Ever see The Day After? I was too young when it originally aired, but I watched it for a social studies class in junior high. It's starkly terrifying, and it's definitely time well spent in a classroom. It asks the question, what if there was a nuclear war? For real? What would happen?
It's a little crazy. My favorite episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver features scenes from this movie. You can watch it here. It's fucking hilarious. And horrifying.
I find art to be very important. I'm glad that I have a lot of friends who agree with me, but a lot of people would disagree with me. If they agreed, we wouldn't be cutting art from schools. Art is the reason I get out of bed every day. Art makes life bearable. If I did not have art, I don't know if I'd be alive right now. When I've had the worst of days, art soothes the horrors.
I also believe art can have a huge impact on people. If you don't believe that, look at Star Wars. A little movie from the 'Seventies fucking changed the world. Can you imagine a world without Star Wars? I know I can't.
More to the point, art can save lives. Art can even save the world. And The Day After is proof.
It was released in the 'Eighties, a time when I was certain we'd all perish in a nuclear holocaust. But we didn't, did we? It's entirely possible (heh) that the reason we didn't is because of this movie. Because of this art.
Nicholas Meyer directed the film. He also directed The Wrath of Khan! But he had this to say about his film many years later:
“The movie may have indeed helped prevent a nuclear war. It certainly changed one person’s mind on the subject, and that person just happened to be the President of the United States. Ronald Reagan wrote about watching the movie in his memoir. His biographer, who spent three years in the White House, said the only time he ever saw Reagan flip out was after seeing the movie. Ultimately, it sent Reagan into such a tailspin, he signed the Intermediate Missile Range Treaty, the only treaty that ever resulted in the physical dismantling of nuclear weapons.”
Holy shit. That sounds pretty idealistic, in fact. First I take the advertisers' side on something, and now I'm saying something nice about Ronald Reagan? Maybe my health issues have finally gotten the better of me.
Meyer's quote isn't the entire story, though. I'd like to think that Reagan signed the treaty to save the world. But the real reason he did so was fear. Damage control. If you want extra credit, you can check out this PDF from his Library. That tells the full story. It's kind of interesting to see White House insiders scampering to control how the public will perceive the film and even giving instructions on how to *not* talk about the movie. Also, did you see Reagan blaming the Soviet Union for dragging their feet?
I guess one way or the other The Day After saved the world, so that's good. I would have preferred it to have been because Reagan legitimately understood the errors of his ways and wanted to change them for the better, but damage control and perception got the job done. The government does a lot of shit to make sure you don't notice the man behind the curtain. Ordinarily I can't stand that kind of behavior, but this one time it managed to save the world. ONCE.
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| Once. |
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