The 50s: Fear Incarnate

Ah the 50's. What a peaceful and glorious time to look back upon. The war to end all wars was over with the drop of a bomb and the women were back in their respectful homes making dinner for the men after they get home from a hard day's work. Little Billy has been doing great in school and Susie just said her first word. There's not a care in the world in this ideological utopia that is depicted in all the television shows and popular movies.

Except there were plenty of cares and worries during this faux-utopia. The "Atomic Cafe" film was more than enough to attest to the overwhelming amount of fear and anxiety that seemed to be brewing in the aftermath of World War II. Film clip after film clip depicted the horrors of the Atomic Age. Hiroshima survivors were shown to have disfiguring radiation burns. Americans were so caught up in how we could tell ourselves "it's ok" or "we're safe" by ducking and covering, or being shown that a nuclear blast wasn't so bad. See the happy Bikini villagers? See the soldier running into the fallout zone after an atomic bomb test? All he can talk about is how beautiful the blast was. Those Commie bastards won't see what's coming! One can only guess that the soldier didn't see the affects of radiation coming later in his life either.

The film and "Civilian Threat" article really seemed to emphasize the importance of fear in the 50s. Fear kept people aware of the dangers of nuclear war. Fear put faith in the government and emphasized the importance of Christianity to not be apart of the atheistic red Commie. Fear kept people American. The beginning part of the article was what seemed most important to me. It focused on the fact that civilians would be the targets of an attack on America. I mean if we could do it to others (Hiroshima, Nagasaki) what would stop others from doing so? The "panic stopping" described in the article of drilling one's family doesn't seem to do more than suggest that the threat of war and death is real and being prepared is the only way to to have a chance in survival. If that thought doesn't scare the hell out of anyone, then I don't know what is scary. The bomb shelters being sold in the film clips also are a lot like the reminders of impending doom. Sure you think your safe but the reason you buy this insurance isn't just for safety, but that thought in the back your head telling you that you constantly are in danger of being vaporized by Communists.

We generally think of the 50s as being some sort of time of "normalcy" or a time of American "tradition" ,though the incredibly corny notion of "normal" back then is sickening in itself. Through the film and article we can see that the 50s were a time of high stress and constant fear of the other. If that's normal then I don't want to know what isn't.