Daily Ncbrsskan
Tuesday, November 22, 1933
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ABC claims its Sunday night movie
"The Day After" wasn't political. Its
purpose, the network claims, simply
was to vividly portray the horrors of a
nuclear war.
But did we really need a 2V4-hour
movie to show us that?
Did we have to watch people being
vaporized on our television screen to
know that millions of people would die
in a nuclear blast?
Surety it didnt take a television
movie for us to know that a nuclear
war would be horrible.
The political implications of the film
are obviousGround Zero and similar
pro-nuclear freeze groups across the
country are using The Day After" to
support their cause.
Scriptwriter Edward Hume publicaily
stated that he hoped the movie would
causa people to question our current
nuclear policy. Director Nicholas Meyer
said the movie was produced for tele
vision instead of the theaters because
it would enable him "to clobber 60 mil
lion people over the head."
Clearly, those in charge of producing
the movie wanted us to get more out of it
than how terrible a nuclear conflict
would be.
ABCs only claim to being non-political
is that viewers never were told whether
the United States or the Soviet Union
launched the first warheads. , -
Listening to the pro-freeze groups,
Tcs
2L
tiral
Day3
for limited nuclear war
The thing that bothered me most
about "The Day After" was that it pres
ented such a one-sided look at nuclear
war. As was pointed out in the panel
discussion afterward, the film de
picted a general nuclear war, there is
such a thing as a limited nuclear war,
after all.
Therefore, in the interest of equal
time, we present the shooting scrip of a
() Mike
. - Frost
?w made-for-television movie, titled
The Day After," or "It's a Beautiful Day
in the Neighborhood." .
Radio Announcer: We have just re
ceived word that those durned Rus
sians have fired several nuclear mis-
siles in this direction. You might want
to head to your basement or. some
thing. Now back to music, this is Bon
nie Tyler with her big hit, "A fotal
Eclipse of "
BOOM
7 (A number of sequences are shown,
featuring missiles launching, mush
room clouds forming and shoppers in
various supermarkets looking quite
concerned.)
Rob: Boy, that was a close one.
Laura: Cough, cough. You bet it was.
Looks likeTlt got the Murphys next'
door.
Rob: Maybe we ought to go over and
investigate.
Laura: Good idea,' Darling. Let me
run upstairs and change into some
thing respectable.
Rob: OK, but hurry it up, Darling.
Remember, we're supposed to bowl
Richie: Daddy, Daddy!
Rob: Hi Sugarplum.
Richie: Daddy, Daddy! There was a
big 'splossoxu I'm scared, Daddy.
Rob: Nothing to be scared about ray
little ragamuUn. Here, go ahead and
; gnaw on this carrot, cv . .
Richie: But, Daddy, it's brown.
:y Rob: That's peculiar. ;:;;y ;
Laura: OK, Darling, let's p see how
the Murphys fared.
(There m a knock at the door).
Mark: Hi folks, my name is Mark Har
ris. Would it be all right if I took shelter
here for a while? - :r--- ;
Laura: Shelter? From what?
Mark Well, gosh. (He blushes).
Kob: Tell us son, what is it?
Hark: Oh I don't know, I gucsi nuc
lear bombs ive me the heitie-jscbis3.
Laura: Well, as a matter cf fact, we
were just, gsing next doer for a few
minutes. I guess if you wouldn't mind -
- Hark: Thanks. I'd really appreciate
; it '.-'.V . lf.f? " y
.2" . "5 .
Richie: K mom. See ya' later.
Mark: Boy, your parents sure are
cool about all this.
Richie: Well this is the third time this
year this has happened. Ever since dad .
converted the tool shed into a missile
silo.
Mark: Gosh, that's horrible! Just ima
gine what that must do to property
values.
(The scene moves to the rubble that
once was the Murphys lovely ranch
style home.)
Rob: Herb! Lilly! Come on you guys,
where are you? - .
Laura: What a mess. I hope they're
allriht. . , ;
Rob: Leave it to a woman to fret Hey, '
Herb!
Herb: Here we are Rob! Over here,
under the chimney.
Rob: Boy, it looks like you guys had a
wild party over here or something. Heh
heh heh.
Herb: Yeah, poker may have to be at
your house this week, heh heh heh. I
don't understand it. This is the third
time our house has been destroyed
this year. "
Laura- Rob, maybe it wasnt such a
good idea about the tool shed.
Rob: Ixna on the oolta edsha.
Herb: What?
Laura: Come on Lilly, 111 help you in
the kitchen. Where is it?
Lilly: I think its over there, under
neath the garage. Hey, thanks for com
ing over you two.
Rob: Yeah, I guess it's times like these .
when you know who your friends are.
Laura: And especially who your ene
miesare! Herb: How about once we finish
cleaning up this mess, we all go out and
get bombed! ' - f
They ail laugh. .
Announcer: What you have just seen
probably exaggerated the efTscts of a
limited nuclear war. Sorry if we scared
you. We now return you to the "licit to
Hart" . ' .
'rv;3-'ElItos,Ial
; "Policy
f - t -
J V Vf
Unsigned editorials represent cl'i--cisi
policy "of the fall 1CC3 Daily Na
braskan. They are written by this"
esmsstsr's editor in chief, Larry Sparks. '
Other staTf members will write. edi-,
torisb throughout th3 semester. They
wiUcarry the author's name after the
Editorials do not necessarily reject '
the vlrv.-s cf the uri'.-crcity, its employee -or
the IU Ecard cf Ecsnts'",.. . . .
- . Tl. 3 D : "y I Izl ra.: n'3 put lirhcrs ere
the Tcczziz, who c,:t::;L:hcd the UNL'
VulzzMzzs Ea-rJ. t3 rrve the
:.'. r"r: "z ?" tjz it t"j the rtctrls,
you get the ridiculous impression that
there are two sides to the issue: those
who favor nuclear war and those who
oppose it. In reality, the only argument
is over what path we should follow to
prevent such a conflict
That's where "The Day After" failed.
If it was the thought-provoking film its
supporters claim it is, both sides of the
issue would have been presented.
But the movie makes the not-so-subtle
point that continuing down our
present path will result in nuclear
holocaust It ignores the possibility cf
preventing war through negotiations
and the theory of maintaining peace
through strength.
What "The Day After" and the prop
onents of the freeze fail to make clear is
that the nuclear warheads cn Ameri
soil are not the ones that ultimate
could destroy cur nation. It h the ones
in the Soviet Union that could decide
our fate.
It would be desirable for both of the
superpowers to reduce their nuclear
arsenals. It b easy to surxt that the
United States follow such a path but
few people haw come up with a solution
as to how we can get the Soviets to
follow suit.
That, not whether or not nuclear
war would be terrible, b the issue
, "lie Day After should have examined.
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John F. Kennedy May 29, 1917-Nov. 22, 1963
inccmhabie
Above all he f John F. Kennedvl tave thp wnrW fnr ?n
moment in the vision of a leader who greatly understood ths terror and
the hope, the diversity and the possibility, of life on this pbnet znd who
made people look beyond nation and race to the future cf humanity.
... . t . ' Arthur llsicr Ssklcsizscr, Jr.
istory fin'ds' JFK wortliy
It has been 20 years since John F.
Kennedy's assassination and the
memory of Kennedy has been an im-
. pcrtant bfluence for justice and ideal
ism from that day. Hb rhetoric and
Clor have made him into a sort cf
ir-rtdnt symbol, invoked to support a
nuclear freeze (even though Kennedy
started the use of ICElI's on a large
scale) or even a combined tax cut and
spending increase, as Kemp-Roth
advocates .used him.
To fairly evaluate Kennedy, we
; might use st andards he mentioned in a
speech to the Llaisachusetts State
Legislature soon acr he became pres
ident: "And vhen at seme future data '
the hih court cf history sits in judg-
; meat on each cf us.. . . our success or
failure, in whatever cr.ee we hold, wO
be measured by the answers.to four
. questions: First, were we truly msn cf
courr -3 . . . Csccr.d, were we tru men
cf judrsnt ... Third, were we truly
mm cf Jr. rily . . . Finally, were we
t: V' -TcIi'-.'rt;.:;?"
raLL.g ethical Q-sstions have a-
rissn over some Kennedy Admir.istra
" tisn ' decisions, " such :.i his brother
Robert's surveOar.ee cf Ucrtin Luther .
King during Hsb trt Kcnr.sds term as
attorney pr.srd. In dsdiaatisn; as in
when he fell short. -
Yet President Kennedy's mar.y posi
tive Achievements and ciTsrts are un
Questicnable. hn iX wc.3 ms.t cssen-
tial, Kennedy ras Lrr:.::t in pcrt of
civil ri-.ts and L-d:;ratis;i, ar.d all
" through hb term he fsir'.t for what
'became the Chil Ef-hts Act cf IC25
and what became the Ilcdisare pro-
Though he ran a campa'i m ItZO
dscrjir.g the "missile zX Kennedy
pushed through the Crst nuclsar arms
ban.
Our Ju:'-.".s:;t cf i:cr.T.sdy r.:::t, in
all fairns: 13 cn r-r:.:,l." : c.3
that in rpita cf crrcrs :r.J ;rsr, he
was tra!y a rr;rn cf cc-rr - ' .sat,
ir.t: -ity ar.J C: sissti : " ' ' '
' ' i:.:.:I::r::a
