Cold War Culture history class hosting film festival this semester
By: Garret Cook
Issue date: 10/22/09 Section: News
Dr. Randi Barnes-Cox, associate professor of history, in conjunction with Phi Alpha Theta, will host a film festival throughout the fall semester featuring Cold War-themed films.
Thus far in the semester, the history department has shown Fail Safe and Atomic Café. Their next scheduled film, High Noon, will be shown Monday, Oct. 26, in Liberal Arts 102.
High Noon, a popular 1952 Western starring Gary Cooper, is the story of a small-town sheriff who is abandoned by his townspeople and must face a gang of criminals on his own. The film takes place almost in real time (think 24 stretched out to a feature film) and features an infamous ending that angered Hollywood at the time.
"It was written by a guy named Carl Foreman," Barnes-Cox explained. "It was specifically intended as a criticism of Hollywood studio executives that he thinks are not doing enough to stand up to McCarthyism and the Red Scare."
These are the specific themes that Barnes-Cox wanted to explore in the film. The movies serve as a gateway to critical thinking and analysis in the same manner reading chapters out of a textbook would stimulate class discussion in Barnes-Cox's Cold War Culture upper-level history course.
These are, however, all movies that are rich in film language.
"All of these are good movies," Barnes-Cox said. "They are things that have cinematic value. They're all entertaining. There are a couple of things that are of historic value, but to ask somebody to sit there for two and a half hours, they're probably not going to be too happy."
Though a few of these films date back 60 years, they are still relevant to films and world events today.
"In general you'll find that the idea of expressing fears and fantasies through film is something that's been around as long as film has," Barnes-Cox said. "Now we have films where we try to work through our fears of terrorism or use of biological weapons. If you have a character like Jason Bourne today who is fighting an international criminal who might have a bomb, you could take him and transport him to an earlier time period and he would be fighting a communist."
The screenings are open to all students who want to attend. On the Beach will show Nov. 9, Dr. Strangelove will play on Nov. 16, The Diamond Arm shows on Dec. 2, and Red Dawn will screen Dec. 7. All films will be shown in LA 102.
Thus far in the semester, the history department has shown Fail Safe and Atomic Café. Their next scheduled film, High Noon, will be shown Monday, Oct. 26, in Liberal Arts 102.
High Noon, a popular 1952 Western starring Gary Cooper, is the story of a small-town sheriff who is abandoned by his townspeople and must face a gang of criminals on his own. The film takes place almost in real time (think 24 stretched out to a feature film) and features an infamous ending that angered Hollywood at the time.
"It was written by a guy named Carl Foreman," Barnes-Cox explained. "It was specifically intended as a criticism of Hollywood studio executives that he thinks are not doing enough to stand up to McCarthyism and the Red Scare."
These are the specific themes that Barnes-Cox wanted to explore in the film. The movies serve as a gateway to critical thinking and analysis in the same manner reading chapters out of a textbook would stimulate class discussion in Barnes-Cox's Cold War Culture upper-level history course.
These are, however, all movies that are rich in film language.
"All of these are good movies," Barnes-Cox said. "They are things that have cinematic value. They're all entertaining. There are a couple of things that are of historic value, but to ask somebody to sit there for two and a half hours, they're probably not going to be too happy."
Though a few of these films date back 60 years, they are still relevant to films and world events today.
"In general you'll find that the idea of expressing fears and fantasies through film is something that's been around as long as film has," Barnes-Cox said. "Now we have films where we try to work through our fears of terrorism or use of biological weapons. If you have a character like Jason Bourne today who is fighting an international criminal who might have a bomb, you could take him and transport him to an earlier time period and he would be fighting a communist."
The screenings are open to all students who want to attend. On the Beach will show Nov. 9, Dr. Strangelove will play on Nov. 16, The Diamond Arm shows on Dec. 2, and Red Dawn will screen Dec. 7. All films will be shown in LA 102.
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