Unit 5 Post #2: The Atomic Cafe

The Atomic Cafe, a documentary film produced in 1982 by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, and Pierce Rafferty, displays life in mid-twentieth century America. Beginning with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end war with Japan during WWII, the documentary covers the beginning of the nuclear era from the 1940s to the early 1960s, a time filled with anxiety, paranoia, and uncertainty. The entire film consists of archival footage including presidential speeches, military training films, newsreels, pop songs of the time, and American propaganda film. The documentary depicts the end of American innocence as the United States entered a new age of atomic warfare and fear that the Soviet Union would soon destroy the war. The film is also riddled with dark humor, which helps to show the absurdity of the nuclear propaganda films of the 1950s. For example, in a clip from a civil defense film, the narrator says, "Man will eventually evolve into a race of bald-headed people. Just imagine yourself with no hair! They'll call you old skin-head, old chrome-dome! The treatment, if you insist, would be a toupee. But it's only temporary, for your hair would come back: same color, same cowlick." An entertaining film, The Atomic Cafe showcases a time when nuclear warfare affected not only the military, but the American family as well, completely changing American society.
     The entire documentary consists of achieved footage taken from various sources from the 1940s to the early 1960s. The footage from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan as well as from Bikini Island helps to show the audience the destructive nature of the atomic bomb. The final scene of the film was part of a propaganda video that showed an atomic bomb exploding and destroying planes, cities, forests, etc. The family that was in their air-raid shelter got up (unharmed) at the end of the explosion and the father said, "All in all, I think we've been pretty lucky." This footage shows how hopeful America is for a brighter and better future. The soundtrack consists of pop songs from the '40s and '50s, which are a great accompaniment for the documentary, because many of the songs written during the Cold War were political. Whereas some where anti-war/bomb and others were pro-war/bomb, it gives the viewer another opinion of the Cold War. The film also uses pathos when it covers the Rosenberg Trial and execution. The Rosenbergs, accused of giving nuclear secrets to the Soviets, were given the electric chair, but Ethel Rosenberg didn't immediately die. The humane method turned into an inhumane murder of a person that may or may not have committed any crime. This was effective in showing the Second Great Red Scare in America and how it blinded the government's eye towards civil liberties. Surprisingly, McCarthyism was barely covered in the documentary, which was interesting, considering that it was a large social effect of the growing Red Scare. The Atomic Cafe very effectively used rhetorical devices to display effect the Atomic Bomb had on the Cold War.

       The Atomic Cafe. Dir. Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, and Pierce Rafferty. Libra Films, 1982. DVD.