Cultural impact of the Chernobyl disaster

References to the Chernobyl disaster in popular culture

The Chernobyl disaster is the world's worst nuclear accident to date.

The name "Chernobyl" has become synonymous with the concept of a nuclear energy disaster. Referencing the political damage from the inept initial response to the disaster, pundits sometimes use the phrase "Chernobyl moment" to describe alleged analogous damaging failures, such as responses to the COVID 19 pandemic. Ukraine has announced an intention to open the disaster area to tourism. Numerous cultural works have referenced the disaster, some of which are listed in this article.

Распад (фильм) (1990), a Soviet feature film about the accident and its consequences, the title referring to its main theme of disintegration of human relationships—personal and public. Chernobyl: The Final Warning (1991), explores the disaster. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) begins with the exploding moon Praxis of the home world of the Klingon Empire, itself an analog of the Soviet Union since Star Trek: The Original Series. In the film Naked (1993), starring David Thewlis, the eccentric protagonist Johnny quotes the Book of Revelation and remarks that the Russian translation of Chernobyl is "wormwood". This quote is also used as a sample in the album Orblivion (1997). The Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki wrote and directed On Your Mark (1995), a music video for Japanese pop duo Chage and Aska. This was essentially an animated music video lasting almost seven minutes. The opening scene shows a clean, old fashioned, and apparently deserted small village which is dominated by a huge, asymmetrical version of the Chernobyl "sarcophagus". In a 1995 interview in Animage magazine, Miyazaki compared the sarcophagus in the video to Chernobyl, noting the survival of plant life. In the comedy film Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005), the character Deuce Bigalow meets Svetlana, a woman who was born in Chernobyl, and, as a result of the disaster, has a penis instead of a nose. The action film Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) revolves around terrorists seizing control of Chernobyl and threatening to expose the reactor. In the time travel comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), the hot tub is converted to a time machine when an illegal Russian energy drink, "Chernobly", is spilled on its controls. The protagonists are transported to 1986, only a few weeks before the real life Chernobyl disaster. The Russian Ukrainian German co produced film В субботу (2011; international title Innocent Saturday) dramatizes the events in the town of Pripyat during the hours and days after the disaster, before the Soviet authorities decided to evacuate. The film was entered into the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. In the film Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), the Autobots and NEST travel to Chernobyl to retrieve ancient Cybertronian technology (initially, they were supposed to discover the source of a radiation leak). However, once it is retrieved Shockwave suddenly appears and ravages the plant, along with a worm like Decepticon named Driller. The horror film Chernobyl Diaries (2012) revolves around a group of college students who take an extreme tour into Pripyat, only to find themselves being stalked and hunted by a group of mysterious creatures. The final 20 minutes in the fifth film of the Die Hard series, A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), are set in Chernobyl. In the film Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw (2019), the main antagonistic faction Eteon's biotech and weapons facility is located inside the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and soon after Luke Hobbs, Deckard Shaw, and Hattie Shaw drive a damaged truck into Pripyat. Chernobyl: Abyss (2021), a Russian film directed by and starring Danila Kozlovsky, centers on a fictionalized firefighter who becomes a liquidator.

Nova television series season 16 episode 4 "Back To Chernobyl" (1989) was filmed on location three years after the disaster. Chernobyl miniseries, produced by HBO and Sky Atlantic, aired on May 6, 2019. Motylki, Ukrainian miniseries, aired on April 27, 2013. The September 30, 2009, episode of Destination Truth, a reality television series on Syfy, features a paranormal investigation located at the site. In the Millennium season 1 episode "Maranatha", the hero, Frank Black, tracks a Russian anti christ figure who caused the Chernobyl disaster. In Scorpion season 2 episode 23 ("Chernobyl Intentions", airdate April 18, 2016), the team works on an issue with the Chernobyl sarcophagus. In the television series The Event, the character Thomas is said to have been responsible for the disaster at Chernobyl after attempting to transport the fuel rods from the site using alien technology. In The Simpsons season 5 episode 9 ("The Last Temptation of Homer"), Homer and his new colleague Mindy Simmons represent the Nuclear Power Plant at The National Energy convention in Capital City. Many passers by are shouting at the nuclear power stand, culminating in one shouting, "No more Chernobyls! ", prompting Homer to throw a brick at him. In The Simpsons season 7 episode 7 ("King Size Homer"), Homer receives a medal and the promise to be thinner again from his boss Mr. Burns, when Homer saves the town by "turning a potential Chernobyl into a mere Three Mile Island." In The X Files season 2 episode "The Host", the main antagonist, a mutant creature dubbed "Fluke Man", is traced to a Russian freighter that was carrying radioactive sewage away from Chernobyl. In the British TV series Top Gear, season 21 episode 3, originally aired on February 16, 2014, presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May had to drive past the reactor as a part of a challenge. Clarkson ran out of fuel and was made to stop not far from the reactor.

In the home computer game Maniac Mansion (1987), the player can find a hidden nuclear reactor described as "made in Chernobyl". A hidden codec conversation in the video game Metal Gear Solid (1998) reveals that the supporting character Nastasha Romanenko was born in Pripyat and lived three kilometers north of there. The disaster occurred when she was 10 years old and lead to her parents' deaths from radiation sickness some years later, as well as her hard line stance against nuclear weapons. The video game Snatcher (1988) features in its backstory a horrific disaster known as "The Catastrophe", involving an explosion at a nuclear facility in Chernoton, Russia that released into the atmosphere a biotoxin called Lucifer Alpha which kills a large percent of the world's populace. Said catastrophe bears similarities to the Chernobyl disaster. The arcade game Chelnov (1988) was believed to be named after the events at Chernobyl, despite some developers stating it was independent of the Chernobyl disaster, other developers stated it originally had an alternative name but was changed to Chelnov due to the recent Chernobyl events. The computer game S. T. A. L. K. E. R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007), its prequel S. T. A. L. K. E. R.: Clear Sky, and its sequel S. T. A. L. K. E. R.: Call of Pripyat are based on the Chernobyl plant, disaster, and the surrounding areas. In the first two games, the power plant is the setting of the final stages. The games are also substantially influenced by the novel Roadside Picnic and Tarkovsky's film Stalker. The games are set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone; although the Zone is not replicated exactly, various landmarks, geographic features, and overall geography resemble and are based upon field trips to the Zone. The power plant is guarded by a fanatical cult called the "Monolith", which worships an alien crystal that resides in Reactor No. 4. A new entry in the series, S. T. A. L. K. E. R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, is in development. The video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) features mission 11, "All Ghillied Up", and mission 12, "One Shot One Kill", and a multiplayer map, "Bloc", set in buildings and streets in and around abandoned Pripyat. The dangers of radiation and feral dogs are elements of the gameplay. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) features the Spec Ops map "Hidden" and areas previously featured in "All Ghillied Up". There is also a multiplayer map "Wasteland" that is set in the outskirts of Pripyat. Reactor 4 can be seen in the distance in one area of the map. In the event that someone detonates a tactical nuke, the blast can be seen coming from the reactor. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) includes a flashback cutscene of the mission "One Shot One Kill", from the point of view of the playable character Yuri and the series antagonist Vladimir Makarov, witnessing the attempted assassination of Imran Zakhaev. Counter Strike: Global Offensive has a map based on Chernobyl called "de cache". The science fiction horror video game Chernobylite is based in the exclusion zone of the aftermath of the Chernobyl Disaster. Reiuji Utsuho from Subterranean Animism (2008) of the Touhou Project franchise has her right leg encased in concrete similarly to the Elephant's Foot. Her design might also be inspired by the alleged 'Blackbird of Chernobyl'