Pro-Capitalist Film

Summary

During the Cold War era, the United States produced films that both functioned as a reflection of the political climate and propaganda to influence public opinion . These films often depicted “The West” as a land of freedom, individuality, and wealth thanks to capitalism. During this same time, the Soviet Union produced anti-capitalist films that showed communism as the ideal way of life and critiqued capitalism. Films during this time were heavily influenced by the political climate of tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union, but films that promote political ideologies such as capitalism and communism are not unique to this time period.

Pro-Capitalist film was very prominent during the Cold War era, but the U.S. continues to produce them to this day, even if the messages are more subtle than before. The legacy of films such as Silk Stockings and The Green Berets lives on through the culture it influenced–film influences culture, which influences film again, and so on. However, an opposition to pro-capitalist film even in the U.S. has grown as well, as anti-capitalist films become more prominent.

History/Philosphy

The Cold War was an intense rivalry and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in 1947 and lasted until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed . At the heart of this ideological “war” was the rivalry between capitalism and communism.

Case Study: Silk Stockings

Silk Stockings is a 1957 musical film which is based on a stage musical, which was adapted from a film called Ninotchka (1939). The film is about a Soviet agent named Ninotchka whose mission is to retrieve three Soviet commissars from Paris. Once there, she is charmed by a man who shows her the perceived freedom, luxury, and fun of capitalist Paris . Neither Ninotchka or the commissars ultimately want to go back to their former lifestyle under communism, and they stay in Paris instead, embracing capitalism.

Cyd Charisse in Silk Stockings

Aesthetic Strategies

The film depicts Western life under capitalism as one of freedom, pleasure, wealth, and joy. One strategy that the film uses is the dance sequences. When the film is in Paris, there are joyful, celebratory songs that depict the characters enjoying material pleasures; when the film is in Moscow, the songs have a different tone; for example ‘The Red Blues’ which depicts comrades dancing in a self-pitying manner, wishing they weren’t living a communist life and reminiscing on the joys of the West. Another example of a musical number with an explicitly pro-capitalist message is ‘We Can’t Go Back to Moscow’ in which three Soviets discover how wonderful capitalism is and don’t want to go back to life in communism.

The mise-en-scene of the film is also a significant part of the pro-capitalist appeal. In the West, the men are seen drinking champagne and being surrounded by beautiful women, and the women are seen dressing up in fancy attire and becoming “the object of male desire” . Their outfits are brightly colored, including a bright red dress and a gold one as well. These choices build the setting and atmosphere in a way that tells the audience that the Western world is full of color, comfort, and wealth. In contrast, the mise-en-scene in Moscow is full of more dull colors, uniformity in costumes, and a lack of luxury goods.

Another strategy the film uses is physical movement to represent freedom and individuality. In ‘We Can’t Go Back to Moscow’, the dance emphasizes individual movement of characters as well as camera movement to follow the characters. They seem to be “casting off repressive constraints” through their dance movements that showcase their individuality. In contrast, the song ‘The Red Blues’ uses the lack of movement as a tool. The characters dance and move around, but whenever a communist enters the room, they stop moving, associating the intrusion of communism with restriction of movement and freedom .

Reception/Influence

Silk Stockings had mixed reception from critics, some of which compared it to Ninotchka and claimed it fell short of the original film. Other critics loved the film and praised its critique of communism as well as its entertaining musical numbers. It has a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes U.S. government officials also enjoyed the film as it coincided with their political campaigns to portray the U.S. as a nation of material wealth that benefitted all people (Hollywood's Cold War / Tony Shaw. p32).

Case Study: The Green Berets (1968)

A very different example of Pro-Capitalist film is The Green Berets, a 1968 film starring John Wayne about a reporter who is assigned to follow a group of Green Berets in the Vietnam War. Throughout the film, the reporter comes to appreciate America’s role in the war and see them as heroes and the communists as villains.

Aesthetic Strategies

A major strategy of Pro-Capitalist film is to show off technology from the capitalist country as superior to others’. This is done in The Green Berets through impressive images of helicopters and weapons from the United States military, contrasted by the depiction of the South Vietnamese as primitive, poor, and not having great technology. This creates the idea that they need the U.S. to help fight back against the communists. The spatial positioning of the helicopters as above Vietnam also reinforces this idea of the U.S. being ‘above’ other nations.

Helicopters in Vietnam

Another strategy is elevating the image of the capitalist country (the U.S.) through the symbol of a foreign child. The film uses an orphaned Vietnamese boy who loses his family in the war and is terrorized by VietCong military. The Green Berets take the child in and take care of him, protecting him. He is a symbol for all of Vietnam, which the film infantilizes and portrays as childlike and needing guidance and saving. In the end, the soldiers give the child the beret of a fallen soldier and say “You’re what this is all about.”

Reception/Influence

The Green Berets had mixed reception, as the United States at the time was very divided over the Vietnam War. Many critics disliked the film and many people did find it one-sided and propagandistic . However, it made money at the box office, grossing $21.7 million . So, it was not unpopular, possibly due to John Wayne’s star appeal, but also because of the strategies that made Americans feel like heroes at a time of political and moral strife.