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ETD Abstract Container

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American Dreams and Red Nightmares: Popular Media and the Framing of a Cold War Enemy, 1949-1962

Hohe, Meredith K.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1283266257

Abstract Details

2010, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
The American public's perception of the Soviet Union during the early Cold War period played a significant role in contributing to average Americans’ understanding of their new national nemesis. However, while films, television, and popular magazines all helped to frame understanding of the Soviet threat, the portrait of the enemy they displayed was not a simplistic narrative of enemy demonization. Popular media both warned against and mocked the Soviet communist leadership. They portrayed the Soviet military and forces of scientific and technological production as both a leviathan of epic proportions and a lie built upon thievery and espionage. In focusing on the threat posed by Soviet agents working undercover within the United States, visual media outlined the danger posed but also mitigated the threat with images of the covert agents rounded up time after time by a triumphant F.B.I. The Soviet people themselves received a sympathetic treatment by popular media, which cast them as the exploited victims of the regime. The portrait of the Soviet enemy painted for American consumers of popular media in this era was far from simplistic.
Katherine Jellison, Ph.D (Advisor)
Chester Pach, Ph.D (Committee Member)
Steven Miner, Ph.D (Committee Member)
131 p.
American Studies; History
Cold War; American culture; media; Soviet Union; film; television; magazines

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hohe, M. K. (2010). American Dreams and Red Nightmares: Popular Media and the Framing of a Cold War Enemy, 1949-1962 [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1283266257

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hohe, Meredith. American Dreams and Red Nightmares: Popular Media and the Framing of a Cold War Enemy, 1949-1962. 2010. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1283266257.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hohe, Meredith. "American Dreams and Red Nightmares: Popular Media and the Framing of a Cold War Enemy, 1949-1962." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1283266257

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1283266257
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.