The Shape of Water and the Cold War Revisited
Keyword(s):
Cold War
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The chapter analyzes Guillermo Del Toro’s Oscar-winning film and its relation to Cold War nostalgia. It claims that The Shape of Water reimagines Cold War America while paying homage to classic tropes of the 1950s. To specify, the film reimagines the classic horror/SF film for a twenty-first-century audience. While the same pathos for the creature exists as in the original that inspired it–The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)–Del Toro adds pointed social commentary that would not have been permitted in Hays Code America. The chapter explores how The Shape of Water pays tribute to The Creature from The Black Lagoon while serving as a statement and an update for twenty-first-century filmgoers.