The movie perfectly captures America& #39;s overinflated sense of exceptionalism... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9H8JKFMb7U">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
... and how that could lead to America& #39;s downfall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTYwecY41c">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
It suggests that while the Soviet Union& #39;s economy was backwards...
... the government poured money into certain "status" projects, namely international sports competition
In contrast to "austere" Soviets, Americans had extravagances like (creepy) personal robots... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cku6oPGWW7Q">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
... I mean REALLY creepy robots (we& #39;re ALL Apollo in this scene) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9colsw0lIg">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
A center piece of the movie is a song that accurately uses and describes the concept "rivals" in international relations (and pretty much sums up the Cold War) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI0-rmM8P3M">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
There& #39;s the scene with Rocky in the car (okay, this has nothing to do with the Cold War. It& #39;s just an AWESOME scene) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg8RV4h-fAA">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
Speaking of good use of music, the movie has probably the best use of a national anthem to build drama (+1 for Soviets/Russia) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHNcAZYPY_E">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
But for everything the movie does to capture the Cold War zeitgeist, its best feature is accurately predicting the Cold War& #39;s "peaceful end" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRBak_2X3Do">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
Indeed, some have gone so far as to claim that the Cold War ended peacefully BECAUSE of Rocky IV (h/t to @BillSimmons back in his "Page 2" days)
http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/011207">https://www.espn.com/espn/page...
http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/011207">https://www.espn.com/espn/page...
This is a thesis expanded upon (
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Zwinkerndes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Zwinkerndes Gesicht">) a few years later (h/t @CollegeHumor). https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/watch-what-if-rocky-iv-actually-happened/">https://www.cbssports.com/general/n...
So much more to unpack about this movie, but you get the idea.
If you need a relatively brief and highly entertaining take on the culture of the Cold War, can& #39;t do better than Rocky IV!
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If you need a relatively brief and highly entertaining take on the culture of the Cold War, can& #39;t do better than Rocky IV!
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P.S. h/t @jimgolby for prompting this thread https://twitter.com/jimgolby/status/1318678813635739652">https://twitter.com/jimgolby/...