HIST 12
Cold War Films Winter 2019

This is not the current course catalog

The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nearly half-century standoff, was as ideological as it was military. For every nuclear test, arms sale, or military operation there was a propaganda ploy, rhetorical barb, or diplomatic ultimatum to match. Amidst this hostile competition between two incompatible ways of life-capitalism and communism, totalitarianism and democracy–an atmosphere marked by panic, secrecy, insecurity, paranoia, surveillance, and conformity pervaded American life. This class will explore these quintessential, overlapping elements of Cold War culture in a series of films produced from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. Film screenings will be accompanied by contextual readings to be completed prior to class discussion.