Note: This was written for my English class. We were instructed to watch the famous short film "Duck and Cover" and give our reaction. This is that reaction.
Ah, the 1950’s in America; a veritable wonderland of repressed sexuality, not-so-repressed racism, and really unrepressed hatred of communism. A man had a better chance of claiming he were a serial killer and being accepted at a dinner party than pledging support for what could vaguely construed as support for “social-type government policies”. Seeing as I was not alive during this period of time, the reader might wonder where this schema of the fifties came from. My answer would be the 1999 film “Blast from the Past” starring Christopher Walken, Brendan Fraser, and Alicia Silverstone. I have gauged this source to be “reliable”. I also may have taken a few US History courses as well.
“Duck and Cover” is a stunning example of kitsch, which in itself is something of an oxymoron. Regardless, it has that lovely fifties quality that so many of the studios at the time strove to capture; the black and white animation mixed with live action shots (none of which have the audio intact), the music with the mixed men’s/women’s vocal arrangements, and certainly most importantly, the narrator. The mid-quality recording of Robert Middleton’s dulcet vocals surely sets the tone for this film. Though only his second job, and despite a lack of what those in the business call “getting credit for the job”, Middleton IS “Duck and Cover”. His heavy-handed narration provides reassurance for schoolchildren all over the country that despite the reckless destructive power of the bomb, it is no match for their school desks or even a newspaper and picnic blanket. If only the Japanese had known!
While Robert Middleton is the backbone, nerve tissue, and tendon structure of “Duck and Cover”, director extraordinaire Anthony Rizzo is certainly the thyroids and appendix. Although removable and basically replaceable by any number of other body parts, life’s easier with them. Conversely, this film goes slightly smoother with him at the helm. So wide is his fame, in fact, that his Wikipedia page merely states that he his “known for the short documentary film ‘Duck and Cover’”. Now that’s a legacy for the ages. It was Rizzo who made the bold decision to have Middleton literally narrate the lines which were being spoken by the actors on screen, rather than give us the luxury of actually hearing the timbres of their voices. Now that’s a director that doesn’t let his stars get out of line!
After all this in-depth analysis of the masterminds behind the government propaganda that is “Duck and Cover”, it feels like a good time to draw some modern day parallels. All this is no different than the film we all had to watch in eighth grade about what to do in the event of a terrorist attack. Oh wait, hold on, that’s right, we never got that video. Apparently these days the government is perfectly content to leave its future (the children!) out to dry in the event of disaster. Despite the fact that the most any terrorists have used is some planes, it seems they’ve already resigned us to the grave. This in contrast to the fifties, when, in the face of the most powerful weapons ever constructed, the government was still willing to give tips on how to make body armor for your neck out of your own hands. Thanks government!
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