POLS 074. Cold War Cinema

Rocky IV. Dr. Strangelove. Rambo: First Blood. Rambo: First Blood Part II. Red Dawn. Films that today might be viewed ironically, as kitsch from a bygone, paranoid age, were in their own time sincere expressions of very real anxieties about the future survival of the "free world" against the Soviet and communist threat. This course looks at Cold War cinema of the United States, as well as Eastern Europe, Russia, Italy, and Brazil in order to understand how visual and popular culture informed and challenged national identity during the second half of the 20^th century. We will examine not only how cinema made manifest the direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, but also how the United States "refought" the Vietnam War during the 1980s, as well as how directors from Brazil, Italy, and the United States subverted cold war hopes of freedom and bravery to produce counter-narratives of good and evil.
Political sciences.
.5 credit.
Catalog chapter: Political Science
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/political-science

Access the class schedule to search for sections.

Close Window