It is natural that the significance of events decays with the passage of time, such events remain alive in the history forever for reference of generations ahead. The episodes of events that may be termed as the most significant of the last century is the Cold War that happens to retain any relevancy in modern times. With the death of Soviet union and world turning from bipolar to unipolar shape, the incredible saga of cold war is over but its distressing memories are still alive in the minds of the people around the world as it happened to shape up the destiny of at least a couple of generations in every corner of the world. In particular, the cold war affected every aspect of American life for over 30 years. The foreign policy, political doctrines, economy, education and even the media felt the impact of cold war for a painful amount of time. In that way, the cold war shaped up the lives of entire American nation and they lived a life of uncertainty for more than a quarter century. Before coming back to the subject of impact of cold war on films, it is imperative to understand a brief history of cold war. The origins of the cold war dates back to decade of 1910’s when American felt the scare of communism for the first time. American Skepticism of communism, spearheaded by Soviet Union, as the potential threat to American sponsored ideology of democracy remained consistent for next 20 years and it even aggravated with the usurpation of Josef Stalin's ferocious regime. The apprehensive feelings attributed towards Soviet Union in the mindset of American leadership subsided for a while; rather they took a sharp reversal of policies, as the clouds of Nazi threat appeared on the skies of world politics. With the advent of 2nd world ...
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...y, William H. Chafe 2. ibid 3. Cold War: An Illustrated History, by Philip French 4. ibid 5. ibid 6. ibid 7. Bond 5: You Only Live Twice (Film) Dir. Lewis Gilbert, 1967 8. Ice Station Zebra (Film) Dir. John Sturges, 1968 9. Apocalypse Now (Film) Dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1979. Bibliography Apocalypse Now. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford. Paramount, 1979. Bond 5: You Only Live Twice. Dir. Lewis Gilbert. Perf. Sean Connery, Donald Pleasance. MGM/United Artists, 1967 COLD WAR: An Illustrated History, by Philip French, published by Little, Brown and Company). Ice Station Zebra. Dir. John Sturges. Perf. Rock Hudson, Jim Brown, Patrick McGoohan. MGM/United Artists, 1968 The Unfinished Journey- America since World War II by, William H. Chafe. Oxford University Press. Second Edition
Americans during the 60s lived in constant fear of nuclear war, especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film shows how easy it is for one person to destroy the world in a nuclear firestorm if governments are not careful enough. Ripper’s argument about fluoridated water also reflects the belief of some Americans that fluorine was actually a Cold War weapon by the Soviets to turn American communist. General Jack D. Ripper himself also served to present an American stereotype along with General Turgidson. They both seeked to destroy the Soviet Union without any care to logic or human life. Turgidson, in particular, reminds me of Patton, who wanted to invade the Soviet Union after WWII, and MacArthur, who wanted to invade China during the Korean War. Both of these generals epitomize how people thought of Americans as zealously anti communist and violently stupid. Additionally, Dr. Strangelove and his proposal for fallout shelters show how much the Cold War interfered with Americans’ lives with the constant duck and cover drills and shelters for nuclear war. Finally, the captain of the B-52, King Kong, also represents American stereotypes with his southern accent and his patriotic final act of sitting on top of the bomb while it is falling down towards the Soviet Union. When he found out about the orders, he did not question them and went down fighting. Many people regarded Americans as gun toting southerners who were just as patriotic as they were trigger
As mentioned above, during the US’s involvement in World War II, the Hollywood film industry became extremely involved with the government in order to support its war-aims information campaign through film and other forms of media. Following the declaration of war on Japan, the government created the Bureau of Motion Picture Affairs in order to better coordinate the production of entertainment features (film) with more patriotic, morale-boosting themes and messages emphasizing the “American way of life”, the nature of the enemy and the allies, civilian responsibility on the home front and of course, the fighting forces themselves.
Stanley Kubrick’s sexual parody, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, illustrates an unfathomed nuclear catastrophe. Released in the midst of the Cold War, this 1964 film satirizes the heightened tensions between America and Russia. Many sexual insinuations are implemented to ridicule the serious issue of a global nuclear holocaust, in an effort to countervail the terror that plagued America at that time. Organizing principles, such as Kubrick’s blunt political attitudes about the absurdity of war and the satirical genre, are echoed by the film style of his anti-war black comedy, Dr. Strangelove.
In the third decade of the Cold War, less than two years after the United States population had been scared half-way to death by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dr. Strangelove invaded the nation's movie theatres and showed the country the end of the world. Touted by critics then and now as the film of the decade, Dr. Strangelove savagely mocked the President, the entire military defense establishment, and the rhetoric of the Cold War. To a nation that was living through the stress of the nuclear arms race and had faced the real prospect of nuclear war, the satiric treatment of the nation's leaders was an orgasmic release from deep fears and tensions. Its detractors argued that the film was juvenile, offensive, and inaccurate. Viewed, however, in its context of the Cold War and nuclear proliferation, Dr....
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
QUESTION 2: The Cold War is an international conflict, a global fight between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in Europe in the wake of World War II but quickly expanded into Asia and the Third World. These international events, however, undoubtedly influenced domestic American politics between 1945 and 1965. How did the international Cold War shape, influence, or change domestic American politics in the first twenty years of the conflict?
...s at that time who have come of age. Perhaps no film in recent history has captured more attention and generated more controversial debate. This film resonates the feeling and question that common people had about the JFK assassination in the 60s. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers noted. The JFK was a telling incident demonstrating the larger cultural conflict over values and meaning in America and the competition to define national identity. The whole affair demonstrated how effective a motion picture can be as a transmitter of knowledge, history, and culture. As a result, the debate about the validity of JFK extended much further into the war-torn cultural landscape of America in the 1990s than most observers have noted.
2. Eric Foner, "The United States and the Cold War, 1945 – 1953," in Voices of freedom: a documentary history. Third ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), 232.
During the decades of Soviet rule in Russia the field of cinema was undeniably defined by the role that the state played in filmmaking, as the Soviet government had long used cinema as a means to expose the general public to Soviet ideology. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the role of the state in filmmaking changed drastically, as filmmakers were now able to have true artistic freedom. As a result, many assumed that Russian cinema would be revolutionized, as some films evolved towards being more “American” in nature, with a higher tendency to be centered around action sequences or artistic statements by directors. One of the most notable of which is Aleksandr Sokurov’s 2002 classic Russian Ark, which re-enacted hundreds of years of Russian and Soviet history. And, as evidenced by the film’s glamorous portrayal of Russian history,
Anti-communism influences the films produced, films portrayed communism as evil and immoral. The films during the Cold War certainly portrayed the political storm between the progressive left and the conservative right. Films such as Ninotchka in 1939, showed anti-communism, guilty of Treason 1949, showed an attack against communism, exploiting the evils of communism was shown in Docudrama. The Red Menace in 1949 showed the immense threat of communism.
The Cold War was the defining feature of American foreign policy for decades until contemporary time. The Soviet Union was believed to be an imperialist threat to the entire world as was expected to spread the atrocity of communism throughout the world. The US and the Western half of the world needed to prevent the USSR from rolling across countries the same way they trampled across Eastern Europe after World War II. At the beginning the Cold War reinforced a sense of paranoia and the ideal that "if we don't do it first they will". The access of nuclear arms during this period had since exaggerated the notion that America was better than all other countries in the world.
Fyne, Robert. The Hollywood propaganda of World War II. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994. Print.
The Cold war was a very influential part of most all areas of American culture and politics in the 1950’s. It skyrocketed mainly because of the opposing values and conflicts that the United States and the Soviet Union had. Soviets wanting communism, so the elimination of private property and people working and receiving wages due to their capabilities of work, with the United States being completely against communism and wanting capitalism for their people, capitalism being the opposite of communism and encouraging private property within productions, manufacturing, and trading companies. The U.S. and S.U. being the two leading superpowers in the work after World War II ended, had considerably large disagreements between the two of them, and became a worldwide controversial topic, and not the peaceful kind. The Cold War had many attributions that differed from most other wars involving the U.S. This war in classification was basically a falsifying, convincing war, rather than a war that based its success on military action and combat. The Korean as well as the Vietnam Wars were two very convincing
The Cold War holds a very significant place in history; never before had there been such leaps and bounds in the fields of science and warfare. The computer, now a seemingly harmless invention was going to be used to launch and detonate nuclear missiles. Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons were at one time was nothing more than science fiction. The world has never been so close to ending than in the years which are labeled the Cold War. From the Truman Doctrine to the Cuban missile crisis to the LGM-30 Minuteman missile silos that still dot the American plains, many Americans did not know if they would wake up the next day to a nuclear winter. The geopolitical tensions between America and the Soviet Union put the world on edge and made