It’s amazing how different America was just fifty years ago. I mean, sure, the sixties and seventies were obviously pretty far away from where we are as a society now, but the fifties, for some reason, seem especially alien to me. Maybe it was the complete censorship of the media. Or the negative way we viewed and treated people from different countries, different races, and different religions. It could also be the idea of gender roles and lack of equality between men and women. All of these drastic changes between then and now are seen in The Atomic Café and the film stands out from other documentaries because of it.
The Atomic Café appeals to viewers’ emotions using all of the standard film techniques that have become quite common practice, though that’s not to say that the film employs them poorly. In fact, because the movie appeals to its viewers so well, the film completely relies on this method of winning over the audience. There are no other means of acquiring the spectator’s emotions, such as presenting hard data or an authoritative narrator. Which is fine. There isn’t any other need of lobbying to the viewers.
Juxtaposition is the primary procedure by which the film entices viewers. This can be seen in many instances. The first use of this is at the beginning of the film where an American soldiers’ voice discussing how routine the process of dropping the atomic bomb over Hiroshima was for him and his men. This audio is overdubbed over scenes of Japanese citizens going throughout their day, unfortunately ignorant of their impending deaths. The next use of juxtaposition comes soon after the previous example, when Americans are seen celebrating across the nation. In complete contrast, the next scene depicts Hiroshima and Nagasaki utterly devastated. Among the fire and the rubble, dead and mortally wounded bodies are scattered. The last major use of this kind of comparison is shown when an American G-man’s audio describing the minimal effects and non-dangers is, again, overdubbed ironically over images of mutated, disfigured citizens of South Eastern Asia who were affected by the fallout caused by U.S. nuclear testing.
I have a hard time believing that, had the footage shown in The Atomic Café been shown to the people of the fifties, the people who were rejoicing and celebrating their victory, that is, the death and devastation of another country, the people would not be exulting with quite as much enthusiasm. I just don’t believe people are that cruel. That just goes to show the overruling power of the machine that was 1950’s propaganda. It conditioned people to believe everything it sputtered out, something that people today are not accustomed to at all. Whether it was believing that diving to the ground and covering ones’ head with your arms or believing that the fallout of a nuclear device wasn’t seriously harmful, the people of America drank it up with open arms. But were people so completely trusting because they knew no other way, or because they wanted to believe whatever they could that would hide the truth. Ignorance is bliss after all. Surely not every single American believed the fodder being fed to them? Surely some free thinking person with some ability to speak out to their fellow nationals did, in fact, speak out? The Atomic Café would have you, the viewer, believe that the government of the United States brainwashed its people just like they brainwashed, deceived, and mistreated the people of Bikini Atoll.
Not only were the people of Bikini Atoll treated poorly, but really, even non-white, lower-class citizens of America were, across the board, abused as well. Just look at the city plans that were developed for the new “Nuclear Age”. The downtown area was abandoned. Everyone who could afford it packed up and moved out to the suburbs and satellites, where they would be less of a target to the omnipresent possibility of an all out nuclear attack. But what about those who couldn’t afford leaving the city? What about those who didn’t have someone in the government looking out for them especially, just because of their race or nation of origin? They, like the victims of Bikini, were left behind and covered up by the machine.
Yet again, though not in the same way as the lower-class, the government was mistreating its citizens, though this time, not towards those of a different race or belief system, but with women. It may not seem it, but we as a society have come a long way away from the ideals that were common stance only fifty years ago. Unlike in the fifties, the government today isn’t describing how a woman should act and behave as a mother and a wife. The government isn’t oppressing women by telling the public that women are like atom bombs in and of themselves, that they are to be respected yet carefully controlled because of their “massive” power, much like that of a nuclear warhead.
The Atomic Café was, as any good documentary should be, informative and eye-opening. I felt it was a good starting place for the class as its messages and overall tone were easy to decipher. It made me thankful for the government we have today, even with all of its problems, something I did not think I would readily admit any time soon.
