I really should not have watched Dr. Strangelove immediately before going to sleep. Due to the extreme oddness of the characters and plot, I was left with strange dreams all night long. I cannot explain how much I loved/hated this movie. My bipolar feelings towards the film stem due its weird nature and not from personal inconsistency.
Why I liked it? It was hysterical!!! Excuse me, but the President of the U.S. talking to Dmitry scenes were so entertaining. Of course, Dmitry was depicted as drunk and mildly insane and the U.S. president was calm and collected. Dr. Strangelove was funny as well. I especially love the parts where his run away hand tried to strangle him and when he referred to the president as “Mein Fuehrer.” I enjoyed the Russian ambassador’s absolutely remarkable comment that Russia’s source for thinking America had built a doomsday device was the NY Times. I didn’t even know that joke was relevant to the time period but I guess some things never change.
Why I did not like it? Well, I really don’t get why Peter Sellers had to play three characters. Was this a budget related issue? Was it for comedic purposes? Either way, I didn’t appreciate it. It was annoying to see the same face in nearly every scene. Also, I especially hated the end. So civilization is essentially destroyed, only several thousand will survive, life will need to move underground, but it’s all good because monogamy is no more. I feel like this had nothing to do with the plot of the movie and was such a foolish way to end a good film. This scene managed to kill most of the movie’s allure for me.
Overall, Dr. Strangelove is a good movie. It has a nice message for humanity and is still relevant today. It managed to merge humor and seriousness well. However, certain techniques seemed unsuitable for the movie.
Those “Bull”headed Americans…
After the presentation on Thursday, I was inspired to ask my Ukrainian born mother if she too remembered encountering any pro-communist, anti-American cartoons while she was growing up. She seemed a little dazed by the question, as if she had never even considered before that there were such cartoons. Of course I forgot the name of the cartoon we watched in class and therefore had no hard evidence to present to her. However, I continued to press on. Did she really not remember any propaganda filled cartoons filled with innocent looking, communist dancing/singing happy go lucky creatures facing some horrible, gun blasting, cruel American soldier looking monsters? She affirmed that she did not.
Three possibilities occurred to me. A: My mother really never watched such cartoons. Considering that TV time was limited and my mother was a scholastic over achiever, this is definitely possible. B: My mother has Americanized herself to a point that she actually has forgotten certain memorable animated features of her youth – also possible. Or, C: Russian filmmakers/cartoonists were exceptionally gifted at hiding their true intentions and thus able to make the common public believe that they were in fact watching an innocent cartoon and not partaking in a political ploy to control the masses. For the benefit of this blog entry, I decided to go with C. A & B really don’t leave much to talk about.
Naturally, even my mother had to agree that there was strong political backlash against America during the Cold War years. There were military parades throughout the Soviet Union, sending a message out to the world of “Don’t mess. We got guns.” Stalin would regularly entertain passionate monologues spurring anti-American sentiments on the radio. Americans were usually perceived as ungrateful, uneducated, and ignorant. However, all this did not surprise me. I wanted the real dirty stuff – the cartoons!
In my quest for animated truth, I stumbled upon possibly the most blatantly anti-American media item I have ever encountered.
So for those of you who will not watch the full 10 minute cartoon, though I STRONGLY suggest you do since it’s really actually funny, this animated feature tells a most remarkable tale. The story itself is based on a poem by Sergei Mihalkov, a Russian author of children’s literature. Basically, an old rich American woman dies. Her intense greediness and impracticalness leads her to leave a million dollars to her bulldog. (Leona Helmsley anyone?!!!) This dog essentially buys his way into power and becomes a member of Congress. The moral of the story is that in America money can buy everything and government officials don’t require a very high intelligence.
So after my initial crack up at the cartoon, I began to ponder if people took this stuff seriously. Ok, sometimes I too feel certain Congressmen aren’t the brightest of people. After all, my favorite quote is Mark Twain’s “Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” But deep down I have respect for the system. However, Russians during the cold war era probably did not. Thus, cartoons such as this one must have left them with a very odd impression of Americans. While back home, we were thinking communists were anti-family, anti-business, etc…, they were thinking we were rich, lazy, and mentally handicapped. We thought we were fighting dangerous villains and they thought they were arguing with developmentally challenged Westerners. No wonder nobody won!
P.S. Before I end off, I would like to let you all know that I found the cartoon we watched in class and showed it to my mother. She had in fact never watched it. Moreover, the dark people we thought were Americans she actually identified as Germans. America was depicted in one scene but very briefly.
zombie bite calculator
how fast will you turn? take the quiz and find out
http://theoatmeal.com/quiz/zombie_bite
Anti-Communist Propaganda and Anti-Anti-Communist Comedy
When I was young I loved cartoons of all kinds, ranging from Tom and Jerry to Popeye The Sailor Man to Dragonball Z. Through this simple, animated medium I saw continual rivalry, heroism and the power of spinach. A well-made series broke down larger, more complicated concepts in a way a child could understand and did so in an exciting and captivating manner. This being said, it would make sense for any group wishing to promote an agenda to use cartoons to communicate a message to a wide demographic. In the following cartoon, Dr. Utopia’s wonderful formula promises to cure all the ails of the America population.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/KkXTd9v56LQ" width="600" height="400" wmode="transparent" /]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkXTd9v56LQ
For the farmer it promised a great yield and favorable weather, for the manager massive profit and no strikes, for the politician government control and the ability to choose your salary, and for the worker higher wages and security. All each of these individuals had to do was sign on the dotted line and they would receive their bottle of ISM free of charge. The only person who chooses to question the contract is John Q Public. He discovers that the contract actually offers the signer’s freedom and that of future generations in exchange for ISM. When he tells the others to sample the product, they imagine a world of slave labor in which the government determines all and they have no power to retaliate. Ultimately, Dr. Utopia is run into the distance by the other characters as they hurl ISM bottles at him.
Through the oversimplification of both positions, the cartoon exalts American freedom and government while demonizing the ideals of communism. This is a feature of many of the films of the Cold War era we have read about and seen in class presentations. Furthermore, it continues to be a feature of the modern day media, especially in times of questionable governmental action. It is easy to unite against abstract forces that seem to be the root of all-evil, no matter which ISM they are. The media develops blanket terms that threaten our way of life and anyone who does not unite against the forces is deemed un-American. It is a divisive strategy that, on the surface, serves to give credibility to the actions of any group, especially the government. Recently a friend of mine directed me to an article I found most disturbing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1253
Simply put, it states that the Texas Board of Education is debating legislation that will alter textbooks in a radically conservative way. Among the proposed changes are decreased emphasis on the influence of the Latino population and the addition of country music as an important cultural influence (hip-hop is to be dropped from the list). More importantly, Texas sets standards for approximately eighty percent of the nation’s textbook market. Potentially this could alter the way children learn, inundating them with false and biased concepts about the nation’s history. In middle school we all learned about the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. We learned about his three ships and the first Thanksgiving. However, many of us did not learn about his massacre of the Native Americans rivaling that of any conquistador. Early education system tends to have a conservative slant, almost denying the atrocities the United States has committed in its history. It is yet another method to generate blind patriotism in the nation’s citizenry. It is only as I have developed a more cynical, yet pragmatic, view of the world that I have truly realized the half the media sounds like this underneath all the jargon and propaganda.
Would You Survive a Zombie Apocalypse?
My friend shared this website with me and I thought it was pretty entertaining so I will pass it on to you! (The image is too large to post here.) It’s a really elaborate flowchart and you begin in the center red box titled, “Where are you?” Have fun!
Nuclear War Films on the Digital Campus
In addition to the three required films for next week (Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove and The Day After), two more movies nuclear war themed movies have now been added to the Digital Campus page. These are On the Beach and The Bedford Incident (1965) (which Whitfield briefly discusses). Though I will not hold you responsible for these two movies, I do recommend that you watch them if you have a chance. It will enrich our discussions on Tuesday and Thursday.
If you encounter problems with streaming from the Digital Campus, please let me know in an email so I can report it the folks at the library. Please be as specific in your description of the problem as possible.
Brainwashing and Terrorism
So I chose to write about brainwashing and its affect on the advancement of terrorism, at least in this day and age. I had seen these extremely troubling videos, which are posted below, a few months ago and well, they were just ridiculously shocking. They reminded me of both the Timothy Melley article, “Brainwashed! Conspiracy Theory and Ideology in the Postwar United States,” as well as The Machurian Candidate. The videos that follow offer a new type of brainwashing that is going on. In Melley’s article, he touches on the effects of brainwashing in the same way it is portrayed in The Manchurian Candidate. He writes about how those brainwashed lose their free will, or as Edward Hunter states, “[brainwashing could literally] change a mind radically so that its owner becomes a living puppet-a human robot.” The same idea is shown in The Manchurian Candidate where we are given Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw, who when everytime he sees a queen of diamonds playing card it triggers in him brainwashed orders, in his case, assassinations. The difference between that style of brainwashing and now is that these days the brainwashee still has to an extent some free will, however as Meerloo in the Melley articles states, “the panic of the ‘brainwashee…is the total confusion he suffers about all concepts.” Melley goes further stating that “brainwashing could ultimately cause ‘great confusion…in the mind of every observer, friend or foe. In the eend no one knows how to distinguish truth from falsehood,” which I feel is what’s happening today. These children, as you will see in the video, are being raised and almost programmed to eat, sleep, and live this ideology of hate. There is still no escape, but it all stems from this misconception of the truth, this misinformation being funneled into their brain from the beginning of life. Instead of there being triggers behind their actions, instead they are fueled by misunderstandings, and misallocation of resources. There is this growing confusion over what is right and wrong. The brainwashee only knows the world they are thrown into, and anything otherwise is wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uherUeAGFHU
These were the first videos I saw. They show two young children who were brainwashed to not only hate Jews and other infidels, but call for their genocide. It is so scary just the thought that there are some misguided extremist groups raising their children to be terrorist, to be mini-Hitler’s. One can only imagine what this could mean for our future. What is to come? What can we do? We have a saying here in America that “children are our future,” now what kind of future are we supposed to have when there is so much hate?
This video deals with even more ways that these children are being brainwashed. Not only are they getting it from their parents and those around them, but now there are cartoon characters being created to teach these kids how to hate. What kind of cartoon character tells children about eating Jews? About killing infidels? It fills me with so many emotions; it is coming to a point where hearing about a suicide bomb is normal, where I secretly look around my surroundings when I am at a well known or crowded place. Even sadder though is the way these extremist make the rest of the Islamic faith look. It is not fair to those who follow the true teachings of the Quran, not this hate-filled attack on all those who are different from them. Not only is this fear felt within in our country, but within the Middle Eastern countries as well. I watched a play, Aftermath, last year which dealt with Iraqi refugees fleeing from the Iraq war and government. The play was amazing, and I would recommend watching it. Ben Brantley wrote a review for it in the New York Times here: http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/theater/reviews/16after.html.
take a look.
Communism and Homosexuality
While viewing the clip shown in class this week dealing with how to spot a communist I was reminded of a family guy clip that I had seen before. This Family Guy clip is very similar to the one shown in class but substitutes communism for homosexuality, showing the viewer how to spot a gay. Knowing that Family Guy spoofs usually have some relevance to real life events I decided to do some research on this and found out that there was a Lavender Scare occurring at the same time as the Red Scare, both being effects of the Cold war. The Lavender Scare refers to the persecution of homosexuals in the 1950’s, and gained its popularity through the association of homosexuality with communism. Around this time homosexuality was seen as a mental illness and because they had this “mental illness” gays and lesbians were seen as being susceptible to blackmail. McCarthy, who was very prominent in the Red Scare was also prominent in the Lavender scare. He and many others believed that because of their susceptibility to black mail homosexuals would be easy prey for communists and those in the federal government would be forced to give them secret information on the U.S. government. Just as with the Red Scare, the Lavender scare resulted in various accusations, investigations, and firings within the Federal government. Many Americans terrified of communism were easily convinced to back the Lavender scare, and some even began to view homosexuals as a bigger threat to national security then communists themselves. Today; however, many people claim that there were other reasons as to why the Lavender Scare was started other then Communism. One being that the number of Homosexuals in America was on a rise and Lavender Scare was used to put an end to this and preserve Americas masculinity. Others believe it was used by the republican party as a way to take down Harry S. Trumans administration by exposing it as not only communist but homosexual. Like the last post on pornography this shows another example of politicians taking advantage of peoples fearss to push their agendas. I had previously not heard of the lavander scare and i think this Family guy clip was a great way of bringing attention this event which people do not tend to talk about.
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Pornography Will Make You a Communist!
All this talk about the fear of Communism during the Cold War period has made me very curious about how t
his fear really influenced society. While browsing around archive.org I came across a video from 1964 called “Perversion for Profit.” The video, in total, is about a half an hour long, and addresses pornography in American culture as something that is weakening society in the fight against Communism. I won’t delve into debating the grandiose claims made in the short film about how various publications were transforming America’s youth into “homosexuals, lesbians, sadists, masochists, and other sex deviants” because I fear that may just turn into a long-winded rant. I would, however, like to examine the true intention behind this film, and also how paranoia and propaganda can influence an entire culture’s perspective. It seems to me certain periods of heightened social stress can give radical groups a perfect window of opportunity.
I think it can be argued that groups who are against certain ideals, ways of life, and “types” of people take advantage of social distress. If a society is constantly bombarded with messages warning them that the life they know could be gone in an instant, they are far more susceptible to believe almost anything they hear. During this time period in particular, I think people were less critical and therefore less likely to consider the real intention behind the images and ideas that were being fed to them. During the Cold War period the media was able to propagandize most of what Americans were seeing, and, in turn, mold the public exactly how they wanted. I thought it was really interesting that this video used images so heavily, and even quoted a passage from one of the risqué “pocket books.” Displaying these censored images, in my opinion, seems like it would only pique the interest of viewers unfamiliar with the world of pornography.
Much of this video is connected to the societal taboo that sex holds. Sex outside of marriage is frowned upon, and anyone who even looks at any of these materials, according to this film, will become forever perverse and unnatural. This sends a very clear message that sex is not to be enjoyed or experimented with, but rather is serves the purpose of procreation as it is spelled out in the proper “Judeo-Christian tradition” mentioned in the clip. We have discussed how sex has always created fear and anxiety within society, and it is interesting to see that people can be so uncomfortable with and afraid of sexuality that they will go to such lengths as to create a half an hour of film filled with statistics and questionably credible claims about its dangers.
I think I found it most interesting that the alleged purpose of this film is to discuss how “moral decay” is weakening the American public to the threat of Communism, but this concept is only mentioned a few times. Overall, the film seems to be targeting homosexuals and openly sexual people. Near the end of the film the narrator urges the public to keep their standards high and reform the corruption in society. It also sort of advertises the interest group, and suggests that viewers should start groups in their neighborhoods. At this point, it becomes far more evident that the film is not so much about the threat of Communism as it is a tool to spread the ideals of the group producing it.
Brainwashing Children
After watching The Manchurian Candidate and reading Timothy Melly’s “Brainwashed! Conspiracy Theory and Ideology in the Postwar United States” I began contemplating the issue of brainwashing in our society. The idea of brainwashing was introduced to the United States during The Korean War, but was certainly not confined to that era. In fact brainwashing is still a huge part of American culture, especially commercial advertising. Although we all are victims of brainwashing through advertisements, children are undoubtedly one of the biggest targets. This is mostly because children are highly impressionable and easily manipulated.
The video, “The Corporation: Advertisements Targeting Children” shows how children use nagging to get their parents to buy them various products. Companies are able to brainwash children to buy their products by showing the same commercials repeatedly during children’s programming. The more the children are exposed to the products, the more likely they will want the products and nag their parents to buy them. For instance, while watching a movie on the Disney Channel, a child may say several commercials for the Bratz Dolls or Hot Wheelz. Commercials also make their ads very colorful to appeal to children and maintain their attention. Companies also have flashy logos or catchy songs to force these young consumers to remember their products. There’s a reason why children remember Oscar Mayer bologna instead of Boar’s Head bologna. Another method that is particularly effective is associating the product with a character that children like. Children are more likely to want to eat macaroni and cheese that is in the shape of Spongebob Squarepants than regular elbow macaroni. Children might even argue that it tastes better.
When children see these products, they fuss and throw tantrums until they get their parents to finally give in and buy the products. Then the cycle starts over again. In the video, Professor Susan Linn says, “It’s not that products themselves are bad or good. It’s the notion of manipulating children into buying the products.” There are some great products out there for kids, but if the ads are not played constantly, or are not visually appealing, the kids will not want these products.
Brainwashing children to buy merchandise is a long way off from brainwashing men to be assassins. However, if the children do not eventually learn to be educated consumers, they could potentially become mindless zombies who are unable to think for themselves.
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The Cold War Through Music
The Cold War lasted approximately from 1947 to 1991 and it was a period of high tension and political conflict between the USSR and the US. There was not any physical fighting, but there was conflict behind the scenes: military alliances, espionage, propaganda, the nuclear arms race, and a race for technological innovations.
I came across this song by Sting from his debut solo album, The Dream of Blue Turtles called Russians. In it, he sings of the consequences of the Cold War and of what we could do to save the world from the escalating shows of power.
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/4rk78eCIx4E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
The lyrics are:
In 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. Khrushchev said we will bury you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
It’d be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians 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 too
There is no historical precedent
To put the 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 if the Russians love their children too
Source: http://www.lyrics007.com/Sting%20&%20Police%20Lyrics/Russians%20Lyrics.html
Please take the time to read the lyrics. Each line is really very meaningful. The song’s lyrics and Sting’s mournful voice really portray the despair of the situation. He wants the everyone to get along to ensure that a future will exist for generations to come. The last four lines are really poignant. Sting says, we are all human beings; you and I are made of one and the same. Why can’t we just get along and live in peace and harmony?
I think Sting’s debut of this song was very taboo, but I applaud him for being courageous enough to come out with this radical song. People were very frightened by the prospect of another World War and there was a lot of hatred towards foreigners. They were anti-Russian, anti-Communist, and anti-foreigner. Sting tries to soothe people by singing about the innocence of sons and daughters, trying to convince them to unite peacefully for their sake.
Obamaism- taking away our freedoms
After Thursday’s class discussion, I got thinking about socialism and Obama. Being politically conservative myself (dare I publish that?), I heard all the talk about Obama being a socialist and turning this country into a Communist state. I won’t say that there is zero truth in that, but I do recognize it as typical conservative anti-Obama propaganda (aka Obama trash talk).
I decided to do a couple of Google searches on “Obama” and “socialist”, expecting quite a number of wacky websites to pop up…which it did. On one of them ( http://obamaism.blogspot.com/ if you’re interested) I found a couple of videos which eventually led me to this:
Interestingly, this video was not made for the McCain campaign. It was made before anyone even knew who Obama was…in fact, before he was even born. It was made in 1948 by Harding College, a conservative Christian college in Arkansas. In 1948, they saw the spreading Communism as a threat to the “American way” and the values we share. They responded by creating this captivating cartoon to convince the American people to think critically about the way of life they have now and how it can change for the worse with the introduction of Communism.
(As an interesting sidenote, one of the main proofs they use as an American capitalistic success is the thriving automobile industry in the US that has created many jobs and boosted the economy at large. 60 years later, the US government had to save the ailing industry and until today it’s seen as a main drag on the economy.)
eww blood….i mean yayyyy blood!!!!
As we discussed in class many video games reflect the zombie movies of our time. But a videogame which has done the opposite is the Resident Evil franchise. This videogame has inspired movies to be produced reflecting the gameplay. Resident Evil started off in 1996 on the sony playstation, and was noted as being one of the most terrifying games of its time. the plot consisted of a t-virus spreading around Racoon City, turning the living into walking zombies that devoured living humans around them. This game has evolved throughout time, and currently there are 5 parts to the game.The last installment takes place in Kijuju,Africa and deals with the same virus but it has been changed and the zombies are now manjini whose fury and craze causes them to savagely kill uninfected humans. The games have not only changed in their location but also in the way fear is invoked in those who play the game. Even just by the trailers we are able to see how far the game installments have come. The first resident evil game i played was resident evil 2 on the n64 and from then i have been hooked on the games. Here i have two trailers, one for resident evil 2 and the other for resident evil 5.[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ey6eCImoHJk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /][kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/UX89tmpiuDA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
As we see in these trailers although both videogames deal with lots of blood and the idea of zombies taking over cities, the trailer for resident evil 5 is much more advanced then the one for resident evil 2. aside from technological advances i think the underlying factor as to why the resident evil crew hasnt kept the same type of zombies and the same simple storyline is because of the fact that as the years pass the game must age along with those playing the games. i know that as a 8 yr old kid resident evil 2 terrified me and i could not play it alone in the dark as the trailer suggests, but now when i play it i get annoyed as to how slow the zombies are in resident evil 2 and how my weapons are so limited. but as we see in resident evil 5 the game is no longer a game in the same sense it almost become a movie in which you feel you control the characters fate. the characters no longer hold static personalitites, instead they hold dynamic ones which reflect the people we meet in our everyday lives. also we see how the speed and intelligence of the enemies has changed drastically. in resident evil 5 the manjini run at about the same speed as a healthy uninfected human and hold weapons which they can aim and use very effectively, making them that much more menicing. but also in comparison the weapons the good guys can use in resident evil 5 are much more advanced and varied .the first resident evil installments i feel used our childlike imagination to play on our fears, alot of the scenes of death although they contain much blood do not show actually stabbing or impalement of the good guys, but in resident evil 5 we see how this has changed drastically leaving us with little to imagine, and although i feel imagination is a great thing i really do enjoy actually seeing how the deaths take place because it gives me this front seat view to something i will hopefully never see in real life, yet i still feel it being real because of how advanced the cinematographic scenery is and how lifelike the characters look and act. In these two videos we see the difference in death scenes of resident evil 2 and resident evil 5.
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[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/aL6NsdNhoYo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
As you can see for yourselves the deaths in resident evil 2 are almost comical compared to the gruesome ones we can see in resident evil 5. although both use blood as a fear inducer, the deaths in resident evil 5 are far more advanced. i think this can clearly be seen in movies we look at today compared to those shown 10 or even 5 years back. in class we discussed night of the living dead, and although the lighting of the movie does tend to scare many people, to me, it can not compare to zombie movies of our time such as dawn of the dead(2004), a scene which is very similar to that of night of the living dead which is present in dawn of the dead is that of a small girl killing a grown man. this can be seen in both movies but to me the second movie does it so much better and actually provokes fear in me.i think the idea of movies changing along with their viewers is also prevalent in this case. not only do technological advances help to achieve this but the more relevant issue of viruses causing the spread of this transforming infection hits closer to home for us then would the idea of a nuclear leak causing zombie mayhem.the ideas in movies are much like those in video games especially when it comes to zombies, the more blood and the more the director can show without going over the top the better. and as time has passed its easier to make a zombie death look more realistic and that much more pleasurable (weird i know) for those of us who love zombie movies/videogames.it is safe to say that zombie videogames have changed from having slow moving, polygonal characters, into being almost life like actors and the games are becoming more movie like (hence the extremely long trailer for resident evil 5 and the really short one for resident evil 2). and as for movies we see how the zombies themselves can now run at the same(if not faster)pace as that of a normal human, and they are not as easily pushed away as in earlier movies. for many people these movie ad video-games can be too much because of how realistic they are, as for me i cant wait to play resident evil 6 which is in talks to be release in 2017,,,lets cross our fingers that it is released much sooner then that.
The Red Scare and the Hollywood Blacklist: For Tuesday
As you’ll see on the calendar page, our viewing for Tuesday is The Front, a 1976 comedy starring Woody Allen about McCarthyism’s impact on the entertainment industry and Trumbo, a 2007 documentary about Dalton Trumbo, a well known screenwriter who was blacklisted but continued to write and and win awards under psuedonyms. Both are available for streaming on Netflix.
Also, please take a look the following films. Together, they’ll give you some additional context for the two films as well as our reading from Whitfield’s The Culture of the Cold War. Most of these are already in our Delicious feed.
“Hollywood ‘Red’ Probe Begins, 1947/10/20 (1947)” A newsreel on the beginning of HUAC’s probe of alleged communist activity and influence in Hollywood.
I Married a Communist(a.k.a. The Woman on Pier 13)(1949). An RKO feature starring Robert Ryan and an exemplary red scare propaganda film along with My Son John and I Was A Communist for the FBI.
“The Hollywood Ten” (1950), a 16mm short critical of McCarthyism and the blacklist. The director, John Berry, was blacklisted after the film’s release and fled to France where he worked until his return to the US in the 1970s.
“Make Mine Freedom” (1948). A propaganda cartoon on the virtues of democracy and what Americans stand to lose if communism should prevail.
“Communism,” a 1952 educational film about the threat of Soviet Communism.
John Hinckley and “Taxi Driver”
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/taxidriver.htm
After doing some research on “Taxi Driver,” I stumbled upon a website about the assassination attempt on former President Ronald Reagan. Apparently he was shot by a man named John Hinckley Jr., who was obsessed with the movie and Robert DeNiro’s character, Travis Bickle. According to the article on the website, Hinckley imitated many aspects of Travis’ life. He wore the same outfits that Travis wore in the movie, wrote letters to his parents about his imaginary girlfriend, was obsessed with Jodie Foster, and of course, he tried to assassinate Reagan. Another point to note was that both Travis and Hinckley were both loners and outsiders within their society. It amazes me how the level of insanity consumed Hinckley’s life and how it paralleled with Travis’ character.
Not only did Hinckley imitate Travis’ looks but he also imitated Travis’ psychotic state of mind. According to the article, Hinckley believed that he could escape his loneliness and be rewarded for his actions by killing others, just as Travis had done when he killed Sport, the hotel manager, and the pimp. When looking at Hinckley’s attempted assassination on Reagan and the ruthless murders that Travis committed, we see that there was no justifiable reason for killing the victims of these crimes. The only driving force behind any of these killings was the suspects’ psychotic thinking and their false assumptions that killing these individuals would somehow cure their loneliness.
Ironically, it was determined that both Travis and Hinckley would not be severely punished for their crimes. Hinckley was acquitted because he was clearly insane while Travis was never sent to jail for murdering all of his victims. So in a literal sense, the crimes committed by Travis and Hinckley did free them in some way. It makes one reassess our legal system when murderers are free to once again roam the streets just because they plead insanity.
Fear of Ourselves
“Zombies r us” really struck me. I found this bumper sticker on http://www.zazzle.com/zombies+bumperstickers , and even though there are other quotes such as “I love zombies”, “I hunt zombies” and “In case of zombies, follow me!” I found this one to be the most significant, while the others are more comical.
I feel we have all become zombies. We live in New York City, a city that is constantly in motion and never sleeps. Everything is a routine and just like zombies most people don’t think, they just act. Zombies are constantly chasing the living for their flesh, and humans are constantly on the go to get where they need to be and carry out their day’s functions. We don’t see what is going on around us because we are so busy with our lives. There are no questions asked. We see this in Shaun of the Dead, in the opening scene where all the people are mechanized and seen in lines working, they all look alike too. In another scene, Shaun goes out to get a coke and an ice cream cone and he doesn’t notice the zombies on the street. The streets are obviously wrecked and isolated, but this doesn’t alarm him. What is most shocking is that he doesn’t even notice the blood on the refrigerator door. This movie is making fun of this state of blindness. I am not saying we are like this because we choose too, but more because our way of life makes us like this, just like zombies behave the way they do because they have been bitten and can’t really do anything about it. Even though we don’t have a physical transformation, we are acting more or less like a zombie. This idea is tied to Romero’s criticism of consumerism in Dawn of the Dead. Dendle says capitalism is fuelled by the need of continual growth. In the movie the characters decide to take over the mall because they enjoy the pleasures available to them. They don’t settle for just the essential; they want more, just as zombies want more and more human flesh.
Part of why we are scared when watching a zombie movie is the fear of becoming this “corrupt” unmoral being. We are scared of what we can potentially become influenced by our environment. Before being zombies, they are human beings. Once they become zombies, they act on instincts, primarily the instinct to eat. Humans have instincts too, but unlike the zombies we have a conscience that prevents us from acting out our instincts (well most people anyway). We have rules and live under an established system. Capitalism is what drives the economy, and it is scary to know that under it’s influence we can become mindless and corrupt. Greed is what can make us act out our instincts, just as a bite makes zombies devour humans. While watching a zombie movie we subconsciously hope we don’t get “bitten” by our society because deep down we don’t want to be this corrupt person, but once bitten “self is lost irrevocably” (Boon pg 35).
Zombie Presentation Pictures
Hey everyone! Here are a few pictures from yesterday’s presentation, and some close-ups of the makeup!
The Meaning of Zombies in Popular Culture
After being immersed in a zombie world these past couple of weeks, I started to think a bit about zombies in popular culture, that is outside of movies obviously. Honestly, I never really paid much attention to zombies in television, books, art, music; but then I remembered this Cranberries song from the 90’s
The song is about the Troubles in northern Ireland ( as the band is Irish) that existed from the 60’s to the late 90’s, which was basically a political and military conflict between the country’s Protestants and Christians. The song was one of the band’s most popular, topping the charts, and it’s message resonated with their native Ireland.
I think this music video is very telling of both the influence of zombies into modern popular culture and on the principles that zombies represent. The band decided to name their hit song after the famed ghouls because they portray the militants in Ireland, being told to patrol violently and following orders without regard for humanity. In this way, zombies often come to mind when thinking of people blindly doing things, whether violent, like Nazis, or whether innocently, like following the trends of consumer culture (such as the representation of the mall in Romero’s Dawn of the Dead). I thought this was really interesting to see how zombies in America have evolved from being simply flesh-eating monsters to entire symbols of mindless following.
A Quick Update
As I mentioned in class, the schedule for presentations and required viewings is now available for download here. Take a look at that when you have a chance. Also, the next two readings are now available as well: the Melley article on brainwashing for Thursday and chapter 6 of Whitfield’s Culture of the Cold War. You’ll notice on the updated calendar that next week is going to look a little different from what I described to you last week.
Since Swank will not be ready in time to post to the Digital Campus the movies I had intended for you to watch, I had to improvise a little given what is available on Netflix. Rather than watching the two 1950s anti-communist movies as planned (let’s face it, they’re more interesting than entertaining, especially to contemporary audiences), I’m going to switch things around and ask you to watch the 1962 version of The Manchurian Candidate for Thursday. If you can find the time to watch the 2004 version, you should. Both are available on the Digital Campus and are linked to on the calendar page.
Since we can’t get primary material, we’ll go for the secondary. For the following Tuesday, please watch The Front, a 1976 comedy with Woody Allen about blacklisted writers and Trumbo, a 2007 documentary about Dalton Trumbo, a screenwriter who was blacklisted and wrote many films under psuedonyms — one even won an Oscar. Both are available for streaming on Netflix. I’ll also post some links to a few shorts from the Prelinger archive. Most of these are already on our delicious page, so take a look. For that Thursday, 7 Days in May should be available on the Digital Campus site. Once that’s set, it should be smooth sailing for the remainder of the semester.