Diigo and a Movie Review: The Atomic Age

Normally, I have been using Diigo in order to show that I am doing outside researching other than the materials that we are given to read as a class. But I thought this probably wasn't the best or only use of Diigo. I don't know how many of you actually look at the bookmarks that others in our class put on Diigo, but I found it quite wonderful to just look at the information that others had posted about the Atomic Age on Diigo recently. It led me to a great overview of a bunch of different topics in the Atomic Age. I would recommend that others use it as a tool to finding information about the topics in class.

For my blog today, I felt it would be good to do something different, and do a Movie Review of an older movie titled, "Above and Beyond" from 1952.

"Above and Beyond" is the Hollywood version of the story of Colonel Paul Tibbets, who was the pilot of the B-29 bomber that dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. (Here's a great blog about Col. Tibbets) "Above and Beyond" gives us an interesting glimpse into more of the personal life of Colonel Tibbets. Imagine being married and having a family, getting called to do a job that would take you away from your family months at a time, and you couldn't tell your wife or kids ANYTHING about what you were doing. It creates great anxiety and tension within Col. Tibbets' family, and puts a huge strain on Col. Tibbets himself. On top of all of this, Col. Tibbets also has to struggle with the fact that he will be killing THOUSANDS of people by dropping this bomb over Hiroshima. Having a family of his own, Col. Tibbets struggles greatly with realizing he will be killing families just like his own, in order to stop the war and save MILLIONS of lives. The personal story of Col. Tibbets comes to life in this film, which gives you a very different, and personal view of war. I would give the movie 7 out of 10 stars for portraying the reality of the brutality and emotional strain of war, and for the wonderful character development of Col. Tibbets and his family.

The Atomic Age, in a way, has focused more on people collectively, rather than the individual. The thing I love about this movie is that it focuses on individuals, and the interactions among them. In today's world, as a result of the Atomic Age, and of the internet, there are many times that we focus on people in general, and how PEOPLE act. However, I think it is also important that we realize that we are also all individuals, and each one of us is important. This is where our Father in Heaven, and Jesus Christ, are great models for us. They care about people collectively, but they also know, and care about, each of us INDIVIDUALLY. It is important, then, that we care about people collectively, but also care about each other individually. We need both in our lives to stay balanced.