Photography: Sofia Sforza

At Volda University I have studied Media and the Second Cold War. I wrote a paper for this course on 'Popular Culture & Espionage in the Cold War'. For this assignment, two popular movies were analyzed from the Cold War:

- The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

- For Eyes Only

A preview of the paper as follows:

The Cold War has had a great impact on the world. The media in the Cold War had a great significance on how conflicts and situations were viewed by the people of that era. In this paper we can view the results of the thesis at hand: “how did popular cinema reflect the Cold War and what can we learn by studying such reflections in films from both sides of the Cold War?” The question will be put in a time frame between 1962-1978: The period of détente. In this period of time, the tension between the US and the USSR are worsening with the introducing of the Cuban missile crisis and if we watch the popular culture more up closely we will find that this is a time in which James Bond and other spy movies are being produced now more than ever. This part of popular culture became very popular amongst people in that time. There was a contradiction to it however, while the Ian Fleming book- and film series where fictional and amusing to read and watch, there was also a more serious and realistic outlook that was based upon friction and fear. An example of this tone of voice can be seen and read through the versions of Len Deighton
and John le Carré book series, which were produced into films in the 60’s. This is a topic we will explore as the essay unfolds.

To provide answers to this question we will take a look at two cases consisting of one film from popular culture in the United States regarding espionage in the Cold war. The second film is a European popular culture movie that embodies the viewing point on espionage from a Eastern European angle.

The film originated from the United States ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, is not your usual spy film. On first look we will see how it is filled with action and suspense but there is something interesting going on between the lines. This is a film that uses a lot of symbolism that has satire in it. This says something about the time it was made and
therefore it is interesting to take a closer look at. Additionally the Manchurian Candidate is a somewhat more serious approach to the story then the well-known James Bond series, this is also of great importance because why are they taking a more serious tone of voice if people loved the James bond series? The answer to this question will
be uncovered along this essay. The second case will be a film of the GDR named ‘For Eyes Only’, after its release people were thrilled about the main protagonist, calling him the James Bond of the East. This is fascinating because they disliked the over-exaggeration of the theme, but still wanted a spy hero for their own. We will delve deeper into this in the second chapter. Most importantly we will find out what the effects were of the cinematic experience in that time and what we can learn from that.

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In this project I had the chance to write in academical methodologic way and see this side of education. It was insightful as it was to very inspiring to learn about the past as it can say a lot of about the present and future as well. Especially regarging to popular culture. As it had such an impact and was basically intertwined with politics, we can be sure that it still is major driver of change. In trendresearch, after this project, I have been focusing more and more on the past to be able to look more broader and zoom out to observe the world we are looking at. It can help to see certain things, that I couldn't see before.