One particular September morning, when I was 17 years old, has stuck in my mind.
It began when I got on the number 28 bus to go to work. I remember sitting down, & sensing that the atmosphere was really strange. I’d even use the word eerie.
Nobody was talking [it was pre mobile phones], & as I glances around I could see a lot of the passengers on the bus wearing facial expressions akin to ‘a rabbit in headlights’. I was actually glad to hop off the bus [see what I did there?]. But when I got on the next bus the ‘feeling’ was almost the same. In fact it was worse, due to there being more folks aboard. It was quite unsettling.
The ‘strangeness’ carried on through the morning, for most of which I was very tired. This was down to lack of sleep because of what I’d watched on the telly prior to going to bed the night before.
It then dawned on me …… ‘Threads’, they'd seen it too.
It appeared lots of individuals, young & old alike, had found the ‘docudrama’ extremely disturbing. I was glad when things got back to ‘normal’.
Then, almost 40 years later in, 2020, that same ‘atmosphere’ showed-up again. But it crept-in this time [& involved people wearing masks].
Back to present day: I started to watch ‘Threads’ again. But after the last six years, & knowing what I know now, it just made me bloody angry. Because I believe the airing of this ‘docudrama’ by the BBC [of course] in 1984, was a social experiment & part of our ‘conditioning’. I also reckon it’s re-release in 2024 [with it’s clever marketing: a film so ‘horrific’ no one could watch it for 20 years & It’s only been shown four times!] was another way to keep us in the mindset ‘they’ so require us to stay in … scared shitless.
⚠️ Please do not watch this film if you are easily upset ⚠️
[Regardless of your views on ‘nuclear weapons’]
Trailer:
A young couple in the British working-class city of Sheffield are preparing for their wedding while global tensions are rising.
As their big day approaches, global nuclear warfare erupts—leaving millions dead. This shocking docudrama depicts the unravelling of society following mass devastation
Full film:
Related:
Duck & Cover [1951]
Famous Civil Defence film for children in which Bert the Turtle shows what to do in case of atomic attack.
This was selected for the 2004 National Film Registry of ‘culturally, historically and aesthetically significant motion pictures’
…… Nice
yuck.
What if nuclear weapons don't exist?