116: "The Day After"; Or, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, M.A.D. World
Description
We all get mad about things sometimes, and during the Cold War, the U.S. government was mad about “M.A.D.”. That’s because “M.A.D.” “Mutually Assured Destruction” - was a global concern on everyone’s mind. And the fear that foreign countries (/cough/** Russia cough) would use nuclear weapons wasn’t only causing chaos in the Oval Office. Hollywood and TV studios were just as interested in it, because where there’s fear, there’s an audience. And one studio - and one movie in particular - took that fear of nuclear engagement and decided to make a movie that showed exactly how horrible things could get if those missiles started flying.
Rob teaches Ray and Daniel about the 1983 T.V. movie “The Day After,” which depicted the immediate and devastating fallout of a nuclear war; how Nicholas Meyer, the movie’s director, went behind ABC’s back in order to make film as realistic, and realistically graphic, it would be in reality; why Ronald Reagan himself said the movie made him “greatly depressed”; the fact that “The Day After” may have played a role in ending the Cold War; and how pieces of art and media, even if they’re fictional, have the power to change global politics.
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TEAM
EPISODE CLIPS
”The Day After" Abc Movie Intro 1983
The Tv Movie That Destroyed Lawrence, Kansas and May Have Saved the World
Family Reacts to the Movie the Day After
The Day After (1983) & Abc News Viewpoint Original Wpvi-Tv 6abc Broadcast 11–20–1983
ADDITIONAL MUSIC & SOUND EFFECTS
“This Was A Thing” Theme Songs composed by Billy Recce
"Happy Bee”
• Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
• Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0
• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Additional Sound Effects from Final Cut Pro, iLife, and Logic Pro
United States
