History Film / DuckAndCover

--> ''"It's a bright flash! Brighter than the sun! Brighter than anything you've ever seen!"''

* InstructionalFilm: Probably the most famous one ever made, and definitely the most frequently mocked.

* StupidStatementDanceMix: [[https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/68780 "It can burn whole buildings if someone is careless."]]

* TokenMinority: Note that in the classroom scenes there is exactly one black child.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: This film has been mocked for--well, for a lot of reasons, actually, but one reason it's been mocked is because of the perceived ridiculousness of hiding under your desk or in a doorway or whatever to save yourself from a nuclear explosion. Here's the thing, though: depending on the circumstances, duck-and-cover ''really can work''. A woman named Akiko Takamura survived the Hiroshima bomb despite being only 300 meters from the detonation, because she was inside the thick reinforced concrete walls of a bank.[[note]]She lived until 2003![[/note]] Ducking-and-covering could save one from shrapnel and debris. Hiding under a desk could save one from a building collapse. Covering yourself with something as insubstantial as a newspaper really could save you from skin burns caused by thermal radiation. Bottom line: if a nuke falls on your head you're gonna die, but if you're a mile or more away from the detonation, duck-and-cover is a good idea. Wikipedia discusses this in greater depth [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover_(film)#Accuracy_and_usefulness here]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover here]].

* TurtlePower: Bert knows what to do! Stalin's nukes are no match for a turtle shell!

* StupidStatementDanceMix:
** [[https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/68780 "It can burn whole buildings if someone is careless."]]

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: But not when that monkey is risking its own life and the life of another nearby with an explosive.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: This film has mocked for--well, for a lot of reasons, actually, but one reason it's been mocked is because of the perceived ridiculousness of hiding under your desk or in a doorway or whatever to save yourself from a nuclear explosion. Here's the thing, though: depending on the circumstances, duck-and-cover ''really can work''. A woman named Akiko Takamura survived the Hiroshima bomb despite being only 300 meters from the detonation, because she was inside the thick reinforced concrete walls of a bank.[[note]]She lived until 2003![[/note]] Ducking-and-covering could save one from shrapnel and debris. Hiding under a desk could save one from a building collapse. Covering yourself with something as insubstantial as a newspaper really could save you from skin burns caused by thermal radiation. Bottom line: if a nuke falls on your head you're gonna die, but if you're a mile or more away from the detonation, duck-and-cover is a good idea. Wikipedia discusses this in greater depth [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover_(film)#Accuracy_and_usefulness here]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover here]].

* MoodDissonance: The light and breezy tone of the film--a short cartoon that could be an early WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes product, followed by a calm, avuncular narrator--clashes bizarrely with the actual topic, nuclear war. The light tone was no doubt chosen to avoid scaring children ''too'' badly, but the result is still weird.

* TurtlePower: Bert knows what to do! Stalin's nukes are no match for a turtle shell!

* StupidStatementDanceMix: [[https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/68780 "It can burn whole buildings if someone is careless."]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: This film has mocked for--well, for a lot of reasons, actually, but one reason it's been mocked is because of the perceived ridiculousness of hiding under your desk or in a doorway or whatever to save yourself from a nuclear explosion. Here's the thing, though: depending on the circumstances, duck-and-cover ''really can work''. A woman named Akiko Takamura survived the Hiroshima bomb despite being only 300 meters from the detonation, because she was inside the thick reinforced concrete walls of a bank.[[note]]She lived until 2003![[/quote]] Ducking-and-covering could save one from shrapnel and debris. Hiding under a desk could save one from a building collapse. Covering yourself with something as insubstantial as a newspaper really could save you from skin burns caused by thermal radiation. Bottom line: if a nuke falls on your head you're gonna die, but if you're a mile or more away from the detonation, duck-and-cover is a good idea. Wikipedia discusses this in greater depth [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover_(film)#Accuracy_and_usefulness here]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover here]].

* RealityIsUnrealistic: This film has mocked for--well, for a lot of reasons, actually, but one reason it's been mocked is because of the perceived ridiculousness of hiding under your desk or in a doorway or whatever to save yourself from a nuclear explosion. Here's the thing, though: depending on the circumstances, duck-and-cover ''really can work''. A woman named Akiko Takamura survived the Hiroshima bomb despite being only 300 meters from the detonation, because she was inside the thick reinforced concrete walls of a bank. Ducking-and-covering could save one from shrapnel and debris. Hiding under a desk could save one from a building collapse. Covering yourself with something as insubstantial as a newspaper really could save you from skin burns caused by thermal radiation. Bottom line: if a nuke falls on your head you're gonna die, but if you're a mile or more away from the detonation, duck-and-cover is a good idea. Wikipedia discusses this in greater depth [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover_(film)#Accuracy_and_usefulness here]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover here]].

It is a civil defense instructional film commissioned by the United States government, as the UsefulNotes/ColdWar was getting more dangerous for Americans following the Soviet Union's successful test of a nuclear bomb in 1949. The film, which is aimed at children, is a guide on what to do in the event of nuclear attack. The film opens with a short animated sequence in which a turtle named Bert is sauntering down the road. A mischievous monkey dangles from a tree and hangs a stick of dynamite over Bert's head. A quick-thinking Bert then retreats into his shell, while the theme tune says "He did what we all must learn to do...duck and cover!"

The film then switches to live action. A narrator then explains what to do if a nuclear bomb explodes. Scenes portray schoolchildren ducking and covering under desks, in school hallways, and under library tables. The film introduces children to the sound of a civil defense siren, then tells them what to do if there is a nuclear strike and no grown-ups are around: go into an air raid shelter if you can find one, duck into alleys or doorways or whatever cover is available, throw yourself flat on the ground if you're in the open, and try to cover yourself with whatever is at hand. The film then ends by cutting back to Bert the turtle in animation, who recaps the lesson by asking the kids what to do, and is answered by offscreen schoolchildren shouting "duck and cover!"