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