Let's Face It (1953)

Civil Defense films came in all shapes and sizes. Some had a target audience, such as children or housewives, and some, such as "Let's Face It," aimed more broadly for America's adult, white, middle-class population. Each film often concerned a different part of Civil Defense training, though they all emphasized the importance individual Americans played in preparing for and surviving a nuclear attack, therefore linking national, patriotic identity to the civil defense program. No matter their unique approaches to the program, most civil defense films constructed a narrative of survival around a mixture of terroizing viewers to solicit compliance and pacifying and comforting them by naturalizing nuclear weapons themselves, as well as civil defense procedures. "Let's Face It," uses a familiar tactic by relying on disturbing footage of a controlled nuclear test to demonstrate that proper civil defense practices could lead to survival. - Civil Defence Cinema


LETS FACE IT
UNITED STATES AIRFORCE (1953)
13 MIN
USA