The Red Nightmare Analysis

During the Cold War, the fear of communism grew in America. As a result, the American government implemented ways of abolishing any communist sympathizers by attempting to stop their ideas from spreading. These organizations confined many Americans, even those who were not involved. The organizations began to ban people in Hollywood and restrict movies, in fear that the American people would intrust in certain communist ideas that went against America’s democracy. Regardless of the ways they attempted to abolish communism, their endeavor was indisputably against the first amendment, which allows and grants the American people the god given freedom of speech and allows them to discuss their political views and opinions. The censorship caused …show more content…
government also used its power to oversee Hollywood and what it would produce. The United States government wanted to manipulate the Americans’ opinions to be against communism and assure Americans loyalty in their government. The easiest and fastest way to do this was through media, as it still is today. The government produced movies to spread their message quickly. The Red Nightmare was produced for the Department of Defense and depicted what America would be like if it were under a communist rule. The movie follows the story of one man, played by Jack Webb, and his family. Not only was this movie produced for the government, but the assignment to produce the movie was strategically given to a strong opinionated anti-communist production company, Warner Brothers. Vincent Forte the script writer described Jack Warner, one of the Warner Brothers as: “...very gung-ho in that area [anti-Communism].” The movie is a ridiculous hyperbole of what it is like living in a communist country. In Red Nightmare they depict a scene where the main character gives his children a hug, but his wife tells him to stop because their meal is to go “uninterrupted”. The movie depicted the communists as robots with no feeling or emotion who only live to serve the communist party. The portrayal was an attempt to dehumanize the communists and make communist and make the lives of them appear unappealing to the American people. Russia also produced almost identical films attempting to manipulate opinions and guarantee conformity among their people’s political views. In Русский вопрос (Russian Question) an American journalist is sent to the Soviet Union to observe the country as well as write a compelling article on how the Soviets are evil, but on his trip to the Soviet Union he falls in love with the country. Russian Question is arguably more tame than Red Nightmare, but nevertheless the Soviet Union used other forms of propaganda to ensure the