Atomic Bomb Cinema

<p>Unfathomably merciless and powerful, the atomic bomb has left its indelible mark on film. In <em>Atomic Bomb Cinema,</em> Jerome F. Shapiro unearths the unspoken legacy of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and its complex aftermath in American and Japanese cinema. <br><br>According to Shapiro, a "Bomb film" is never simply an exercise in ideology or paranoia. He examines hundreds of films like <em>Godzilla, Dr. Strangelove,</em> and <em>The</em><em>Terminator</em> as a body of work held together by ancient narrative and symbolic traditions that extol survival under devastating conditions. Drawing extensively on both English-language and Japanese-language sources, Shapiro argues that such films not only grapple with our nuclear anxieties, but also offer signs of hope that humanity is capable of repairing a damaged and divided world. <br><br>www.atomicbombcinema.com</p> <p>Introduction: Vexing questions and atomic bomb cinema <br>1:1895 to 1945: Prototypical bomb films <br>2:1945 to 1949: The initial elation after Hiroshima and Nagasaki <br>3:1950 to 1963: Part I: A complex growth industry <br>4:1950 to 1963: Part II: Cold war fantasies <br>5:1964 to 1979: Losing faith in social institutions <br>6:1980 to 1989: The Reagan era <br>7:1990 to 2001: The post-cold war years <br>8:1945 to 2001: Japan's atomic bomb cinema <br>Conclusion: Demonic cinema <br>Notes <br>Selected Bibliography <br>Filmography <br>Index</p>