duck and cover

[mechers]

There was a program on public radio today (link when available) about memories of the Cold War. Callers were talking about their memories of school, of watching films like Duck and Cover and having bomb drills. I was born in 1982. The Cold War was nearly over when I was in school. I never watched a propaganda film. We had bomb drills, sure,

Comments

[product_junkie]

[mechers]

Was this in a regular episode? I can remember watching the chipmunks but very few specifics.

[product_junkie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alvin_and_the_Chipmunks_episodes#
Season 6 (1988)
72A. "The Wall"
The Chipmunks go to Berlin to play in the "Wall of Iron" concert by the Berlin Wall. There they meet and befriend a young girl named Caterina whom has a brother named Eric that lives on the other side.

This is how I first learned about about the Berlin Wall. I was 8 years old. That clip still gives me goosebumps!

Did you see the movie Good Bye Lenin? It's a funny commentary on all this stuff.

[mechers]

Thank goodness it's not just me, then. Every time it comes up I feel all goose-pimply like I have ghost feelings from another era.

I really liked Good Bye Lenin. Heartwarming in a dark sort of way, like real life family drama.

[mechers]

Also, can you imagine a mainstream cartoon doing social commentary today? It's unthinkable. No one would touch it.

[product_junkie]

it's true; there are very very few issue-based mainstream cartoons out there. so many of them are "zany" or based on the absurd, which can be fun, but yeah: not a lot of politics on teevee in general these days.

i think that the reason this particular story got the green-light to get passed around to the kiddies is that ultimately it poses no threat to the media industrial complex. i mean, the moral of the story is, "check it out, kids! capitalism and free trade will always win out in the end and everyone will be happier for it!" i feel like there was a lot of post-9/11 chest-thumping on kids teevee that is kind of comparable.