Reel History and the Cold War: A Lesson Plan

Objectives

While the political and diplomatic history of the Cold War can be made accessible for students through simulations, discussions, lectures, and traditional modes of research, it is more difficult to capture the extent to which the Cold War dominated American culture. One way the teacher may assist students in better understanding this period is through an examination of popular Hollywood films in cultural and historical context. Using film as a primary source allows students to look at the formation of values and ideology in a mass society often overlooked by more traditional sources with a focus upon elites. Film is an important form of communication in modern society, and students need to be made familiar with how this art form both reflects and influences their culture and lives.

Preparation

1. Three films which offer students an opportunity to examine film allegory on American politics and culture during the 1950s are High Noon (1952), On the Waterfront (1954), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

2. Teachers planning to use film in historical and cultural context must first carefully screen (or rescreen) these films. We would certainly not teach a book which we had not previewed. In conjunction with viewing the films, it would be worthwhile to read some essays on these films such as those contained in Peter Biskind's Seeing is Believing: How Hollywood Taught Us to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties.

3. Before dealing with Hollywood as historian, it is important to help students accumulate some traditional background history of the 1950s. In addition to looking at the origins of the Cold War and the policies of the Eisenhower administration, students should prepare reports on the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism, the Hollywood Ten, Alger Hiss, the Rosenbergs, the Communist party in the U.S. (CPUSA), J. Edgar Hoover, and the FBI.

4. Discuss with students how to watch and evaluate cinema, establishing some criterion for good visual literacy. Teachers seeking assistance with film vocabulary and techniques might consult David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990).

Lesson Goals

1. Use High Noon as an allegory of the 1950s to examine issues of conformity, individualism, community, and political commitment in the context of Congressional investigations such as that of HUAC into the activities of the Hollywood 10. In this scenario, Marshal Will Kane represents individuals who were willing to confront the political investigations of HUAC, while the townspeople who deserted him may represent liberals who were afraid of being blacklisted or censured.

2. Use On the Waterfront as an allegory of why some witnesses deemed it proper to name names before Congressional committees. Director Elia Kazan did appear as a cooperative witness before HUAC, and the film may be interpreted as a justification for his actions. Thus, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) decides he must inform on his former friends in a corrupt waterfront union led by Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb, who may represent the Communist party and the policies of Joseph Stalin.)

3. Use Invasion of the Body Snatchers as an allegory of communism's threat to American democracy. The aliens take over people's minds as they sleep, offering a life of security free from the misfortunes which plague mankind. Only one must surrender his/her individuality. Thus, we must be ever vigilant against this alien ideology which threatens our freedom, and the film concludes with a warning that they are among us and call the FBI.

Follow-up Activities

1. Have student-led discussions of how these films may be interpreted in light of the historical background reading and research they completed before the screenings.

2. Have students prepare essays developing insights these films provide into the values and culture of the 1950s, incorporating specific examples from the film and the historical period.

3. Have students use the techniques they have learned with these three films to analyze films from other decades, as well as contemporary films and television productions.

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Ronald Briley is a history teacher and Assistant Headmaster at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the last ten years he has taught a senior elective using Hollywood films as a primary source.