DAVYDOVA O.S. The Possibility of Apocalypse: The Nuclear Threat as a Phenomenon of Mass Consciousness in Peter Watkins’ the War Game (1965)
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2026.2.17
Olga S. Davydova,
Candidate of Sciences (Cultural Studies), Associate Professor, Institute of International Development and Partnership, ITMO Univeristy, Prosp. Kronverksky, 49, Bld. A, 197101 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation;
Grant Contractor, HSE University – Saint Petersburg, Soyuza Pechatnikov St, 16, 190121 Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation,
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ,
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6513-6505
Abstract. Introduction. This article analyses the representation of the nuclear threat in Peter Watkins’s The War Game (1965) in the context of mass consciousness of the Cold War period. Unlike non-documentary films, where the event of a nuclear explosion is located in the zone of fiction, The War Game offers a hybrid form, combining fact and fiction. The film is seen as a response to historical events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, as well as a critique of public indifference and rigidity in the perception of the nuclear threat. Methods and materials. The methodological basis of the article is non-fiction film theory. Additionally, the analytics of apocalyptic thinking, collective trauma, and paranoid states developed in social psychology and psychoanalysis are applied. The material of the study is Watkins’ film itself, read as a critical artifact that questions regimes of knowledge and visual representation of the nuclear threat. Analysis. The analysis follows the structure of the film: conflict escalation, nuclear strike, and post-apocalyptic survival. Each part demonstrates different forms of perception of the nuclear threat, from informational ignorance to the breakdown of social norms. Particular attention is paid to cinematic techniques that create the effect of presence and “television authenticity” that insists on documentation. The film creates a tension between fantasy and fact, demonstrating the combination of these elements in mass representations of the nuclear threat. Results. The article demonstrates that The War Game functions not only as an anti-war statement but also as a form of critical inquiry into collective representations of the nuclear threat. Watkins uses cinematic hybridity as a metaphor for the hybrid nature of public perception, where scientific data, fact, and fantasy are intertwined. Through the juxtaposition of fiction and documentary, the film is embedded in a cultural critique of the nuclear age and acts as a significant visual document of the Cold War period.
Funding. The study was funded by RSF, Grant No. 22-18-00305-P, “The images of the enemy in Cold War popular culture: their content, contemporary reception, and usage in Russian and U.S. symbolic politics.”
Key words: Cold War, nuclear threat, docudrama, Peter Watkins, nuclear paranoia.
Citation. Davydova O.S. The Possibility of Apocalypse: The Nuclear Threat as a Phenomenon of Mass Consciousness in Peter Watkins’ the War Game (1965). Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 4. Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. History. Area Studies. International Relations], 2026, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 201-211. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu4.2026.2.17
The Possibility of Apocalypse: The Nuclear Threat as a Phenomenon of Mass Consciousness in Peter Watkins’ the War Game (1965) © 2026 by Davydova O.S. is licensed under CC BY 4.0 
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