In the Shadow of the Bomb: The Legacy of the Cold War in Dr. Strangelove, End Zone, Crash and The Wire

Detective McNulty applies bite marks to a deceased man’s body with a set of dentures in The Wire, illustrating how officialdom deals in falsehood. Dr. Strangelove lovingly describes the "doomsday machine" as free from “human meddling,” while it destroys the world, highlighting the absurdity of placing systems above moral considerations. In Crash, Ballard survives a car accident only to be cared for by a paternal technology that tends only to his physical needs—a life of technical certitude bereft of beauty.
The Cold War, with its promise of imminent, purposeless doom, profoundly shaped the postmodern world in ways not yet fully appreciated. This study examines the Cold War zeitgeist and its aftermath as represented in fiction, film and television.