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| (Fallout Shelter Handbook Cover) |
My recent interest in the Cold War and the culture it created compelled me to take a closer look at this cover for a 1962 guide to building and living in a fallout shelter. At the centre of the cover is an image of a white, middle class, suburban mother, father, and child—the ideal nuclear family. This image is particularly powerful because it suggests that even after a full-scale nuclear attack, the American, capitalist way of life will still prevail. Considering the Cold War was a clash of economic ideologies and of ways of living more so than it was a clash of literal military force, suggesting the post-nuclear attack survival of the American way of life is extremely important to the rhetoric of this piece. In essence, not only will this guide save your family’s life, it will save their comfortable, domestic way of life.
Also, the image and the preview of contents text at the bottom of the page suggest that the Cold War itself is something that can be tackled domestically with the consumer goods that help drive the American capitalist way of life. In the image, this family is not just surviving, but they are surviving comfortably with all the goods they possessed above ground. Looking at the family, the mother looks at ease with her presumably well-stocked pantry of supplies, the father lounges peacefully in his stylish and new looking chair while smoking a pipe and listening to a record, and the child sets the table with clean dishes on neat, white placemats. This family, and other middle-class families just like them, can buy their safety and comfort.
The text at the bottom of the page reinforces the message of the image by providing a shopping list of sorts. Each point on the cover either tells a family what they will need to buy in order to survive a nuclear attack, or tells them that somewhere else in the book will tell them what they will need.
Fallout Shelter Handbook Cover. 1962. Fallout Shelter Handbook. By Chuck West. New York: Fawcett Publications. Cover. Print.
I particularly like that the man is longuing while the women (I'm assuming the "child" is female because of the hair) prepare him dinner. Because he definitely needs to be waited on after a hard day at the office... wait a second.
ReplyDeleteIt almost suggests that the familial roles will still be in place, with the "father/husband" being provider even though all provisions would already be in place.
Also, on a less intellectual note, where is the bathroom? Is it behind the curtain?
I also like that the man is lounging while the wife and child make him dinner. Even though the traditional, nuclear family gender roles are somewhat irrelevant in the shelter (as you referred to, the man is no longer in a role to provide), these roles are still firmly in place.
ReplyDeleteGreat image!
ReplyDelete