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The film industry was an important propaganda element during the
Cold War. As with other conflicts, the Cold War was fought not just
with weapons, but with words and images. Throughout the conflict,
cinema was a reflection of the societies, the ideologies, and the
political climates in which the films were produced. On both sides,
great stars, major companies, famous scriptwriters, and filmmakers
were enlisted to help the propaganda effort. It was not only
propaganda that was created by the cinema of the Cold War - it also
articulated criticism, and the movie industries were centres of the
fabrication of modern myths. The cinema was undoubtedly a place of
Cold War confrontation and rivalry, and yet there were aesthetic,
technical, narrative exchanges between West and East. All genres of
film contributed to the Cold War: thrillers, westerns, comedies,
musicals, espionage films, documentaries, cartoons, science
fiction, historical dramas, war films, and many more. These films
shaped popular culture and national identities, creating vivid
characters like James Bond, Alec Leamas, Harry Palmer, and Rambo.
While the United States and the Soviet Union were the two main
protagonists in this on-screen duel, other countries, such as
Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Czechoslovakia, also played
crucially important parts, and their prominent cinematographic
contributions to the Cold War are all covered in this volume. This
book was originally published as a special issue of Cold War
History.
The film industry was an important propaganda element during the
Cold War. As with other conflicts, the Cold War was fought not just
with weapons, but with words and images. Throughout the conflict,
cinema was a reflection of the societies, the ideologies, and the
political climates in which the films were produced. On both sides,
great stars, major companies, famous scriptwriters, and filmmakers
were enlisted to help the propaganda effort. It was not only
propaganda that was created by the cinema of the Cold War - it also
articulated criticism, and the movie industries were centres of the
fabrication of modern myths. The cinema was undoubtedly a place of
Cold War confrontation and rivalry, and yet there were aesthetic,
technical, narrative exchanges between West and East. All genres of
film contributed to the Cold War: thrillers, westerns, comedies,
musicals, espionage films, documentaries, cartoons, science
fiction, historical dramas, war films, and many more. These films
shaped popular culture and national identities, creating vivid
characters like James Bond, Alec Leamas, Harry Palmer, and Rambo.
While the United States and the Soviet Union were the two main
protagonists in this on-screen duel, other countries, such as
Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, and Czechoslovakia, also played
crucially important parts, and their prominent cinematographic
contributions to the Cold War are all covered in this volume. This
book was originally published as a special issue of Cold War
History.
Europe is a continent weighed down by the shadows of its past, its
wars, the traditional enmities, the suspicions of neighbours
fuelled by historical memories. This has immediate consequences for
the understanding and representation of the past: journalists,
politicians, historians often apply simplistic, pre-conceived
patterns, i.e., myths, to current events, resulting in distorted
and misleading analyses. This volume exposes the way some
historical myths, such as Balance of Power, Rapallo, the Special
Relationship, the Franco-German Couple, the Peril of Islam, are
used to blur, not to clarify our understanding of international
affairs, even to manipulate contemporary politics. Cyrill Buffet is
Research Fellow at the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin and Beatrice
Heuser is Lecturer in War Studies at King's College, London.
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