Rochester Review: Joanne Bernardi on "History, in Celluloid"

November 1, 2010

Professor Bernardi with her own collection of monster movie memorabilia
There are many iconic images of the nuclear age, but among those spawned by pop culture, perhaps none is more familiar than a certain enormous lizard. "Atomic Creatures: Godzilla," a film and media studies course taught this fall by Joanne Bernardi, an associate professor of Japanese and a member of the film and media studies program faculty, takes a look at the phenomenon that generated and helped define the Japanese kaiju eiga, or monster film. "I think it's the most important course I teach—it's a matter of life and death," says Bernardi, who says the films bring together cultural and historical responses to nuclear issues.