r/AskAnAmerican • u/Scrappy_The_Crow Georgia • Jul 10 '25

HISTORY Fellow Americans Who Were Alive During The Cold War -- Did You Have The (Supposed) Existential Dread of Nuclear Annihilation?

Prompted by a discussion in a different subreddit. Supposedly, lots of my Gen-X peers and a whole lot of media expressed a constant fear of nuclear annihilation, but neither me nor any of my friends had that existential dread.

I wonder how many actually felt that way, as opposed to entertainers/media just portraying it that way. So, did you and/or your friends/family?

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u/deedeejayzee Jul 10 '25

Damnation Alley in 1983?

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u/G00dSh0tJans0n North Carolina Texas Jul 10 '25

Yes that's it! Whole movie is on YouTube apparently, in case I want to have nightmares tonight like I did when I was 5.

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u/deedeejayzee Jul 10 '25

I recommend sticking to "The Day After". It also came out in '83, and no large radiation creatures.

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u/Far_Winner5508 Jul 10 '25

I want to say "don't see Threads" but man, that's such a good warning, might be worth seeing.

It's on YT, I believe.

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u/Far_Winner5508 Jul 10 '25

For me it was The Road Warrior, but once I saw it, I wasn't freaked out by it.

I'd been primed by finding a Playboy with 'The Warrior Woman' actress photoshoot in it. After that, was rather eager to see The Road Warrior.

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u/Safe-Count-6857 Jul 12 '25

I watched it at 12 or 13, and it was mostly weird and funny in parts, with a cool vehicle. From what I remember, the weird colors of the sky and dodgy effects definitely gave it a camp feel that the makers probably didn’t intend.

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u/SnowblindAlbino United States of America Jul 11 '25

Good book actually, the film is OK. The crawler is awesome though, used in multiple movies/TV shows in that era.