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Inspired by a 1940s short story by Harry Bates, scripted by Edmund H. North, and directed by Robert Wise, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is a science fiction cult classic. Of all its diverse interpretations, a commonly adopted reading influenced by the dawning of the Atomic Age parades it as an anti-nuclear exemplar starring alien emissary Klaatu visiting Earth with his robot companion Gort to (supposedly) suppress humanity’s atomic progress. However, upon a close forensic inspection of the film and commentator comments, this anti-atomic claim is resoundingly rejected. Utilizing humanist film criticism as the guiding analytical lens (i.e., looking inside not outside the frame), plus a selective review of the critical literature, it was demonstrated that: (a) there is a dearth of atomic iconography and dialogue, (b) there is no mention of banning atomic energy or weapons, (c) Earth’s atomics are nascent and not serious threats to the Federation, and (d) Klaatu is not anti-atomi...
Reseña bibliográfica
Paper given at the HOTCUS Winter Symposium at the British Library's Eccles Centre for American Studies: The “Second Cold War” that followed the breakdown of US-Soviet detente in the latter half of the 1970s led to a renewed cultural preoccupation with a potential nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union. Furthermore, advances in space exploration, computer and laser technology provided the backdrop for proponents of ballistic missile defence to outline radical new scenarios by which the nuclear stalemate might be transcended, scenarios which would coalesce around Reagan’s “Strategic Defense Initiative” announced in 1983. This paper analyses the visions of space warfare that suffuse military and cultural discourse during this period. Using Reagan administration documents and representative examples of the genre, it will explore how futuristic conflict scenarios of the US and USSR battling over the heavens were expressed in both government propaganda and the increasingly popular “techno-thriller” –best-sellers that combined traditional masculine adventure literature with an obsession with technical and engineering minutiae and were often decidedly conservative in terms of politics.
2014 •
This article represents a work in progress for a war gaming journal. it deals with the naval aspect of the " coming invasion " or " next war " craze of the two world war preludes of the 20 th century. it contains various drafts and notes from open sources. As such it is a rough draft.
Extrapolation
Technomilitary Fantasy in the 1980s: Military Sf, David Drake, and the Discourse of Instrumentality2015 •
In America in the 1980s, a group of science fiction (sf) authors played a role in the development of influential policies and technologies, including Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Guided by writers such as Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, they formed an advocacy group, the Citizens Advisory Council on National Space Policy, in order to undermine the Cold War policy of “mutually assured destruction” (MAD) and support the development of new technologies capable of “weaponizing space” as a means to protect the American homeland. While their political involvements have been explored in some detail elsewhere, this article aims to outline the discursive formation their various fictions helped generate—a formation I term “technomilitary fantasy”—and argues that their contributions as writers and editors of military sf, particularly with the series of anthologies There Will Be War (1983–1990), helped define a popular way of imagining technology in that period. That concept can be called “instrumentalism,” and it played a key role in the social and political texture of 1980s America.
Class, Race and Corporate Power
The Improbable Militarist: Jimmy Carter, the Revolution in Military Affairs and Limits of the American Two-Party SystemThis paper addresses a group of novels on nuclear war written especially for young readers in the US and the UK throughout the 1980s. Investigating the cultural role given to these texts, the paper goes on to scrutinize how they represented contemporary images of nuclear weaponry and war. The paper suggests that nuclear fictions for youth were involved with and reflected Western (NATO's) ideas concerning the atom bomb and its function in the Cold War. By creating the binary opposition of hope/despair they endorsed the position of the status quo which was pro-nuclear.
Journal of Scientific Temper
A Route to a Better Tomorrow: The Power of Science Fiction2019 •
The known in collaboration with the prevalent helps explore the variations of problems and helps derive the best possible solution from amongst the comprehensible ability of mankind. Nevertheless, this perception of the problem as well as the projected solution might not be the best-isolated pair if observed from a neutral window of infinite possibilities. The unknown, therefore, holds answers which must be explored. This paper attempts to elaborate the significance of investigating the Unknown or the Fictitious in the real world, considering examples, exemplars and prospects.
History of Psychology
The Totemic Use of an Author in Psychology: A Century of Publications of the Work of F.C. Bartlett2024 •
Historia i Świat 11
Archers from Rag-i Bibi. Notes on the equipment depicted on Rag-i Bibi relief (Northern Afghanistan2022 •
Rassegna parlamentare
L’autonomia regionale differenziata in materia di tutela dell’ambiente e dell’ecosistema: quali limiti di sistema dopo la legge costituzionale n. 1 del 2022?2023 •
Militaergeschichtliche Zeitschrift
Heinz Duchhardt, Friedens-Miniaturen. Zur Kulturgeschichte und Ikonographie des Friedens in der Vormoderne, Münster: Aschendorff 2019, 184 S., EUR 29,90 [ISBN 978‑3‑402‑13416‑0]2020 •
Orthopaedics & traumatology: surgery & research
Pneumorachis: A possible source of traumatic cord compression2010 •
High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention
Association of Vitamin D Deficiency with Chronic Stable Angina: A Case Control Study2018 •
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)
THe Russian Detective Fiction : the novels of Aleksandra Marinina1998 •
Procedia Engineering
Production Flow Analysis through Value Stream Mapping: A Lean Manufacturing Process Case Study2012 •
Comptes Rendus. Géoscience
Tethys and Apulia (Adria), 100 years of reconstructions2024 •
Journal of Engineering and Technology Management
A typology of clean technology commercialization accelerators2014 •
Pedagogy of physical culture and sports
Influence of dancesport on segmental coordination development in 6-8-year-old children2024 •