3.4 The Value of the Cultural Object
For the researcher, the value of the cultural object lies in its symbolic specificity. By
highlighting what is ‘built’, the object creates a synergy between cultural references. Its analysis makes it possible to access social representations in ways that do
not involve interviews or surveys. The object has a dual role, notably in terms of
structuring day-to-day conversation—objects feed discursive dynamics and stimulate the production of new representations.
Regarding the nuclear industry, the production and circulation of content is a
battleground that the groups involved in the controversy must conquer. While the
use of military terminology may seem excessive, it is not possible to orient decisions and actions without first changing the representations that are associated with
them. Therefore, how the sector is represented can, depending on the societal
context, become a fundamental issue in drawing up energy policy.
Content analysis, however, should not be at the expense of a more aesthetic
approach to representations. The iconic and narrative dimension of the object
(through the formalization of content), is a major contributor to the constitution of
knowledge and understanding the world. Furthermore, the study of forms (in the
broadest sense), is useful in identifying which of the elements created by an event
lead to rupture or continuity in the representation of reality. In this respect, French
documentaries about Fukushima constitute a coherent corpus that can be used to
analyze the impact of the disaster on representations.
4 The Representation of Fukushima in French
Documentaries
French documentaries use the Japanese accident to illustrate the globalization of
risk and the repetition of history. The ‘never-ending’ accident is dramatized: the
actors involved in the management of the crisis are incompetent, workers involved
in decontamination are sacrificed on the altar of atomic power, and populations are
abandoned to their fate. Faced with disaster, civil society reorganizes itself and the
various initiatives taken by citizens lead to some sort of social resilience.
4.1 The Space-Time of the Disaster
The documentary Nuclear Disasters: Secret Stories (Catastrophes nucléaires:
histoires secretes) [36] begins with a close-up of the Fukushima site, filmed on
Saturday, March 12, 2011. Reactor 1 explodes in the next shot. Extracts from
televised news programs emphasize the scale of the disaster, while the damaged
reactor appears once again. Images of the explosion are shown around the world,
reminiscent of those of the planes that crashed, 10 years earlier, into the World
What Cultural Objects Say About Nuclear Accidents …
147
For the researcher, the value of the cultural object lies in its symbolic specificity. By
highlighting what is ‘built’, the object creates a synergy between cultural references. Its analysis makes it possible to access social representations in ways that do
not involve interviews or surveys. The object has a dual role, notably in terms of
structuring day-to-day conversation—objects feed discursive dynamics and stimulate the production of new representations.
Regarding the nuclear industry, the production and circulation of content is a
battleground that the groups involved in the controversy must conquer. While the
use of military terminology may seem excessive, it is not possible to orient decisions and actions without first changing the representations that are associated with
them. Therefore, how the sector is represented can, depending on the societal
context, become a fundamental issue in drawing up energy policy.
Content analysis, however, should not be at the expense of a more aesthetic
approach to representations. The iconic and narrative dimension of the object
(through the formalization of content), is a major contributor to the constitution of
knowledge and understanding the world. Furthermore, the study of forms (in the
broadest sense), is useful in identifying which of the elements created by an event
lead to rupture or continuity in the representation of reality. In this respect, French
documentaries about Fukushima constitute a coherent corpus that can be used to
analyze the impact of the disaster on representations.
4 The Representation of Fukushima in French
Documentaries
French documentaries use the Japanese accident to illustrate the globalization of
risk and the repetition of history. The ‘never-ending’ accident is dramatized: the
actors involved in the management of the crisis are incompetent, workers involved
in decontamination are sacrificed on the altar of atomic power, and populations are
abandoned to their fate. Faced with disaster, civil society reorganizes itself and the
various initiatives taken by citizens lead to some sort of social resilience.
4.1 The Space-Time of the Disaster
The documentary Nuclear Disasters: Secret Stories (Catastrophes nucléaires:
histoires secretes) [36] begins with a close-up of the Fukushima site, filmed on
Saturday, March 12, 2011. Reactor 1 explodes in the next shot. Extracts from
televised news programs emphasize the scale of the disaster, while the damaged
reactor appears once again. Images of the explosion are shown around the world,
reminiscent of those of the planes that crashed, 10 years earlier, into the World
What Cultural Objects Say About Nuclear Accidents …
147