What do you think is the biggest deterrent towards commercial airship travel? You might be guessing a technical aspect like efficiency, time taken, among others, but one of the biggest reasons is public paranoia due to the Hindenburg crash. But why does an accident that took place in 1937 still affect people so much?
One of the key contributors to this is the fact that the incident is quite widely referenced in pop culture all over the world. There have been many films, songs, and TV shows allusions to the historic tragedy in the last decade itself! Notable mentions over time can be found in popular shows like The Simpsons, Sopranos, Family Guy, Seinfeld, and so on. Even in the anime world there are a lot of plots where blimps lead to a crash, notably in the popular show Pokémon and the Ghibli classic Kiki's Delivery Service. Repeated exposure to a traumatic incident reinforces the negativity bias among the masses, leading to a widespread paranoia situation.
In short, if a blimp exists in a show or movie, and there are people travelling on it, then there is sure to be a crash. Such is not the case with any other means of transport. For every plane crash movie, there are three others which show a perfectly safe plane travel in a nonchalant fashion. Some famous scenes like the finale of the popular 90s sitcom Friends shows a plane safety scare as a comedic element. Such instances are helpful in alleviating mass tension and trusting the technology. Let us eagerly await a time where pop culture shows mercy on airships and establishes a secure mass appeal towards them.
That was quite insightful!
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