Movie Moles Laurie Mercier and Frann Michel discuss the HBO miniseries Chernobyl and some responses to it. While there has been widespread praise for the aesthetics and emotional impact of the drama, and many appreciate its allegorical message about climate catastrophe, it has also gained politically divergent responses. Viewers on the right object to its portrayal of nuclear power but approve its message as anti-communist; viewers on the left have been concerned that it undermines support for socialism or succumbs to anti-Russian paranoia, though some see it as more specifically anti-Stalinist. The focus on individual drama obscures the structural forces influencing historical characters, but it offers the opportunity to consider other nuclear power accidents, including Fukushima and the lesser-known Santa Susana incident. Laurie and Frann also mention older nuclear dramas inspired by history, The China Syndrome and Silkwood, both available at the Multnomah County Library.
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