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Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!decvax!harpo!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!jay
From: jay@umcp-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: The Day After
Message-ID: <3957@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 20-Nov-83 23:59:08 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3957
Posted: Sun Nov 20 23:59:08 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Nov-83 03:12:50 EST
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept.
Lines: 25

Well, it's all over now for the fictitious residents of Lawrence Kansas and the
world as they know it but the fallout from The Day After (TDA) has yet to run
its full course.  It is clear that the media has made this made-for-tv movie
a much bigger deal than it deserves to be.  Had not the Reagan Administration
been so fearful of the backlash of U. S. citizenry, I wonder just how many
people would have bothered to watch, much less venture an opinion as to the
feasibility or accuracy of events portrayed on the screen.  For myself, I was
very disappointed.  Media hype invariably builds up my expectations but I guess
being a child of the 50's, I am inured to all I watch on television.  It was
refreshing to see a sparcity of dialog and no attempt on the part of the
characters to do any substantial moralizing.  Also, ABC's closing remark 
regarding the conservative depiction of destruction struck me as ringing true.

I'm delighted that TDA got shown and hope that the hype caused a flurry of 
interest on the part of those not generally prone to waxing political.
Dialogue is always healthy; the busier we are talking to one another, the
less likely (I would like to believe, at any rate) we are to beat up on our
neighbors much less blow ourselves up.  It's been 20 years since there's been
such a stir made by an apocalyptic film.  1964 saw three: Seven Days in May,
Fail-Safe, and Dr. Strangelove.  We are clearly fixated by the possibility
of effecting our own destruction.  On the other hand, because we can see the 
grisly side of things, we can attempt to correct for them.  A government 
unwilling to support a forum for discussion is a danger to its people.
-- 
Jay Elvove       ..!seismo!umcp-cs!jay