Film Presentation

ENGL6090 Revisiting the Southern Gothic

START

Laura McPherson

Presentation

Atomic Family Through Hales' Atomic Sublime

“Operation Hurricane.” 3 Oct. 1952. Australian War Memorial, Monte Bello Islands, WA Collection, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C42862. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Connotation: the cultural or emotional associations a sign evokes

Denotation: Literal meaning

Signified: The meaning the sign comes to represent

Signifier: Physical form by which sign is perceived

The atomic sublime updated—even to the edge of subverting—historical theories of the sublime, evoking not just emotional responses resulting from, as Hales writes, the “combination of terror and wonder that accompanied confrontation with the Infinite with a capital I” (12).

“The overall effect was to present the atomic explosion as a ‘natural’ consequence of ‘natural’ phenomena on the one hand, and a ‘natural’ extension of ‘normal’ wartime weaponry on the other” (Hales 11).

“You got to watch for the light…The light will be brighter than anything you’ve ever seen. Brighter than a hundred million thousand suns.” (McElroy 40)

Image via GameRant, https://gamerant.com/fallout-vault-boy-thumb/

Life, 30 May 1955, p. 42.

Life, 20 Aug. 1945, p. 27.

• 1945: Spontaneous photography of the nuclear bomb as terror event, already detached from “the ‘facts’ of atomic destruction” (Hale 8) by aerial view/distance

• 1950s: Emergence of controlled narrative associating the atomic bomb with nature--and increasingly, coexistence with normal (desert) suburban life

From ANNIHILATION to aesthetic

“RDS-6s/Joe-4.” 12 Aug. 1953. The first Russian hydrogen (nuclear fusion) bomb, yield 400 kilotons (compared to the American Ivy Mike hydrogen bomb, detonated Nov. 1952, yield 10.4 megatons)

Aeby, Jack, and Los Alamos National Laboratories. “Trinity (Color Photograph).” 16 July 1945. The first atomic (nuclear fission) bomb, yield 21 kilotons.

Propaganda co-opting the American tradition of the sublime for the nuclear war machine

1945

Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Aesthetic of annhilation, from a safe distance

1952

The first photographs of the aftermath of Hiroshima are released to the American public

1945-1953

1950-1953

Accelerated testing of nuclear weapons over the Eden of Bikini Atoll

1950-1960

Refinement of the consumer-driven aesthetic of the nuclear sublime

• "To the beauty parlor she goes, all gold and champagne!" (McElroy 190)

• Dissenters “could only rarely introduce facts to counter the developing atomic aesthetic” (Hales 14-15

• “Terror and beauty, together, begot a terrible beauty, one that needed the guiding hand of an authoritative and authoritarian military figure” (Hales 19)

the atomic gothic vs. the atomic sublime

Discussion Questions

1. In The Atomic Sublime, Hales briefly characterizes the atomic gothic as focusing on the horror of atomic aftermaths from the victim’s perspective and the psychological states of helplessness, which is similar to how the Southern Gothic often explores horror following traumatic events and the helplessness of entrapment. How does Ciera Horton McElroy's Atomic Family update the Southern Gothic for the atomic age, using those gothic tropes to highlight invisible dangers and helplessness against institutional/absolute power?

2. Hales uses The Atomic Sublime to trace the mushroom cloud’s evolution from a pure sign (Barthes’ sign without meaning) to a symbol of technological progress (among other things). In what ways does McElroy’s Atomic Family use Southern Gothic tropes such as secrets, deception, and decay to undermine the vision of the atomic sublime?

--Aeby, Jack, and Los Alamos National Laboratories. “Trinity (Color Photograph).” 16 July 1945. Manhattan Project History Resources, U.S. Department of Energy, https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Resources/photo_gallery/trinity_photograph.htm. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.--“Blue Afterglow.” Life, 30 May 1955, p. 42.--Griffin, E.M. “Semiotics of Roland Barthes.” A First Look at Communication Theory, 8th ed., McGraw Hill, 2012, pp. 332-343.--Jarlson, Alan. “Atomic Dawn, Many Times Noon’s Brightness, Greets a Nevada Family 20 Miles Away.” 1953, National Geographic, https://www.colinhemez.org/atomic-sublime. Accessed 20 Nov. 2024.--“RDS-6s/Joe-4.” 12 Aug. 1953. Atomic Archive, https://www.atomicarchive.com/history/cold-war/page-7.html. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.--“How Bomb May Work [Infographic].” Life, 20 Aug. 1945, p. 87D.--“Hurt and Homeless / Stripped Hospital [Photographs].” Life, 29 Sept. 1952, p. 21.--“Nagasaki: Atom Bomb No. 2 Disemboweled It.” Life, 20 Aug. 1945, p. 27.--“Mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Getty Images, https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-53648572. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.--“Operation Hurricane.” 3 Oct. 1952. Australian War Memorial, Monte Bello Islands, WA Collection, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C42862. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.--“When Atom Bomb Struck—Uncensored.” Life, 29 Sept. 1952, pp. 19–25.

Works cited