The China Syndrome Film Analysis
Nitin Jacob
A40531878
ESA 320
Film Paper
December 6, 2011
The China Syndrome – Nuclear Power Plant Throughout my life I have always been interested in the theatre. I have enjoyed all types and forms of theatre. I have been too many plays and I have even attended an opera. My favorite form of theatre however is in the form of movies. The movies have been an escape from reality for me. It allows me to enter a world of fantasy and action, while being in a relaxed state of mind. I think my love for the theatre stemmed from my grandfather. My grandfather owned a movie theatre in India. Every time I would visit him, he would always take me to his theatre. We would always go into the projection room and he would show me how the film was produced and projected onto the big screen. Since I have a natural passion for the theatre, it was an easy decision for me to choose to watch a movie, rather than write a research paper. The hard part now was to find a movie that pertained to one of the themes mentioned in class or specifically environmental or agriscience. One topic that I was interested in that we talked about briefly was about nuclear power plants. I was able to find a movie that was centered on the idea of nuclear power plants. The movie was called The China Syndrome, and it was produced in 1979, with well known actors. The movie, The China Syndrome, is about television news reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) and her cameraman Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) who visits the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant to do an interview and get information about the power plant. While they are there, they witness the plant going through an emergency shutdown. The Shift Supervisor at the time, Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon) notices that there is an unusual vibration after the shock and then finds out that the gauge needle was misleading and that the water coolant level was hazardously low. Richard Adams illegally recorded this event and showed it to experts, who
A40531878
ESA 320
Film Paper
December 6, 2011
The China Syndrome – Nuclear Power Plant Throughout my life I have always been interested in the theatre. I have enjoyed all types and forms of theatre. I have been too many plays and I have even attended an opera. My favorite form of theatre however is in the form of movies. The movies have been an escape from reality for me. It allows me to enter a world of fantasy and action, while being in a relaxed state of mind. I think my love for the theatre stemmed from my grandfather. My grandfather owned a movie theatre in India. Every time I would visit him, he would always take me to his theatre. We would always go into the projection room and he would show me how the film was produced and projected onto the big screen. Since I have a natural passion for the theatre, it was an easy decision for me to choose to watch a movie, rather than write a research paper. The hard part now was to find a movie that pertained to one of the themes mentioned in class or specifically environmental or agriscience. One topic that I was interested in that we talked about briefly was about nuclear power plants. I was able to find a movie that was centered on the idea of nuclear power plants. The movie was called The China Syndrome, and it was produced in 1979, with well known actors. The movie, The China Syndrome, is about television news reporter Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) and her cameraman Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) who visits the Ventana Nuclear Power Plant to do an interview and get information about the power plant. While they are there, they witness the plant going through an emergency shutdown. The Shift Supervisor at the time, Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon) notices that there is an unusual vibration after the shock and then finds out that the gauge needle was misleading and that the water coolant level was hazardously low. Richard Adams illegally recorded this event and showed it to experts, who