no one's dying.

References: what other works of art, cinematic, pictorial, literary, did this film bring to mind, and why?

This movie refers a lot to the black-and-white Hollywood monster movies and “Justice League vs. The Communists!” comics that were popular during that era, and Bird faithfully maintained some aspects of those pieces of media while subverting, analyzing, and commenting on others. The film’s score, as already mentioned, is directly evocative of the classical and orchestral music genres. If you like the idea of 1950s Americana combined with soul-crushing nuclear apocalypse, but want to see more of the nuclear apocalypse part, consider playing the video game Fallout 3.