Cold War II

Prokorova-Konrad (Univ. of Vienna) asserts that Hollywood entertainment of the pas two decades had renewd its longtime obsession with Russia. She poses questions about how cultural products respond to golbal political transformations. How did the Cold War binary of communism versus capitalism shift to represent oligarchy versus liberal democracy? Did Hollywood react to Russia's 2014 annexatio of Crimea or Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election? The 11 essays–all written by scholars of American studies, with the exception of one Slavist–are divided into three section: 'Enduring Cliches' ; 'New Aesthrtics of the Old Past,' which looks at the revival of old aesthetics such as the dreary socialist cityscape; and 'Patriotism, Corruption, and Otherness,' which examines representations of morality. Though it might be simple to look at the rise of the Russian Federation and the corruptness of Vladmir Putin as a source of entertainment to drive these narratives, the colume posits the much more convincing reason that the return to Cold War entertainment is not just about Russie, but about a 'new victory culture' under Donald Trump, which seeks to view the world in comforting, simplified binary distinctions of the past. A. H. Chapman, CHOICE

Cold War II has value as an inaugural volume in what will surely be an expanding area. Denise J. Youngblood, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

The Cold War is back, and it’s as paranoid and hysterical as ever! The essays in this collection survey the historical repetition of Cold War tropes in popular media and ask what difference they make—or ought to make—to our understandings of political life today. Given that both Trump and Putin use popular memories of the Cold War to gin up populist allegiance, these analyses offer a timely reminder of the work media do to shape such memories and make them usable. Stacy Takacs, professor of American studies, Oklahoma State University