964 — Questioning Authority — From Mutually Assured Destruction to Mutant Ninja Turtles — Appendix

Editorial Reviews

Investigates the transformation of the imagery associated with atomic technology found in Hollywood films produced and distributed between 1847 and 1964. In an examination of film texts in relation to the industry that produced them, over ninety films that incorporate atomic images are analyzed in terms of their historical context. The industry-focused approach views cultural production as a material process unfolding under specific economic, political, and cultural conditions, which ultimately limited any critique of the Cold War ideology. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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