Doc Jargon: Blockbuster

Photo By Collen McGee | Doc Jargon, cutting through the jargon that is the U.S. Army.  

FORT RILEY, KS, UNITED STATES

02.13.2023

Story by Collen McGee 

Fort Riley Public Affairs Office

Dear Doc Jargon,

My family and I are huge movie-goers. We love hitting the local theater on release day for the next box-office blockbuster. One of the guys in my unit, our token military history nerd, heard me say that and told me that the word blockbuster used to mean the same thing as M.O.A.B – or Mother of All Bombs. I’d love to hear more about the story of that term if you can find it.

Sincerely,
Moved by Movies



Dear Moved by Movies,

Your history fan-guy at the unit is correct. Blockbuster was a term given in the early 40s by the Germans to those bombs the British were dropping that could destroy an entire city block. In 1942 the term was used in newspapers and by 1943 the term became a metaphorical descriptor for other things with a majorly destructive impact. On July 3, 1943,a headline boasted, “Blockbuster Hail Stones Cost Theatreman $150 for New Roof…”

Once the war ended, the meaning of blockbuster shifted to include anything that might generate great excitement or significance and it made its way to the golden age of movies during the 1950s were it has stuck.

During the same era following the war, there was a movement in the civil rights arena where blocks of homes were reportedly priced out of the range of minority buyers. When the economics began to change and minority families could afford the real estate, that first family would be called the block buster for having the ability to break into a neighborhood that had previously been all white. The term used in that way has since fallen out of use.

So, I hope you will celebrate the diversity of this nation, remembering those who went first, honor the devastating power of the Allied Forces against evil and continue to make memories with your family at the movies.

Sincerely,
Doc Jargon

• Date Taken: 02.13.2023
• Date Posted: 02.13.2023 11:24
• Story ID: 438359
• Location: FORT RILEY, KS, US