Cold War Culture
Analytical Essay
This essay of approximately 750 words is your analysis of a Cold War source that we cover in the first half of the course. No secondary source information is to be used in this essay. Your critical thinking, analytical and writing skills are the basis of evaluation. Here are some questions:
- How does Ivan Denisovich cope with life in the Soviet gulag?
- How does Solzhenitsyn manage to build empathy for his characters in the novel?[unique_solution]
- What kind of statement is Stanley Kubrick’s film making about Cold War America?
- Examine either the role of language, technology, sex, or American culture in the film.
- How does seriousness mix with humour in Strangelove …?
- Discuss the film’s depiction of Communist fear and/or paranoia.
- Analyze the use of racial, ethnic and/or national stereotypes in the movie.
- How does Wallace Stevens use aesthetics to make political statements in his poetry?
- In “12 O’Clock News,” what is Elizabeth Bishop saying about media in the Cold War?
- Examine how either Stevens or Bishop provides new ways of thinking to challenge old, restrictive conceptions.
- How does Allen Ginsberg depict America in the 1950s?
- What are the effects of the Cold War upon Ginsberg’s depiction of humanity?
- Write on 1984 as a Cold War fiction that reflects and anticipates culture and/or politics.
- Listen to David Bowie’s 1974 album entitled Diamond Dogs. How is it similar and different from 1984? How does Bowie’s album use and build upon Orwell’s 1984? (If you choose this question, feel free to be selective with the songs and lyrics chosen for your essay.)