Rehumanization of “Them”: Evolution of Representations of the “Enemy Number One” in American Cold War Cinema

Исследуется, как в кинематографе США на протяжении 1940–1960-х гг. менялись способы изображения СССР: от дегуманизации образа врага до деконструкции этого образа. Исследовании опирается на концепцию Н. Хэслема, согласно которой дегуманизация аутгруппы осуществляется в двух формах: анималистской (при помощи сравнения с животными) и механицистской (за счет уподобления машинам). Показано, что в 1940–1950-х гг. голливудские фильмы широко использовали обе формы де-гуманизации при создании образа «врага номер один». Регуманизация СССР происходит в фильме «Русские идут! Русские идут!» (1966), который выступил как своеобразный кинематографический манифест Realpolitik и философии разрядки. The article dwells upon evolution of the ways in which the U.S. Cold War films represented the USSR: from dehumanization of the image of enemy in 1940-1950s to deconstruction of this image in 1960s. The author applies Nick Haslam’s dual model of dehumanization, aс-cording to which dehumanization is visible in two forms: animalistic by associating members of out-group with animals and mechanistic by associating them with machine. The Hollywood movies of 1940-1950s actively employed both forms in creating the image of the “enemy number one”. The release of Norman Jewison’s film “The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!” in 1966 marked the beginning of rehumanization of the USSR. The author points out that the film served as a sort of cinematic manifest of Realpolitik and philosophy of détente.

The Construction of U.S. Armed Forces` Image Through Translation Activities in Hollywood Blockbusters

This paper studied 22 influencing Hollywood war films, and extracted translation behaviors among them. Some of the most influencing Hollywood blockbusters themed on wars would be examined to see the role they played in depicting the image of the United States Armed Forces hope to build through the plot(s) of translation activities performed in theatre. From such changes can see the change of people`s attention, as well as the effect Hollywood blockbusters contributed on the building of the U.S. Armed Forces` images. Video productions (especially films) are some of the most welcomed ones. The United States has one of the most powerful film-making industries in the world, which successful products of its are popular around the world, definitely have the American way of thinking and judgment spread and accepted by the film-lovers around the world. Research conducted on such films would reveal how the U.S. Armed Forces` image has changed on cinema screens, and provide a collection of data for translation researchers who has an interest in the field combining translation (behaviors) with the mass media.

The Enduring Influence of Female Special Operations Executive Agent Biopics on Cultural Memory and Representations in France and Great Britain

Seventy-five years have elapsed since the end of World War Two. Yet, the memory of the conflict still occupies a central place in British and French collective consciousness. Fiction and film representations of the war act as powerful ‘vectors of memory’, to borrow an expression from French historian Henry Rousso, and as such, they have deeply contributed to shaping popular and cultural memories of the war. This article investigates a specific aspect of World War Two representations, namely the cinematic representations of the female agents from the SOE F section, focusing on the ‘generic’ or archetypal figure of the female SOE agent as generated by the post-war cultural industry. After a brief contextualisation focusing on Churchill’s clandestine organisation, the article will analyse the contribution of Odette (Herbert Wilcox, 1950) and Carve Her Name with Pride (Lewis Gilbert, 1958) to the construction of a World War Two ‘mythology’. It will then address more recent films, concentrating on Charlotte Gray (Gillian Armstrong, 2001) and Female Agents (Jean-Paul Salomé, 2008). How did the fictional construction of the female spy come to influence the social and cultural perception of the SOE agent? Are the tropes developed in such post-war films as Odette or Carve Her Name with Pride still current or have they evolved with time? The analysis of these fictional representations will reveal the permanence or evolution of certain representational patterns and also allow us to approach different perspectives on the cultural representation of World War Two on both sides of the Channel.

The war hero

This chapter explores Power’s work within the genre of the war film, which began around the time that Britain entered World War II. Even in war-themed films, elements that had made Power a recognisable star image were present, only now positioned within a wartime setting. His familiar witty dialogue, wide grins and charm with the ladies from earlier comedies and musicals are overtly displayed in A Yank in the RAF (Henry King, 1941) and Crash Dive (Archie Mayo, 1943), despite much of the latter taking place onboard a submarine with a crew made up exclusively of men. This chapter examines Power’s four war films in chronological order to help illustrate the development of a newfound masculinity and maturity in Power’s screen image, which advances from his cocky self-assuredness and incessant womanising in his first war film, A Yank in the RAF, through his psychological issues in This Above All (Anatole Litvak, 1942), to his more stable and understanding relationship in his last war film: American Guerrilla in the Philippines (Fritz Lang, 1950).

Men in boots: on spectacular masculinity and its desublimation

The proposed essay focuses on a piece of costume that is often both dirty and worn out: the man’s leather boot. The boot has been a constant in cinema, appearing first in Westerns films made at the beginning of the 20th century. As an iconic piece of male costume, the boot has populated male-oriented genres, signaling either masculinity en masse (as in war films), or a kind of masculinity closer to nature and to animals than to civilization (as in the Western film). Departing from earlier scholarship on masculinity as spectacle (e.g. Tasker; Holmlund), and engaging in textual analysis, this essay investigates how the boot, as a hyper male piece of costume, can be read as a masquerading prop, and as a tool for hiding (what is not there). Films to be analyzed include Lives of A Bengal Lancer (Henry Hathaway, 1935); Picnic (Joshua Logan, 1955); Midnight Cowboy (Johan Schlesinger, 1969); and Blaze (Ron Shelton, 1989).