Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Bert the Turtle
Bert the Turtle was an icon that arose during the cold war. Because of the threat of nuclear war, preparations were to be made. Bert the Turtle was a cartoon character that taught kids to "duck and cover", which was a way of safety from the shockwave. Of course, we know that doing so would not prevent one from dying from a nuclear blast because they are much more powerful than an earthquake for example, where ducking under a desk and covering your neck would actually protect something from damage. The Bert the Turtle cartoon was directed towards students, telling them what to do during a nuclear blast. He came from the video "Duck and Cover" which was a civil defense training film. The need for this video arose in the first place because of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Both nations were testing powerful bombs that could destroy a city in a matter of seconds. The fear of having to deal with nuclear war caused people to stock up on food and also build bomb shelters in their basements. Today there are still remnants of those shelters. The video shows people in different situations when an atomic bomb supposedly explodes, and it explains how to duck and cover in different places. Though this may help a little bit, it is no match against the shockwave of an atomic bomb. The video may have been helpful if the people were very far away from the explosion site, but not much elsewhere.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This idea of using cartoons to send messages to kids and parents in the home was a very common idea in the Cold War. As well as Bert the Turtle, Bugs Bunny was a very popular cartoon that was also representative of Cold War messages. The cartoons were used to talk about simple messages as well as things that the nation and cartoon creators thought were necessary to know, just like the drop and roll message that Bert the Turtle betrayed.
ReplyDeleteBert the Turtle was created by the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), which was established by Congress in 1951. This administration warned Americans that the "back yard may be the next front line," and so distributed millions of civil defense manuals to help people prepare for a nuclear attack. Civil defense preparedness became part of daily life, with some families even burying underground shelters in the backyard.
ReplyDeleteI know that Bert the Turtle's tactic of "duck and cover" was meant to help people understand what to do during an actual nuclear war or nuclear attack, but how does doing so actually protect someone from the blast itself? It's just a precautionary measure, like how current day schools do earthquake and code red/blue drills. It helps in some ways to relieve the stress of potentially getting hurt, but will it do anything in reality when a country drops a nuclear bomb?
ReplyDelete