"Rotten to the Core" : Exposing America’s Energy-Media Complex in The China Syndrome (1979)

Abstract

This article conducts a case study of the 1979 thriller The China Syndrome (James Bridges). It explores the motives of the film’s architects, notably Jane Fonda, and examines the role that The China Syndrome played in framing both the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the notion of an energy-media complex for the public in the United States and abroad.