The Beginning or the End (1947) by Norman Taurog
Sunday, November 13, 1988, 7:00 pm
The Myth of the Male Project: Hollywood and the Atom Bomb
Tonight Cinematheque will screen two films which visiting artist Ken Jacobs will focus on in the lecture he will deliver at the S.F. Art Institute on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 PM (“The Myth of the Male Project”). The two films depict the development and dropping of the first atomic bomb: The Beginning or the End (1947) and Above and Beyond (1952). “Soggy sagas of male birth; no mean and mundane female begetting boundless fantasy of cosmic convulsion: the sky is not the limit! And what do men deliver? Atom bombs for starters. Pity the poor Japs, of course, but atombombing our prostrate enemy (read Gar Alperowitz) was merely incidental to the release of energy itself. That was the event, the rest was all in the game, in the necessary contesting that elicits sublime accomplishment. Sublime because a divine manifestation was invoked by an exclusively male, techno-military, hierarchical priesthood releasing into our world a quality of energy unknown to it (America had made it into the big time, had been chosen to fulfill history).” — K.J.