Cold War Pop-Culture Influence and Propaganda

Food

“Cold” Treat - Bomb Pops Little Susie doesn’t

realize it but she’s eating a ballistic missile.

Early Video Games: Reflection of Fears?

Comic Books

• Iron Man was created to explore Cold War themes and America’s roll of technology in defeating Communism

• Most Comics throughout the 1950s and 60s did battle with Communism

Comic Books

Comic Books

Toys - G.I. JOE

• Released in 1964 as a 12inch action figure, G.I. Joe was the embodiment of the ideal American Soldier fighter for freedom against a Terrorist organization

• Later becomes a cartoon and 3.75inch figures

• Classic example of how the military was romanticized and the idea that American freedom/democracy would always prevail

G.I. Joe Theme Song

WWF Wrestling • Cold War themes even

played out in wresting • The “Foreign Legion”

and the “Bolsheviks” were tag-team “bad guys”

• While Hulk Hogan symbolized the “Real American” patriot.

WWF Wrestling

The Foreign Legion

The Bolshevi

ks

Nikolai Volkoff Sings the Russian National Anthem

Movies• Hollywood produced lots of films

from the 1950s to the 1990s that were Cold War themed.

• Many could be considered propaganda.

Red Dawn Movie Trailer• Red Dawn envisions a world where NATO has dissolved and

the Soviet Union invades the U.S.

WarGames – The Message! A computer designed to run nuclear war games simulations nearly

triggers an actual war! Great message at the end! MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction)

Miracle On Ice• Story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic

Hockey Team defeating the “invincible” Soviet Team. The victory fueled U.S. propaganda.

Rocky IV

• Excellent Example of Cold War themed/propaganda film.

• The Larger Soviet Aggressor vs. the Small, yet more determined, American.

• This movie is a classic example of how the Cold War influenced pop-culture in the United States.

ROCKY IV CLIP

Cartoons• The 1960s Cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle played on

the Cold War theme of spying and espionage. Boris and Natasha, Russian Spies, were the villains.

Boris and Natasha – Russian Spies!

Modern Cartoons

• Spongebob is from a place called “Bikini Bottom” or Bikini Atoll=The place where the United States did nuclear testing

Spongebob and his friends are mutants

TV Commercials –Highland Appliance

TV Commercials – Wendy’s

Modern Example: Post 9/11 TV Ad – Propaganda?

Music• Dozens of songs were written

throughout the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

• A good example is 99 Red Balloons by Nena which tells the story of Nuclear War being accidently triggered by a weird (99 red balloons) sight in the sky

• Another great example is the song Land of Confusion by Genesis

• The video features a line of stomping feet, illustrating an army marching through a swamp, and they pick up heads of Cold War-era political figures in the swamp along the way

• The video shows Benito Mussolini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Mikhail Gorbachev and his aides, and Muammar al-Gaddafi.

• Meanwhile, Reagan is shown putting on a Superman suit.

• At the end of the video Reagan awakens from his “nightmare” and tries to push a button for his nurse, but instead launches a nuke.

• Another example is Russians by Sting

• “…There’s no such thing as a winnable war”

• “How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy”

“The Day After” movie clip

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VG2aJyIFrA

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel

“Russians” by StingIn Europe and America, there's a growing feeling of hysteria Conditioned to respond to all the threats

In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you I don't subscribe to this point of view It would be such an ignorant thing to do If the Russian love their children too

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy There is no monopoly of common sense On either side of the political fence We share the same biology Regardless of ideology Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children

There is no historical precedent To put words in the mouth of the president There's no such thing as a winnable war It's a lie we don't believe anymore Mr. Reagan says we will protect you I don't subscribe to this point of view Believe me when I say to you I hope the Russians love their children too

We share the same biology Regardless of ideology What might save us me and you Is that the Russians love their children too

“Russians” by Sting

99 Red Balloons• You and I in a little toy

shopBuy a bag of balloons with the money we've gotSet them free at the break of dawnTil one by one, they were goneBack at base bugs in the softwareFlash the message, something's out thereFloating in the summer sky99 red balloons go by

99 red balloonsFloating in the summer skyPanic bells it's red alertThere's something here from somewhere else

The war machine springs to lifeOpens up one eager eyeFocusing it on the sky as 99 red balloons go by

99 Decision street99 ministers meetTo worry, worry, super flurryCall the troops out in a hurryThis is what we've waited forThis is it boys, this is warThe president is on the lineAs 99 red balloons go by

99 knights of the airRide super high tech jet

fightersEveryone's a super heroEveryone's a Captain KirkWith orders to identifyTo clarify, and classifyScramble in the summer sky99 red balloons go by

99 dreams I have hadIn every one a red balloonIt's all over and I'm standing prettyIn this dust that was a cityIf I could find a souvenirJust to prove the world was hereAnd here is a red balloonI think of you, and let it go

99 Red Balloons music video

Genesis “Land of Confusion”