Questions on Von Geldern and Stites for Tuesday, Week 11
Read the following:
The Russian Question (Simonov, 1947. pp. 422-30)
This play certainly fits the category "Cold War propaganda." Why?
What kinds of political sympathies does the character Macpherson (the newspaper's owner) have? What kinds of articles has his newspaper been publishing about Russia?
What had the reporter Smith written about Russia that now was considered unacceptable in the US?
What kind of material does Gould want Smith to write about Russia?
Stilyaga (Belyaev, 1949. pp. 450-53)
The stilyagi were "hep cats" in the 1940s and early 1950s, who listened to Jazz and then (after about 1955) to American Rock and Roll. They were viewed as unruly juveniles, even more so than beatniks and greasers in the US were.
How are they portrayed in this satirical essay? Why does the author compare them to a "parasitic" ear of grain?
How did the stilyagi dress? How do they behave? What do they care about?
Does the author have much respect for the "Americanized" lifestyles of the stilyagi? Explain how this essay might be seen as linked to the Cold War.
Aviation (Great Soviet Encylclopedia 1953. pp. 479-86)
During the Cold War it was a running joke that the Russians claimed to have invented everything from baseball to the telephone, and that their arrogance covered up for their basic inferiority.
Read this essay. In what ways does it seem to reflect the Cold War stereotypes of Russian pomposity? In what ways does it seem to reflect Soviet insecurities?