Introduction
The Cold War was a unique geopolitical phenomenon in which the two conflicting parties applied measures to demonize each other despite the lack of major physical conflicts. Based on how the media operated after WWII, a specific agenda was integrated into both artistic and informational literature and television. The communist regime was widely depicted from a specific perspective and connotation, influencing the public and creating fear.
As a result, individuals were overall more skeptical of unidentified flying objects and more likely to believe in the inevitable extinction of the world due to atomic bombs. The current essay argues that public uncertainty, fear, and paranoia were significantly impacted by both the media’s villainization of communism and the installation of skepticism and Hollywood’s indirect illustration of the Soviet Union as an absolute evil.
The Soviet Union Depictions
The Cold War was a tense period in which the relationship between the West and the Soviet Union was at an all-time low. However, it could be argued that the level of villainization on both parties’ behalf has led to the complete demoralization of the people observing the events. To examine the roots of the issues of the instilled fear among Americans, it is useful to consider how the Soviet Union was depicted in the first place. According to researchers, three distinct periods can be observed in how Hollywood illustrated the Soviet Union: the beginning of the war, the more ameliorated Nixon era, and the Reagan era (Ovesny).
The 1956 movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an example of a science fiction horror in which the plot is centered around the idea of aliens secretly infiltrating the US (Ovesny). This can be viewed as a parallel, as a significant threat was the Soviet secret services spying on Americans and being a silent threat to their livelihoods. Interestingly, one of the most successful trilogies of the last century, Star Wars, is often addressed as a parallel with the Cold War. In this case, the Soviet Union is depicted as the autocratic Empire, while the West is the Democratic Republic (Lucas).
A similar phenomenon can be observed in literature, and parallels can be drawn. An example is Frank Herbert’s Dune, a science fiction novel in which the Noble House Atreides is confronted by the autocratic, evil, and secretive House Harkonnen, a parallel to the Soviet Union (Herbert). News media was another measure in which the government instilled the idea that the Soviet Union was an imminent threat that impacted every American and could cause major problems in terms of the safety and well-being of Americans.
Mass Paranoia
Hollywood, the literature directly or indirectly correlating with the Cold War, and the news media have indeed achieved the set goal. The American population grew fearful of various phenomena linked to the threat posed by the Soviets. An example is the difference in approaches towards unidentified flying objects. A 2021 New Yorker article highlights that the government has only recently admitted to being unable to identify certain objects in space (Lewis-Kraus).
During the Cold War, mass hysteria generated the belief that any object of this sort was a potential threat, such as a Soviet bomb. Moreover, since the government did not admit to being unable to explain the nature of the flying objects, people’s assumptions were more skeptical as they correlated with the tense situation between the East and West blocs.
The overall mass hysteria may correlate with a variety of reasons. It is essential to highlight the uncertainty of the 20th century. People have witnessed the horrors of WWII and the development and first use of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Thompson 223). Hence, fear was not unjustified and possibly based on the previous history of violent conflicts between various world powers.
However, it is critical to highlight the level of impact that the media, literature, Hollywood, and the government had on maximizing feelings of unsafety. People were sure that the threat was always lingering, as evidenced by the building of the Cold War bunkers and the overall mistrust in one another, as the Soviet threat was depicted as omnipotent. As a result, perceptions of unidentified flying objects, sirens, and suspicious individuals have been negatively amplified.
Conclusion
The Cold War was a major geopolitical conflict that generated mass fear and insecurity despite not being characterized by events in which the Eastern and Western blocs were involved in direct conflict. The effects on regular people were extensive, especially from a psychological and moral perspective. Movies, literature, news, and government speeches were centered around generating imminent fear from the East. The Soviet Union was both directly and indirectly portrayed as a villain that could impact each family and individual’s well-being. As a result, suspicion grew, and both conspiracies and mass hysteria were prominent.
Works Cited
Herbert, Frank. Dune. Chilton Books, 1965.
Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. “How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.S Seriously.” The New Yorker, Web.
Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: A New Hope. Lucasfilm Ltd, 1977.
Ovesny, Patricia. “Reflections of Fear: Mass Hysteria in Cold War Cinema 1946-1991.” Institutional Repository @ UHCL, Web.
Thompson, Peter. “From Gas Hysteria to Nuclear Fear.” Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, vol. 52, no. 2, 2022, pp. 223–264.