The fear of the biological effects of radioactivity: «Humanity in danger» and «Japan under the terror of the monster»
Abstract In the 1950s, two important discoveries were carried out. In the first place, the structure of nucleic acids was discovered and secondly, the deleterious effects of radioactivity in humans were characterized. As a consequence, films started to show the fears of the societies against the new threats by means of the traditional association of science fiction and terror plots. In Them! (1954) the appearance of giant ants as a consequence of nuclear experiments in the US causes the panic in the population. In Godzilla (1954), now the threat is generated by a gigantic creature that comes from the sea in Japan, as a sample of the aftermath of the nuclear bombing of the previous decade. Both films are good examples of how the society started to be worried by a menace which is still present in Western countries.
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Glassy MC. 2005. The Biology of Science Fiction Cinema. Jefferson, N C: McFarland and Co; 2005. p. 55?80, 212?221.
Noriega C. Godzilla and the Japanese nightmare: When Them! is U.S. Cinema J. 1987; 27: 63?75.
Nottingham S. 2005. Genetically Modified Cinema. An essay for the catalogue of Put on Your Blue Genes: Put on your Blue Genes: BioTech Kunst und die Verheissungen der Biotechnologie. Berlin, 2005. [Consultado el 31 de enero de 2014]. Disponible en www.stephennottingham.co.uk/berlin.htm
Passarge E. Genética. Texto y Atlas. Buenos Aires: Panamericana; 2004. p. 5?8.
Rabkin ES. Science Fiction and the Future of Criticism. PMLA. 2004;193(3): 458?73.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1632/003081204x20488
Rodríguez?Moreno JJ. La energía atómica vista a través de la cultura popular estadounidense: una aproximación. Investigaciones históricas: Época moderna y contemporánea 2011; 31: 165?200.
Schull WJ. The somatic effects of exposure to atomic radiation: The Japanese Experience, 1947–1997. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998; 95(10):5437–41.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.95.10.5437
Serrano?Cueto JM. De lo fantástico a lo real: Diccionario de la ciencia en el cine. Madrid: Nívola libros e ediciones, 2003; p. 156?157.
Telotte JP. Science fiction film. New York: Cambridge University Press; 2001. p. 39?45.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511613159
Tsutsui WM. Looking straight at Them! Understanding the Big Bug Movies of the 1950s. Environment Hist 2007; 12: 237?253.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/envhis/12.2.237
Rodríguez, G., & Baños, J.-E. (2014). The fear of the biological effects of radioactivity: «Humanity in danger» and «Japan under the terror of the monster». Journal of Medicine and Movies, 10(4), 183–188. Retrieved from https://revistas.usal.es/cinco/index.php/medicina_y_cine/article/view/13588
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