A is for Atom (1953) is a short animated documentary film directed by Carl Urbano. It was created for promotional reasons and therefore was sponsored by General Electric Company (GE).
The film explains the nature of an atom and how it can produce atomic energy that can be used to benefit the humanity. Although the film elucidate on the positive aspects of the nuclear power, as it can produce energy used for electricity, it also touches the other side of the atomic energy – nuclear weapons and radioactive materials.
As the film has clearly an educational purpose, explaining a complicated topic to a wider audience, it can be classified as a documentary. Nevertheless, we can apply a Honess Roes’ ‘Taxonomy for documentary’ material to question the definition.
First of all, the animated film was not recorded, instead it was created frame by frame. Then, it explains the aspects of a real world we live in and how the research topic resonates with it. The last but not least, the film was presented as a documentary by its producers.
Stating everything above, A is for Atom (1953) can be classified as a documentary film.
