Pop. Culture during the Cold War

-The Cold War was related in culture through music, movies, books, television and other medias

-One Element of the Cold War often seen related directly or indirectly to the threat of a nuclear war. Another is the conflict between the superpowers in terms of espionage.

-Many works used the Cold War as a backdrop, or directly take part in fictional conflict between the US and the USSR

-Musicians of these decades, especially in Jazz and Folk Music, were influenced by the shadow of nuclear war. Probably the most famous, passionate and influential of all was Bob Dylan, notably in his songs Masters of War and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

-There were many protest songs during the 1980s that reflected general unease with the escalating tensions with the Soviet Union brought on by Ronald Reagan's and Margaret Thatcher's hard line against the Soviets. For example, various musical artists wore military uniform-like costumes, as a reflection of the increased feeling of militarism seen in the 1980s.

-Countless punk rock bands from the 1980s attacked Cold War era politics, such as Reagan's and Thatcher's nuclear deterrence brinkmanship.

Mission Impossible

American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as Impossible Mission Force (IMF).

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

American animated show that originally aired from November 19 1959 to June 27 1964. Series is structured as a variety show, with the main feature being the serialized adventures of the 2 title characters, the anthropomorphic moose Bullwinkle and the flying squirrel Rocky. The main adversaries in most of their adventures are the Russian-like spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. The show is know for the quality of its writing and humor, mixing puns, cultural and topical satire, and self-referential humor, was designed to appeal to adults as well as children.

When the Wind Blows

an animated film originally released in the United Kingdom in 1986, about an elderly British couple in a post-nuclear war world. James Bloggs, a retired man living with his wife Hilda in an isolated Sussex cottage, keeps track of the deteriorating international situation; while frequently misunderstanding some specifics, he is fully aware of the growing risk of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

FireFox

a single player arcade laserdisc game based on the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. It was produced by Atari, Inc. in 1984 and was Atari's only laserdisc game. Like Atari's previous Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back games, Firefox came as both an upright and sit down cabinet, and featured a yoke style controller.

Missile Command

1980 arcade game by Atari, Inc. that was also licensed to Sega for European release. It is considered one of the most notable games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games. The plot of Missile Command is simple: the player's six cities are being attacked by an endless hail of ballistic missiles, some of them even splitting like multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), and in later levels smart bombs which can evade a less than perfectly targeted missile. As a regional commander of three anti-missile batteries, the player must defend six cities in their zone from being destroyed.

Raid over Moscow

a computer game by Access Software published in Europe by U.S. Gold on various microcomputers in 1984–1985. Raid Over Moscow is an action game in which the player (an American space pilot) has to stop three Soviet nuclear attacks on North America, then fight his way into and destroy a nuclear facility located in Moscow's Kremlin. According to the game's storyline, the United States is unable to respond to the attack directly due to the dismantlement of its nuclear arsenal.

-The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a competition in the arts as well, mainly in ballet. The Americans and the Soviets would send previews of their country's ballets to prove their superiority. In America, this caused a dramatic increase in government funding. In both countries, ballet was turned into powerful political propaganda, and they used dance to reflect life style in the "battle for the hearts and minds of men."

-Jazz was also a useful tool for the United States State Department to show off the United States democracy, as jazz was a democratic music form, free flowing and improvised. Jazz tours of the Soviet Union were organized in 1956, and lasted through the 1970s

-Along with ballet, the two countries also competed in such things as theater, chess, and even who could reach the moon first. As well when it came to sports the two countries both competed in the Olympics during the Cold War period which also created a lot of hostilities.

Alas,Babylon

a 1959 novel by American writer Pat Frank (Pen name of Harry Hart Frank). One of the first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age. It deals with the effects of a nuclear war on the small town of Fort Repose, Florida (based upon the actual city of Mount Dora, Florida)

Red Storm Rising

a1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact Forces, set around the mid-1980's. Though there are other novels dealing with a fictional WWIII, this one is notable for the way numerous settings for the action all have an integral part to play on the outcome. This is one of three ( SSN and Against all Enemies)

1984

novel by George Orwell published in 1949 dystopian novel. The Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control, dictating by a political system euphemistically maned English socialism (Ingsoc) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualism and Independent thinking as thoughtcrimes.

-Anti-nuclear protests first emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the United Kingdom, the first Aldermaston March, organized by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, took place in 1958.

- In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. In 1964, Peace Marches in several Australian capital cities featured "Ban the bomb" placards.

-In the early 1980s, the revival of the nuclear arms race triggered large protests about nuclear weapons. In October 1981 half a million people took to the streets in several cities in Italy, more than 250,000 people protested in Bonn, 250,000 demonstrated in London, and 100,000 marched in Brussels. The largest anti-nuclear protest was held on June 12, 1982, when one million people demonstrated in New York City against nuclear weapons. In October 1983, nearly 3 million people across western Europe protested nuclear missile deployments and demanded an end to the arms race; the largest crowd of almost one million people assembled in the Hague in the Netherlands. In Britain, 400,000 people participated in what was probably the largest demonstration in British history.

Pop. Culture

Episode 1 "Pilot"

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listen 0:00 - 3:30

In Movies and Television

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By: Samantha Nellis

The Cold War in Video Games

The Cold War in Music

Pop Culture during the Cold War

The Cold War in Art

The Cold War in Books

Protest Culture