An Extraordinary Achievement of the American Way: Hollywood and the Americanization of the making of the atom bomb in Fat Man & Little Boy

Abstract

This article examines the Americanization of popular culture on the domestic front. It uses director Roland Joff's film Fat Man & Little Boy (UK release title: The Shadow Makers) as a case study to analyze the Americanization of the story of the creation of the atom bomb in postwar American culture. The study places the picture within its wider cultural historical context and traces the film's ideology not only back to the beginning of the nuclear age but to larger trends regarding science, technology and nationalism in the US history. Special emphasis is given to three main areas of investigation: the film's place in Hollywood's engagement with the saga of the making of the atomic bomb, its evocation of nostalgia and its omission of many international contributions, especially those by foreign-born scientists, to the Manhattan Project.