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Atomic Bomb Explosion

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Oppenheimer: An American Icarus
Author

Christopher Nolan is a British-American film director. He was born in London on July 30, 1970. Some of his other films include Dunkirk and Interstellar. His work is highly visually moving and often touches on theoretical sci-fi. The tone of his movies is often quite bleak, and many of his movies have interesting and nonlinear or complex timelines.
Summary

Oppenheimer is a 2023 movie about the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the titular physicist. The movie is easily split into three parts, focusing on the man, his creation, and what it cost him. The first part of the movie shows his communist background and education in physics. The middle section of the movie focuses on his leadership at Los Alamos National Laboratory (where the bomb was built), rising resistance against the bomb, and a successful test run of the bomb. Finally, the third section deals with Oppenheimer’s struggles after the bomb is used, the security hearings set up as a kangaroo court to strip Oppenheimer of his security clearance, and the presidential cabinet confirmation hearings of Lewis Strauss, the antagonist, who set up the anti-Oppenheimer security hearings due to a vendetta. The movie's three time periods are all cut into each other, so while it is linear, events do not play out entirely linearly. Interestingly, Strauss's confirmation hearings are shot in black and white.

Oppenheimer studies physics abroad across Europe before coming back to the United States and teaching at Berkeley, where he becomes good friends with fellow physics professor Ernest Lawrence. At Berkeley, Oppenheimer explores Communist and leftist circles in the 1930s, where he meets his lover, Jean Tatlock. Oppenheimer never joins the Communist Party but is supportive of their causes and supports a possible union of physicists. He then meets “Kitty” Katherine Puening with whom he begins an affair, and before long Kitty leaves her husband for Oppenheimer. General Leslie Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, then approaches Oppenheimer, saying that many people told him that Oppenheimer would be a bad fit for the Manhattan Project, but Oppenheimer convinces Groves that he would lead it well. In New Mexico, the military builds a mini city to develop the bomb, and Oppenheimer recruits top physicists from around the country. The development of the bomb or the “gadget” as they call it, takes over two years. Leading up to the testing of the bombs, many of the scientists become anxious and worry about how the bombs will be used. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki are bombed, Oppenheimer begins to feel incredibly guilty but chooses to embrace his “rock star” persona being gifted to him by the American people. He joins the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) where he has some skirmishes with the council's head, Lewis Strauss. Because of these skirmishes, Strauss develops a vendetta against Oppenheimer. Strauss orchestrates Oppenheimer's upcoming security clearance meeting to strip him of his government clearance. Later, Strauss is at the center of a senate confirmation hearing so he can be on the president's cabinet. However, a scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project and was against using the bombs on Japan speaks at the confirmation hearings and exposes Strauss’s previous actions against Oppenheimer. Strauss is then denied at the confirmation hearings. Oppenheimer is a visually stunning movie that ties together a singular man’s life and an all-encompassing worldwide legacy.

Analysis
Nolan creates a retelling of Icarus based on a book titled American Prometheus. Oppenheimer, Strauss, and the United States played with fire and got burned. The creation of nuclear weaponry was motivated by a thirst for power with the arrogant idea that the United States could control how nuclear would spread, and establish US hegemony. Oppenheimer and the United States’ relationship with nuclear weapons exist on parallel paths. Ultimately, Oppenheimer shows how the power struggles over nuclear weaponry all have one hubristic but fatal flaw: the idea that humanity can control nuclear weaponry.
This is a movie about hubristic power struggles. Oppenheimer and Strauss both believe that they have or should have power over nuclear weaponry, both are turned powerless. The United States government funds and creates nuclear weapons with the ideal that these weapons could further U.S. hegemony through capitalism and violence. In fact, Oppenheimer is seen as a threat to the U.S. government and the AEC because he represents and works to limit their hegemony. He has been connected to Communism in the past and is against the H-Bomb because of how violent it is, and how powerful it would make the U.S. government and AEC. Throughout the movie, the United States government pompously believes that it can be the sole country to possess nuclear weapons, this ultimately proves false and today nine countries have nuclear weapons. Time and time again, Oppenheimer shows how no single institution or actor can truly control nuclear weaponry, and it is delusional to think otherwise.
Every agent and institution involved in nuclear weaponry in the movie had their hegemonic dreams crushed, except for one agent: humanity. All the failed attempts at controlling nuclear weaponry speak to a deeper truth: it is impossible to control nuclear weaponry or its spread. Humans created these bombs in a thirst for power to destroy one another, now these bombs have the power and capacity to destroy all of humanity. There is no hopeful end to this story. The last few minutes of the movie show Oppenheimer coming to terms with his actions while coming to an understanding of how these bombs will end the world. The screen shows flashes of the entire earth catching fire, missiles being set off, and bomber planes (02:53:32-02:54:09). Humanity now hubristically believes we can control nuclear weaponry and we have created thousands of these weapons in a power-hungry craze. However, we have not and will not escape the hubristic and power-hungry traps that Oppenheimer, Strauss, and the United States government fell into. These bombs may be our undoing.

Conclusion

Oppenheimer, Strauss, and the United States government see the creation of nuclear as the peak of man, the peak of man’s intelligence, the peak of man’s desire for power. But Oppenheimer realizes that from this peak there is such a long way to fall. According to the Doomsday Clock, a theoretical clock sharing how close Earth is to nuclear apocalypse with 12 being the apocalypse, it is 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been. We are the first ever species to design their own extinction. Oppenheimer is a treatise and examination of how hubris, power, and annihilation all exist on the same dice, a dice that has been rolled by the creation of nuclear weaponry. While both Oppenheimer and Strauss’s power lust sealed their fates, our fate is not sealed yet. This movie, this history, and the world we have inherited are a call to action of nuclear disarmament. It is not midnight yet.

Bibliography
Albert, Melissa. "Christopher Nolan." Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Nolan-British-directorhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Nolan-British-director. Accessed 18 December 2023.
Bird, Kai, and Martin Sherwin. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1 May 2006.
Cornbill, Tim. “Cillian Murphy-2014.” Wikimedia Commons, 21 September 2014, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cillian_Murphy-2014.jpg. Accessed 19 December 2023.
Dunkirk. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Warner Brothers, 2017.
Interstellar. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Warner Brothers, 2014.
Mecklin, John. “Current Time - 2023.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Science and Security Board, 24 Jan. 2023, thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/. Accessed 18 December 2023.
Oppenheimer. Directed by Christopher Nolan, performance by Cillian Murphy, Universal Pictures, 2023.
“Fact Sheets & Briefs.” Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance | Arms Control Association, June 2023, www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat. Accessed 18 December 2023.
“FEMA-2720.” Wikimedia Commons, 1957, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEMA_-_2720_-_Photograph_by_FEMA_News_Photo.jpg. Accessed 19 December 2023.
“JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.” Wikimedia Commons,1944, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.jpg. Accessed 19 December 2023.
“Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss pers0164.” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lewis_Lichtenstein_Strauss_pers0164.jpg. Accessed 19 December 2023.
“Trinity test (LANL).” Wikimedia Commons, 1945, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trinity_test_(LANL).jpg. Accessed 19 December 2023.
The Disorienting Nature of Nuclear Power in Gianni Dova's Explosion
By Ella Allan-Rahill

Who is Gianni Dova?

Gianni Dova was an Italian artist born in Rome in 1925. His works developed over time from the style of surrealism to more of an abstractionist or avant-garde style, especially around the 1950s. He was first seen as a member of the "Art Autre" movement, focusing on abstractionism, in the 40s and 50s. Then, in the 1950s, Dova joined Enrico Baj, Sergio Dangelo, and Gianni Bertini in founding the artist group responsible for creating the arte nucleare movement. This group of four published two manifestos and their work was born as a response to the nuclear age. Much of Dova’s status was attributed to these works he contributed to the nuclear art movement. Dova created over 1,000 works before he died in 1991, at the age of 66.
Explosion

One of Dova's works, Explosion, was a part of the nuclear art movement and is featured in a collection called “Arte Nucleare” by Tate. Dova created this piece in 1953 by using a number of colors of enamel, which he poured on a canvas. The work features a large multi-colored circle in the center of the canvas; the right quarter of the background is a two-toned blue rectangle, while the left three-quarters of the background is black. The circle in the center of the canvas is somewhat evocative of a globe. Its core is primarily green, while the colors scattered amidst and around it include red, white, yellow, purple, blue, and black. There is an almost uninterrupted rim of white around the circle, one of the more controlled-seeming parts of the work considering the relatively scattered look of everything else. Given when this painting was created, and the collection it is a part of, much analysis ought to be done considering this piece to be some commentary on the nuclear age. Because of the abstract style of the piece, it is difficult to draw clear conclusions where it might be easier to with more straightforward modes of representation such as photographs. When analyzing this work, the key things to note are the combination of bright poppy colors in the center circle, the shapes of these many colors, and the background sections.
See the work in full here!
This chaotic combination of colors in the image might lead the viewer to imagine the earth exploding, especially given the circle in the center, similar to the shape of the globe, combined with the title of the piece. One might also view this on a smaller scale, as a single nuclear explosion that has obscured whatever was initially there and turned it into a mixed cloud of all of its separate parts. Either of these interpretations offers a good explanation for the many colors shown here, especially when we think of each color as an object influenced by a nuclear explosion. On either scale, the few red splatters around the circle might be evocative of blood. Combined with the white handprint-like features at the bottom of the painting, these two elements add a human aspect to a painting that otherwise would likely not make the viewer think of humans. While the combination of bright colors gives the painting a playful look, the red splotches and the handprints add to a more sinister feel.
Next, the viewer might wonder about the reason why the background is divided into two sections: the right quarter a two-toned light blue, and the left three-quarters black speckled with white. If we imagine that this painting depicts the direct aftermath of a nuclear bombing, the background colors could be explained as the ocean and the night sky, or perhaps the sky and the ground. The ocean argument makes particular sense if we relate this painting to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both oceanside cities, the bombings of which took place just eight years before the creation of this piece. However, with either of these explanations, we’re forced to consider why Dova would have oriented the piece this way with the “ocean” on one side and the “sky” on the other versus on the top and bottom. My best interpretation of this would be that in the aftermath of a nuclear event, everything is turned around, jumbled up, and disoriented. The impact of these events is so great that up and down don’t matter as much anymore; many common things become less significant.

While the abstract form of this painting may be confusing to some viewers, when the key aspects of the work are examined: its colors, their shapes, and their orientations, it becomes a piece that captures the insanity of the nuclear age. The multitude of colors are evocative of the many living things on earth, all thrown together and mixed up after a nuclear explosion. Some of the shapes of these colors, such as the white rim or the red spots are reminiscent of other images, such as a cloud of dust, or splotches of blood. Finally, the circular center image may make the viewer think of it as the Earth, while the orientation of the background leads to confusion, a feeling that is likely to be a response to the experiences of nuclear explosions. This painting appeals to those with an eye for abstractionism while also commenting on the absurdity of nuclear power.

Bibliography
‌“Gianni Dova.” MuranoNet, www.muranonet.com/en-us/blogs/unfold-venice/gianni-dova. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.
‌Gianni. “Gianni Dova.” Mutualart.com, Gianni Dova | 1,348 Artworks at Auction | MutualArt, 2023, https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Gianni-Dova/675EC28C2EECCD60#:~:text=%20Gianni%20Dova%20%.
“Gianni Dova, Notes of Biography, Gallery Champetier.” www.mchampetier.com, www.mchampetier.com/biography-Gianni-Dova.html. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.
Tate. “Art Autre – Art Term.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/art-autre.
‌Tate. “Arte Nucleare – Art Term.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/arte-nucleare.
Tate. “Gianni Dova 1925–1991.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/gianni-dova-1026. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.
Tate. “Tachisme – Art Term.” Tate, www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/t/tachisme. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.

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By Ella Allan-Rahill

Who is Gianni Dova?

Explosion

See the work in full here!