What Do Children Think Of When They Think Of the Bomb?

<v TV Announcer>The content of this film was developed in a series of daily workshops during <v TV Announcer>the summer of 1983. <v TV Announcer>The words and lyrics were created by the children or evolved from their improvisations. <v TV Announcer>[synth music plays] <v Children>[singing] What do children think of when they think of the?

<v Children>What do children think of when they think of the? <v Children>What do children think of when they think of the? <v Children>What do children think of when they think of the? <v Children>What (what) do (do) chil- (chil-) dren (dren) think (think) of (of) when (when) they (they) think (think) of (of) the (the)? What what what what do do do do do chil- chil- chil- <v Children>dren dren [sing over each other] <v Kid 1>I never really thought about the bomb. Uhm, <v Kid 1>you know, the first time I start thinking about the bomb was like, you know, when <v Kid 1>I get into my 9s and my 10s, I never really thought about the bomb otherwise. <v Kid 2>No, I never really thought of a bomb. <v Kid 2>No.

<v Kid 1>I started to think about it because I, you know, <v Kid 1>heard about it all over. <v Kid 1>Like Ronald Reagan's makin' the MX bomb and all that. <v Kid 1>And then it just got all to my head and then started thinking about it all the time. <v Kid 3>I really think I would feel better if I knew that the world wouldn't end like in <v Kid 3>a ball of fire. <v Kid 4>I think the end of the world would look terrible. <v Kid 4>There will be people, the survivors, but they would be like <v Kid 4>scavengers, you can say, or wild animals. <v Kid 4>All of the chemicals left from all the destruction they will like <v Kid 4>form them into another kind of species or something. <v Kid 5>Well, the idea of the end of the world really does scare me a lot. <v Kid 5>It really does. <v Kid 1>I get scared thinking about if when I die. <v Kid 1>I mean, I think it's- when I think about the war, <v Kid 1>I try not to think about it most of the time.

<v Kid 1>Well, when I do think about it, I think about all the past war that I heard <v Kid 1>about and everything, and how many people died in 'em. <v Children>[singing] Everything else is falling apart, but I am keeping together. <v Children>I see buildings falling down while I sit there ?knocked down?. <v Children>My friends are passing out on drugs, but I am still awake. <v Children>To keep my body moving strong, how much energy will it take? <v Children>Feel my fingers and my toes, I move my muscles ?current flows? <v Children>My shoulders pop, my feet they glide, my hands make way, my hips they slide. <v Children>I am Godzilla, crowds run from me. I crush buildings while I dance. <v Children>I'm King Kong and this is my song. Watch out all you ?little ants?. <v Children>Feel my fingers and my toes, I move my muscles ?current flows?. <v Children>My shoulders pop, my feet they glide, my hands make way, my hips they slide. I'm Superman, ?and I'm the son?. <v Children>I dance in battle, and I have won. <v Children>My moves are more powerful than any gun. <v Children>I'm all that's left, when all is done. I watch my friends ?sails away?. But I keep dancing so I'm okay. <v Children>Others have all gone away. But I've got moves so I'm here to stay. <v Children>Survive. Keep alive. Revive. Thrive. Thrive. Thrive. Survive. Keep alive. Revive. Thrive. Thrive. Thrive. <v Children>Survive. Keep alive. Revive. Thrive. Thrive. Thrive.

<v Children>Feel my fingers and my toes, I move my muscles ?current flows?. <v Children>My shoulders pop, my feet they glide, my hands make way, my hips they slide. <v Children>?inaudible? where the paper jump. You went to teach electric funk. <v Children>Put the big man on street. <v Children>They can learn more from the concrete beat. <v Children>Feel my fingers and my toes, I move my muscles ?current flows?. My shoulders pop, my feet they glide, my hands make way, my hips they slide. <v Children>They think they have the answers ?that work?, but if you ask me, why ?words are absurd? <v Children>If we trust them, we're taking a chance. I say, let's get out and dance. Dance. Dance. Let's get out and dance. Dance. Dance. Let's <v Children>get out and dance. Dance. Dance. Let's get out and dance. <v Children>Survive. Keep alive. Revive. Thrive. Thrive. Thrive. Survive. <v Children>Keep alive. Revive. Thrive. Thrive. Thrive. Survive. <v Children>Keep alive. [fade out] <v Juggling Girl>On the 1 hand, we shouldn't build nuclear weapons because of a bomb went off, a lot of <v Juggling Girl>people would be killed. <v Juggling Girl>On the other hand, we need the nuclear industry to provide jobs for people who would be <v Juggling Girl>unemployed without them. <v Juggling Girl>On the 1 hand, the nuclear industry wastes a lot of government money that could be used

<v Juggling Girl>to help people instead. <v Juggling Girl>On the other hand, we can't trust the other countries to stop building bombs just when we <v Juggling Girl>do. <v Juggling Girl>On the 1 hand, just having the bomb around dampens the national spirit because people are <v Juggling Girl>afraid that it might go off and kill them. <v Juggling Girl>But on the other hand, the balance of power between the countries is so delicate that we <v Juggling Girl>don't want to upset it by trying out new policies. <v Juggling Girl>On both hands, wouldn't it be nice if we can mix all these different opinions and ideas <v Juggling Girl>together and come out with 1 solution. <v Kid 1>Some people fight over you know land, and stuff like- I mean, it's really not- <v Kid 1>it's really not rational to fight over- fight, and then <v Kid 1>you have to use a bomb that would blow up a lot of the world. <v Kid 1>That wouldn't really- that's not rational. <v Kid 6>War is a battle between countries, probably because of something stupid. <v Kid 6>I don't know what kind of stupid things, but it's just probably something stupid.

<v Kid 1>How are the ants, sir? <v Kid 6>They're advancing quickly, sir! <v Kid 1>And you tried talkin' to them reasonably, sir? <v Kid 6>Yes, sir! But they're just ants, sir! <v Kid 6>They don't understand me, sir. <v Kid 1>Have you tried using small weapons, sir? <v Kid 6>Yes, sir! But it takes too long, sir. <v Kid 6>It's too expensive, sir. Headquarters is starting to complain, sir. <v Kid 1>Have you tried using chemicals, sir? <v Kid 6>Yes, sir! But there's too many of them, sir! <v Kid 6>They keep having babies, sir. <v Kid 6>Their population is growing too fast, sir. <v Kid 1>Have you asked the United Nations to intervene, sir? <v Kid 6>Yes, sir! But the United Nations says we're wrong and the ants are right, sir. <v Kid 1>Well, there's only 1 more solution, sir. <v Kid 6>Yes, sir. Only 1 more solution, sir. <v Kid 1 and Kid 6>[mimic siren noises]. <v Speaker>[explosion noise] <v Kid 4>I don't understand why people fight against other people,

<v Kid 4>call each other names just because they're just different <v Kid 4>colors. They- I say they have the same cells and everything, <v Kid 4>the same. Or their body is the same. <v Kid 4>So they have the same- they have a brain to think, a heart to beat with, <v Kid 4>lungs to breathe with. <v Kid 4>And I don't understand why they go about calling each other names. <v Kid 4>You know like, it's really like to. <v Kid 4>It's a lot of racism all over the world. <v Speaker>[music plays] <v Kid 4>When I dance, I dance sometimes, to um take my problems out, <v Kid 4>instead of taking them out on people. <v Kid 4>I feel much better about it. <v Speaker>[music plays]

<v Kid 5>When I think about the people who are controlling the country and think about the bomb, <v Kid 5>when I think of them, I basically think that they really don't care because I mean, <v Kid 5>to us, I mean, when we think about it, we think of different people that we know and <v Kid 5>places we know. But to them, we're just are like numbers in a computer. <v Kid 5>This person lives here while this person lives here. <v Kid 5>But I mean, we know everyone. They don't. <v Children>[singing] Something's leaning on me. Something. Something's whispering in my ear. <v Children>In my ear. Finish this and finish that. Hurry there and then be here. <v Children>Graduate with honors. Honors? Earn your angel wings. <v Children>Angel wings? <v Children>?inaudible? Buy expensive things. What is everybody's hurry? What is everyone's fear?

<v Children>I don't have time to sleep at night, so strong is my fear. <v Children>P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E. S-T-R-E-S-S. [repeat in background] <v Kid 5>I can't stand this! How am I supposed to write a stupid report on something I don't <v Kid 5>know anything about? Why is everyone asking me what college I'm going to, when <v Kid 5>I don't even know what high school I'm going to yet? <v Kid 5>This is impossible! <v Kid 5>Everyone is saying I should act like I'm going to die tomorrow, but I can't die tomorrow, <v Kid 5>I have exams! This is just impossible, I can't think with all these stupid people <v Kid 5>singing in the background. This is impossible! <v Kid 5>When I think about the world ending and I get scared, I feel chills. <v Kid 5>I feel very upset. I get depressed. <v Kid 5>But not for very long, because when I go see a movie and I'm fine. <v Kid 4>I know there's- there was a creator or there is a God <v Kid 4>up there. <v Kid 2>God probably has shorts on. <v Kid 2>And in the s- when it's hot, he probably wears little socks. <v Kid 2>Or no socks, he probably doesn't wear any socks. <v Kid 2>But in the winter, he probably wears a robe.

<v Kid 2>And he probably wears slippers. <v Kid 2>And he pro- and I think he has a beard. <v WGOD Host>This is WGOD 7 Heaven on your dial. <v WGOD Host>And this is the WGOD request line. <v WGOD Host>Our phones are now open and we're taking your calls. <v WGOD Host>Tell me the tunes you'd like to hear. <v WGOD Host>You won't be bored with the Lord. <v WGOD Host>Hello. You're on the air. Dear God. <v WGOD Host>I see people fighting every day. <v WGOD Host>Could you make it stop? <v WGOD Host>Sorry, honey, this is just a request line. <v WGOD Host>This is the Lord up above playing you songs of funk and love. <v WGOD Host>Hello, you're on the air. Dear God, I see sickness and poverty everywhere. <v WGOD Host>Could you make it stop? Sorry, honey. <v WGOD Host>That, too, is not even on the charts. Call in next week when we play our golden oldies. <v WGOD Host>This is la numera una up in the sky. <v WGOD Host>Don't you have a song you want to play for your guy? <v WGOD Host>Dear God. Everyone's saying the world's gonna end. <v WGOD Host>They say that if there's a third world war, everyone will die.

<v WGOD Host>My family, my friend, doesn't anyone want to hear music today? <v WGOD Host>I've got a lot of records to play. <v WGOD Host>I've got all the hits lined up on my shelf. <v WGOD Host>Oh, hell, I'll just dedicate this one to myself. <v Singers>[singing rock song] ?inaudible? proves that I live there. <v Singers>The halls they echo, the walls are bare. <v Singers>We're all just dancing on the edge of nowhere, and fear- ?fear abducts us wherever we go? <v Singers>The pain will run from ?fairway high?, because of the empty space inside. <v Singers>To them we mean nothing, to us the same. We're all alone, and fear is to blame. Forgive me if I'm a killjoy, <v Singers>I think I need that pill, boy! Because I feel the fear, <v Singers>silence is all I hear. <v Singers>Yes, I know the fear. I fade and disappear. I fade and disappear. As if I'll disappear. <v Singers>I'm the 1 that I feels the heat, walking down the high concrete.

<v Singers>I'll die tomorrow, I'll wake up dead, 'cause fear's been listening to what I've said. <v Singers>Forgive me if I'm a killjoy, I think I need that pill, boy! <v Singers>Because I feel the fear, silence is all I hear. <v Singers>Yes, I know the fear. <v Singers>I fade and disappear. <v Singers>I fade and disappear. I fade and disappear. <v Singers>As if I'll disappear! Losing control? We are! Losing control? We are! Losing control? We are! Losing control? We are! <v Singers>[continues until music fades out] <v Kid 1>The best things in my life is my mother, my father, and the amusement parks.

<v Kid 1>And that's really it. [laughs] <v Kid 5>Hey there, ladies and gents. Sam Jones here. <v Kid 5>I'd like to tell you about the greatest, most exciting park you ever been to: the end of <v Kid 5>the world amusement park. Yes. Yes. <v Kid 5>Here you can be thrown from a building 15 stories high, dropped into <v Kid 5>a vat of boiling oil, or catapulted from a cannon into uh thorn <v Kid 5>bushes. Yes. This is- this is- you'll have a ball here, yes, sir. <v Kid 5>And you can never say you regret it because you'll be dead. <v Kid 7>Shockwave, where you're in a building and you get it over the loudspeaker, <v Kid 7>that a nuclear blast went off how far away it did. <v Kid 7>And then the first thing that happens is that the house is <v Kid 7>blown away. And then your eyes melt out and then- no, no first- first that <v Kid 7>you're- it's blown away- no, first you see a huge flash and it blinds you. <v Kid 7>Then the house is blown away and then it becomes so hot that it burns you to crisp. <v Kid 5>And then there's um a show. It's called Friday the 13th Fortunes.

<v Kid 5>And they tell you how and when and if necessary, <v Kid 5>why you're going to die. <v Kid 4>Instead of the tunnel of love, there's the tunnel of hell. <v Kid 4>The water will be fire, you're just flowing to the fire. <v Kid 4>And when you come there's a rainfall, but it's made out of fire and <v Kid 4>they give you a- a special umbrella. <v Kid 4>And if the umbrella gives out on you, you get burned. <v Kid 4>Then there's a lava room and an explosion room. <v Kid 4>And then you got to get to the cool part, it's a ice room. <v Kid 4>That's- if you get there, then you're free. <v Kid 4>If you're not, you die. It gets crispy. <v Kid 4>Then they show you in Kentucky Fried Chicken. <v Kid 1>It's something like the hellhole at Coney Island except, when you go in, after you start <v Kid 1>spinning around, the floor drops. <v Kid 1>And then when the floor comes back up, the rats start to eat you alive. <v Kid 5>You know life is gonna end eventually.

<v Kid 5>So why not just stop it all now? <v Kid 5>There's no point waiting for everyone else to go. <v Kid 5>If you come to the end of the world amusement park, you can choose your own death, <v Kid 5>[laughs] pay whatever you want. You won't need money afterwards anyway. <v Kid 5>You'll be dead. <v Kid 5>Bring friends, family. Just anyone you know. <v Kid 5>Why not make it a group therapy session? <v Kid 5>[laughs] Just whatever you do, be sure to come to the end of the world amusement park. <v Kid 5>It'll blow you away. [laughs] <v Kid 5>I think that the older people are, the more they care about life because they've- <v Kid 5>well, it really depends. Some people- all the old people I know really care a lot <v Kid 5>because they've gone through their lives and they've loved what they've done and they <v Kid 5>really care about everyone else and what everyone else does. <v Kid 6>I think old people value the earth, as much as young <v Kid 6>people, they've been on it longer. <v Kid 6>They probably realized things. <v Kid 6>I don't know why old people say there should be a bomb.

<v Kid 1>All those children just push back and forth, sometimes they <v Kid 1>don't even know what they're pushin'. <v Kid 1>Oh, there's good ones, they'll help you upstairs with your groceries. <v Kid 1>The bad ones, they help you upstairs when your groceries, then they steal 'em from <v Kid 1>ya! Oh, the good ones play their radios nice and soft, <v Kid 1>can't even hear 'em. The bad ones, they'll play their radios nice and loud, almost broke <v Kid 1>my ears! Oh, what would I give to <v Kid 1>go back to those good old days? <v Kid 1>All the dancing was good. <v Kid 1>You used to be able to drink the rain! <v Kid 1>Now it's all polluted. <v Kid 1>Oh, if the people of this Earth don't take care of this world, <v Kid 1>I swear it will blow up like a hot air balloon! <v Kid 1>Oh.

<v Kid 6>I would feel kind of bad if someone said that it was all going to end just <v Kid 6>like that. Real quick and all- all of a sudden. <v Kid 6>'. <v Speaker>[music plays] <v Singers in TV>In the event of nuclear war, they say you should remove your eyeglasses. <v Singers in TV>In the event of nuclear war, they say you should get off the street, find shelter of some <v Singers in TV>kind. <v Singers in TV>In the event of nuclear war, they say you should not panic. <v Singers in TV>In the event of nuclear war, I don't know if I would do what they say, what I would do is try to be with loved ones. In

<v Singers in TV>the event of nuclear war, I would be prepared to <v Singers in TV>die. <v Singers in TV>In the event of nuclear war, I would panic ?and try and get it over with without? <v Singers in TV>trying to escape or hide. <v Singers in TV>In the event of nuclear war, I would try to get away, try to get away, try to get away, <v Singers in TV>try to get away, try to get away, try to get away. <v Singers in TV>But it would be impossible. <v Kid 2>I'm not- I don't think my parents could protect me against the bomb. <v Kid 2>No one can. <v Kid 4>What I love about this world is, first, being

<v Kid 4>here, you know, right now, I love being here and I thank God for being here. <v Kid 4>I also love nature. <v Kid 4>How the earth was made. <v Kid 4>I really like, you know, like the trees and the birds and all that, like. <v Kid 4>And the way the- the moon shines <v Kid 4>on the sea, you know? [synth music plays] [guitar strings strumming] <v Kid 1>Why are you botherin' me with all this? I mean, is it supposed to be my business? <v Kid 1>You want to talk about bicycles, that's fine. <v Kid 1>I'd be glad to tell you about my blue 10 speed Panasonic. <v Kid 1>You want to go for a walk? We can also discuss rollerskating.

<v Kid 1>But, death ?and war? that stuff isn't 'sposed to be my problem. <v Kid 1>Anyway, why you buggin' me with all this? <v Kid 1>I mean, I'm just a kid. I have lots of years to learn the way. <v Kid 1>So in the meantime, if you don't mind, I've rather learn my music, my dancing, my <v Kid 1>drumming, play with my friends, brothers and sisters, and leave the mess <v Kid 1>to you. <v Children>[sings the final song for credits]