After The Bomb Essay

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Write an essay in which you explore the interplay of the personal and the political in After the Bomb. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 exposed capabilities held by influential political powers, and humanity as a whole, previously thought unattainable. It unveiled man’s capacity for destruction, and highlighted the motives held by the political powers in doing so - the end justifies the means. John Le Carre’s The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1963), Robert Wise’s The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954), all explore the implications of such powerful capabilities on both the political and the personal climate, and attempt to offer a sort of resolution to consequences…show more content…
Conscientiously deciding to name the science fiction film The Day The Earth Stood Still rather than it’s other option, The Day The World Stops, in order to fulfil it’s aim in promoting a strong united nations, Director Wise explicitly highlights the role of the political in deciding the fate of the masses, and exposes the negative connotations of such. A shift in paradigms between the role of the government and the role of the people as a result of the extraterrestrial presence explores the many fears of the period that resulted from the new power political parties now held. Symbolisma is concurrently present throughout the film, with Klaatu producing fear of “the other” amongst the US government due to his presence being a potential threat to the all encompassing political power they hold. This paradoxes the current political climate, as the all powerful government is now reduced to a representation of the people who hold anxiety due to newly found annihilation power held by the authorities. Klaatu’s attempt to socialise with the people of the society in order to get his point across, rather than communicating with the authorities, exposes the mistrust of the government due to high espionage and new found powers through atomic
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