GRGR(8): Nuclear light

[hankhank at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu]

On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Monte Davis wrote:
>That's why for those of us of a certain age, the ending of GR has a more
>than 
>literary power. Those TV newsreels I mentioned (I think 'The Big Picture'
>was 
>one)... on weekend mornings in Dallas, in the wake of the Korean War,
>with 6x6s 
>rumbling off to Army Reserve maneuvers outside, my brother (b. '45) and
>me ('49) would 
>turn on the tube and within a few minutes go from a
>follow-the-bouncing-ball 
>cartoon singalong, to fireballs in Nevada, to a WWII movie, to a Viking
>or Redstone 
>launch in New Mexico, to fiery young Congressman Zhlubb. And on Monday
>morning 
>at school, we'd practice curling up under our desks.

Although I was born only in the early 60s, my impression is that the
inseparably corny and hysteric finale of "Kiss Me Deadly" also captures
some of this, better than the ending minutes of "Dr Strangelove", in my
opinion. Still, neither compares to GR, sure.

Apocalyptically, I felt chillier than now in the early eighties, when
Reagan and Co. talked out loud that the nuclear war could be restricted to
Europe only. (Of course, Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko really were no
better in this matter, either, even though the West European Peace
Movement thought so.)

>From the late 70s: I've been listening to Only Ones lately. 
But that precedes even Thatcher.

Heikki