History 414: History and Film, The Americas since the 1950s

Summer 2014 online course, May 19 to June 27
Dale Graden

History and Film: The Americas since the 1950s offers historical perspectives on five countries since the middle of the twentieth century: Chile, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil and the United States. Emphasis is placed on the impact of the Cold War on popular culture.

The world view of Cold Warriors can be traced to a series of articles published during World War Two and its immediate aftermath. In a famous tract entitled “The American Century” that appeared in Life Magazine on February 17, 1941, the famed journalistic entrepreneur Henry Luce wrote that “We [the United States] are the inheritors of all the great principles of Western Civilization. It now becomes our time to be the powerhouse.” Five years later after war had ended (June 1946), future Secretary of State John Foster Dulles penned a two-part series entitled “Thoughts on Soviet Conduct and What to do About It.” Dulles affirmed “that Soviet leaders had launched a worldwide campaign that aimed to subjugate the West; they sought to eliminate what are, to us, the essentials of a fee society; and to impose on conquered peoples a system repugnant to our ideals of humanity and fair play. Never in history have a few men in a single country achieved such world-wide influence.” As a result, “Soviet communism had become the unseen force directing nationalist movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America” (Kinzer, The Brothers, p. 80).

Such ideas had a profound impact on the histories and cultures of the Americas in the second half of the twentieth century. They contributed to the emergence of McCarthyism, repression of domestic dissent, National Security States, and a pervasive distrust of liberal ideas and internationalism.

Most historians and observers point to the fall of the "Iron Curtain" in 1990-91 as the end of the Cold War. Because of the disintegration of the Soviet empire, many believe that the United States "won" the Cold War. Revisionist scholars have questioned many of these interpretations. Certainly heightened tensions in 2014 between the United States and Russia related to Crimea and the Ukraine suggest that the Cold War continues in many ways.

Week one, May 19-25: The United States and the Cold War

Films:

Good Night and Good Luck (2005, directed by George Clooney)

Far from Heaven (2002, directed by Todd Haynes)

The US vs John Lennon (2006, directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld)

Reading: Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War

Required Assignment by end of week one: Two film reviews are due by May 25: your choice from Good Night and Good Luck, Far from Heaven, and The US vs John Lennon

Please also note that a great book/film(s) critique could focus on the Kinzer book and many of the films to be seen in this course.

Week two, May 26-June 1: The Cuban Revolution 1955-1959 and its legacies

Films:

Che part one (2008, directed by Stephen Soderbergh)

Before Night Falls (2000, directed by Julian Schnabel)

Strawberry and Chocolate (1993, directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio)

Reading: Anthony DePalma, The Man Who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba, and Herbert L. Matthews of the New York Times

Week three, June 2-June 8: Chile, Salvador Allende and a Military-Security State

Machuca (2004, directed by Andres Wood)

Missing (1982, directed by Costa-Gavras)

Tony Manero (2008, directed by Pablo Larrain)

Reading: Mary Helen Spooner, Soldiers in a Narrow Land: The Pinochet Regime in Chile

Required assignment at end of week three: please submit the first book / film critique on any of the books and film (s) of your choosing (from the complete syllabus)

Week four, June 9-15: Mexico and the United States

Lone Star (1996, directed by John Sayles)

Traffic (2000, directed by Stephen Soderbergh)

Savages (2012, directed by Oliver Stone)

Reading: María Amparo Escandón, González and Daughter Trucking Company

Week five, June 16-June 22: Brazil

Four Days in September (1997, directed by Bruno Barreto)

Elite Squad (2007, directed by Jose Padilha, original title in Portuguese is Tropa de Elite)

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010, directed by Jose Padilha, original title in Portuguese is Tropa de Elite 2: O Inimigo agora e Otro)

Reading: Lina Penna Sattamini, A Mother’s Cry: A Memoir of Politics, Prison, and Torture under the Brazilian Military Dictatorship

Week six, June 23-26: Conclusions

By the end of this week six, the FIVE (5) film reviews and TWO (2) film/ book critiques have been submitted.