Framing the Bomb in the West

Focused on the period of atmospheric (above-ground) nuclear weapons testing in the continental United States, from 1945 to 1963, this chapter, written by Susan Courtney, does two things. First, it describes some of the basic conditions and infrastructure that shaped the proliferation of films of nuclear weapons tests, including the U.S. government’s secret military film studio dedicated to this work in the hills above Los Angeles, known as Lookout Mountain Air Force Station or Lookout Mountain Laboratory. Second, it turns to the representational legacy that resulted, which was by no means limited to films made by or for the military. More specifically, it considers how footage of atomic tests in New Mexico and at the Nevada Test Site helped to shape the filmic record of nuclear weapons—and popular cultural memory—by framing the bomb in the desert West, arguably the screen space of American exceptionalism.

Archaeology · Exceptionalism · Framing (construction) · Geography · Ground zero · Media studies · Nuclear weapon · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Cinema and Media Studies · Engineering · History · Law · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis

• Filmic Mutation

  Mick Broderick•Studies in Documentary Film•2022

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