"Bye Bye Blues"

I created this video using clips of atom bomb records and children's videos made during the 1950s. I wanted to contrast the upbeat, jazzy music with these clips of war and threats of atomic bombs. The old videos serve as a dark, yet comic remnant of how the government shaped the childhoods of so many people; they built up anxiety from Cold War tensions through their "duck and cover" drills and education that frightened more than it warned. The turtle, Bert the Turtle, was a hero character in the "Duck and Cover" education campaign created to help families and children know what to do in the event of a nuclear explosion. The slapstick violent cartoon comedy is familiar, but the context and the threat of being attacked in the 1950's sets a new perspective.

At the climax of the audio, I gathered clips from the records of atomic bombs as well as a haunting animation made in 1956 called "A Short Vision," by Peter and Joan Foldes. I lined up the clips with the audio to give an eerie presentation of the bombs' power. I set out to highlight the juxtaposition between the cartoonish children's characters and the images of mass destruction.