To be honest, I was pretty much in only on the tail end of it, the Reagan years etc. But I do remember films such as this, and Rocky, having a back story of the cold war ending, in our generation. To be honest, I believe most of the fear was in the 60's what with America and the Then Soviet Union playing international chess, and of course reaching a height during the Cuban Missile crises.
I was told, that members of the family had built fall out shelters, and /or helped local businesses schools make them , But it was always in passing, Much like stories of the War of the Worlds and Aunt Finace packing up all the kids to run from the Aliens, a few decades earlier.
I'm sure the fear was very real to them, but it raises an interesting concept. Much as you and I , never lived through a hatred of Japs or Germans, Blacks, or Italians, It is very possible, that 40-50 years down the road of time, our own children may not think twice of friendships between current enemies we have now.
But getting back on point, The 80's was alive with trust but verify, and it was amazing seeing two world leaders, who where great friends, but stood light years apart on ideology. I believe the cinema reflected on that relationship to a great extent. To give another example, look at the 50's, and our new found friend Atomic energy, which was reflected in 100's of horror films from Ants to uhm something else that starts with a "Z". (as a side note, a large number of those silly 1950's films, are personal favorites of mine, not just counting classics such as The Thing from another world, or The day the Earth stood still.)
so, to kind of you a time line for myself, I was born in 1970, long after many of the cold war battles had been fought, such as Korea, or Steve Adlay at the UN, hell, Save Gary Francis Powers was something I read about in books, once again, in the 80's. In many ways, I feel fortunate to have not lived through that time, as I don't know how I would have been able to keep my mouth shut when they played the "Duck and Cover" cartoons at school, when common sense would have told me, a desk will not help.
Stephen
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Topic: Sci FI Poll 31 (Read 3112 times)