Hazmat Carriers

The public’s perception of hazardous materials has changed a lot through the years. Part of this is because the hazmat threats have changed as new ones have been created and others have been rendered less effective or even eliminated. The world of fiction also has an impact on the perceived hazmat threats as they use new methods to inspire terror, dread, and anxiety in the viewing public.

Then

Then is a general term, but mostly means anything before 1980. At that time, the threats that seemed to drive people into wearing face-masks in real life and hazmat suits on screen were radioactive in nature, with nuclear weapons being a popular hazardous threat. Part of this is due to both the end of World War II and the Cuban Missile Crisis being fairly fresh in the minds of enough people to make them credible threats.

Now

The threats we see now haven’t so much changed as grown. While nuclear weapons and radiation are still prevalent both in the real world and in Hollywood, it’s been joined by other threats. Biological and chemical threats are the most recent additions to the list of hazards that are in the forefront of peoples minds, with Anthrax, Swine Flu, and Bird Flu all being real threats that have caused panic.

Environmental concerns are also a new addition to the list that could result in the need for hazmat suits. While smog and air pollution were real issues 20 years ago, natural disasters and the fallout they cause is as real as the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The Future

It’s impossible to predict what the future of hazardous material threats will be, but it’s probably fair to assume that it will be some combination of those that have already come and gone. Only time will tell.

Hazmat suits serve a very real function in keeping people that have to interact with chemical, radioactive, and biological hazards safe. That being said, hazmat suits have a long history in the world of fiction both as a visual cue that something bad is happening and as a way to scare both the people on screen and the audience.

We all remember the men in hazmat suits from the movie E.T. and the sinister feeling we got due to their anonymity, but films like Outbreak have used the hazmat suit, or rather it failing, to show how deadly a biological agent is by having the person in the suit die quickly despite their use of the suit to prevent just such an occurence.

Video games also have a history with hazmat suits, using them both as a way to protect the player and as a way to make antagonists scarier. Games like Doom, Half-Life, and Deux Ex all incorporate the hazmat suit in a variety of ways, both as a way to safe the player, and as a way to increase the creepiness of enemies.

For good or ill, hazmat suits in fiction are likely around to stay as they serve a variety of functions both visually and practically.