Arts Express: Atomic Mom - Accessorizing For The Apocalypse

By Prairie Miller    

Atomic Mom: Filmmaker M.T. Silvia uncovers to her shock and dismay, the secret life her mother led during M.T.'s childhood at a Nevada testing site for atom bombs. Sylvia phones in from Oakland to describe how her mother turned whistleblower during the making of her documentary, Atomic Mom.

She also delves into kooky when not entirely creepy topics like the 1950s sinister symbiotic connection back then between glitzy Vegas and the nearby detonations; the giddy atomic bomb culture, including a nuclear theme park museum boasting a souvenir shop hawking fashion statements accessorizing for the apocalypse; nuclear playlists that were all the rage; protester cages; and a US military decree enforced in post-WW II Japan that criminalized even mentioning the existence of the atomic bombs dropped there.

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Occupy Hollywood: Movie critic and Cold War historian Dennis Broe weighs in on the politics of film noir, and implications for the class struggle today. And resistance currents in cinema taking place across the planet.
The LIU professor also considers how 9/11 impacted US culture with the militarism of entertainment; and that dubious Oscar winner The Artist as a manifestation of 'Sarkozyite entertainment.' And what it has to do with the secret cultural imperialist bid to impose the multiplex model in France, but that does not exist in the movie. Also, what's going down right now with the Occupy Movement on campus.

Stay tuned for continuing features of Arts Express: Expression In The Arts. Airing On WBAI Radio's Pacifica Network and Affiliate Stations, including WPRR: Public Reality Radio. And if you'd like to Express yourself too, you can write to: ArtsExpressradio@gmail.com

Prairie Miller is a NY multimedia journalist online, in print and on radio, and on WBAI/Pacifica National Radio Network's Arts Express. Read more reviews by Prairie Miller. Contact Prairie through NewsBlaze. Read more stories by Prairie Miller.

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