Ignorance is Bliss

By Brian Khaneyan

As a child I was afraid of the dark. It’s not unusual to be afraid of the dark, but it is somewhat irrational. Fear of the dark comes from fear of the unknown. I may have known that there weren’t any actual monsters that were going to grab me in the darkness at night, but the simple fact that I couldn’t see and verify it for myself outweighed my rationality. But why was I not afraid before I turned the lights off? Why didn’t the fact that someone or something could be hiding, waiting for me to turn the lights off bother me until I actually turned the lights off? The fact of the matter is that it is human nature to simply not care about anything but the present. If something is unable to harm me right now, I could care less. When discussing the effects of our current nuclear situation, this is an incredibly fatal flaw.

The first work reviewed this week is Atom bomb - A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 by Isao Hashimoto. Isao Hashimoto is a Japanese artist. When analyzing an animation such as this, it’s important to take into account who created it. An interview with Wired’s Duncan Geere, Hashimoto stated that he created the project to show “the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It’s clear how he has done this in several ways. First the entire animation is very antique looking. It looks like a system screen from “War Games.” This initially makes it somewhat intimidating. The audio as each month ticks by is also very intimidating, it is similar to a bomb ticking sound. Next, when the years switch it is an even deeper tone, but still as ominous.  The next thing that stuck out to me were when a lot of explosions occurred. The sound gets so loud that it clips off, creating an even more jarring sound. The data shown in this video is scary. Nuclear explosions and testing is something that we, as a society need to be incredibly careful about. Videos like this that are designed to be unsettling are a good way to inform the public of a problem that we have been neglecting.

The next work is the film “Into Eternity.” This film has very interesting cinematography. The narrator addresses the audience in a shot only lit by a single match. He speaks very slowly, and in a very ethereal voice. He is telling us a spooky story by the campfire. This tone continues throughout the film. Techniques were used throughout the film that gave it a very dark overtone. Black and white images were used, and even crude drawings and “spooky” art were used throughout the film to give it a very ominous feel. Lastly, the color tone of the movie was incredibly dark. Color correction is a technique film makers can use to give a film a certain feel. For instance, The Dark Knight and Man of Steel were both very bleak and dark looking films. This was used to give the movies a grittier feel, and the difference between the natural color and the recolor in Man of Steel can be seen here. A similar effect was used in this film. The grittier feel and darker colors add to the “spookiness” of “Into Eternity.” Overall I think the film had the desired effect. It left me more curious and cautious of our nuclear situation.

“Full Body Burden” by Kristen Iversen uses different techniques to inform the reader of the dangers of nuclear technology. One of the main themes in this nonfiction narrative is the coincidence of the nuclear Rocky Flats, and the deterioration of Kristen’s family. As the contaminations and problems that arise from Rocky Flats get worse, Kristen’s family seems to grow further apart. Furthermore, the entire town seems to simply not acknowledge that the nuclear plant is having an impact on their town. Everybody knows that it is harmful, but nobody does anything about it for the first half of the book. This is the same human characteristic mentioned earlier. It simply didn’t affect anyone in a major way… up until it did. So why was everyone so secretive about Rocky Flats? Once again, it’s important to note who created the piece, and how the piece was created. Iversen published the book in 2012. The story took place from when she was a child up until she was a young adult. Iversen wrote the book after she had time to reflect on the situation and gather her thoughts as an educated adult. Perhaps the true story isn’t exactly as it was written, and perhaps Iversen remembers the secrecy and is amplifying it in her re-telling of the story. She is using the fact that nobody did anything back then to parallel to current day. Her effort in conveying this fact suggests to the reader that this could already be happening in their lives, and that they need to re-evaluate their situation and take action.

 The last work is “Blind,” a short film. The film uses jump cuts and distorted audio clips to give it a surreal feeling at the beginning. It shocks the viewer with scary looking gas masks that are used to shield people from the contaminated air. It’s a complete change of society, everyone must wear the masks. This shows the effect that nuclear technology could have on our world, it can change our everyday tasks. The film then pulls on the heartstrings with flashbacks of a happier time. It essentially asks, “what if we could forget about this bleak reality, and go back to when everything was perfect?” The purpose of this flashback is to show the viewer that we live in that world now, and that the future holds great potential, and that potential is in our hands.

All the works I reviewed use fear as a technique to persuade the audience to take a stand against nuclear energy and technology. Speaking personally, I don’t think this is a great way to convey information to people for most stories. Simply scaring the masses into believing something doesn’t work. But another thing that doesn’t work is our current system of information. John Rosenthal from the Huffington Post wrote an article on the 25^th anniversary of Chernobyl. In this article, the same fear tactic is seemingly used: “Radiation is invisible and knows no boundaries. It's commonly accepted in scientific circles that there is no safe level of radiation and all radiation, including low doses, is cumulative and can cause cancer.” But this isn’t a fear tactic, this is the simple truth. The faster the general public understands this message, the quicker we will be able to solve this problem. If these films are able to convince people that they should be afraid, and even fear for their life, and actually cause change, then I completely support the style in which they are filmed, even though I normally would not. The last paragraph of the article sums up our dire situation well: “Meanwhile, as we blindly accept the lies and misinformation about nuclear power, we're force-fed the nuclear industry's invisible and deadly radiation without even knowing it or being able to prove where our cancer, potentially years down the road, came from.”