Government Cheese
It sounds promising--a list of the cheesiest films of the 1980s. But it's a bait and switch. Rather than discuss all the ridiculous hair and clothes and music and special effects of the era, author Elizabeth Rappe turns the piece into a political screed.
Her cheesiest films--Rocky IV, Red Dawn, etc.--are all about how frightened we were of communism back then. She laughs it off. How could we have been so foolish?
Well, perhaps because communism was one of the greatest evils of the 20th century. It enslaved and impoverished billions and killed tens of millions. It was constantly on the march, attempting to extend its sphere of influence, often through violence.
Back in the 80s a third of the world's population was living under communist rule. Most wise heads, especially on the left, were advising we stop struggling and just learn to live with communism since it wasn't going away. And even if the Soviet Union was secretly teetering, they still had a powerful military that no one could laugh off.
So all I can say is I'm glad we live in an era where communism has been so thoroughly discredited that today's know-nothings can laugh at how we ever thought it was a threat.
PS Red Dawn was ridiculous, but everyone knew it back then.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:21 AM
5 Comments:
The right wanted detente. The left wanted surrender. Their solution to Cold War was to unilaterally disarm, as we saw from the nuclear freeze movement.
The right wanted to continue the status quo and were surprised when the enemy disintegrated before them- they were at sea until the Islamic bogeyman rose as a new pole to oppose and keep the military industrial complex in full swing.
No sillier than the first comment
Um, quite a bit sillier.
Code word: fencest
I think it means I want to sleep with my fixtures.
As someone who studied Russian history extensively, and had friends from behind the Iron Curtain, I'm hardly a "know nothing." I'd be happy to send all my papers and exams to you as proof -- you might love my detailed history on the Russians' thorny relationship with Russia.
You may also find my paper on the U2 incident pretty illuminating. As early as 1960, America knew they outstripped the Soviet Union technologically. The Soviet Union's biggest fear was that the U.S. would discover just how much.
There have been volumes and volumes written in the post-Soviet period about just how much knowledge the U.S. had. It makes for shame-faced reading.
Unless, of course, you're still convinced they were making an army of Ivan Dragos that could march on us at any moment.
But nothing proves one's fear mongering to be accurate better than name-calling, I'm sure. Certainly not a healthy knowledge or interest in post-Soviet history, and any examinations of primary source material.
If anything, America should be proud there WAS no threat. Right? Doesn't this prove the superiority of our way of life? Apple pie and nukes, and all that? I'm really not sure why we still cling to "Better Red Than Dead."
Thanks for reading Film.com though, and I hope you won't dismiss the site because of my "leftist ignorance," and mockery of Rocky IV.
Er, better dead than red.
Now I've gone and made a Freudian slip, I'm sure.
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