8th+grade+-+Golden+Age+of+SF+-+Cold+War

The relationship between the Golden Age of Science Fiction and the Cold War. Rico Kelley, Jr. 3 / 19 / 07 5th literature

During the Cold War, a period from the late 40's to the late 80's, American writers commonly wrote about the threat of communism. During the arms race, on the covers of novels there were pictures of America tearing itself apart. They would also show Americans being enslaved by Russians and Cubans. Writers would also write about the dangers if being Communist."Trust the Communist To Be Communist" shows the tention between supporters of Communism and supportres of Democracy. Writers didn't just focus on government, they also wrote about the uncertain future. Another topic was as technology advances, would we become dependent on it. __I Robot,__ byIsaac Asimov, vividly showed the dangers of creating human - like machines that didn't have to listen to people and that wanted rights. Other stories also showed similar themes. Another story showed people not even knowing how to do simple math on a piece of paper!Later, stories wrote about the dangers of a nuclear holocost. People began writing about all the ways the world could get destroyed in one day, ranging from aliens to machines. The terminator movies that came out in the late 80's, when the Soviet Union collasped. These movies displayed the future with supercomputers rulling the world after a nuclear holocosts. Right befor these stories were writen, other books were out that showed the dangers of a nuclear war. They would show how to get under something and protect your head in the event of a nuclear blast. These books would also show propoganda where America would be the strongest, most powerful nation where the communist would be destroying the world. Also, the books would include cartoon characters that would be used to attract children.These cartoon characters would be like a combination between smokey-the-bear and spongebob. In the 21st century, we aren't as afraid of a nuclear holocost, as we are afraid of a terrorist attack agianst civilians. we are not concerned with robots taking over the world and flying cars because in a way, they already have. We use robots for everything and are too dependent on them. We now are really are interrested in the futre and how they take care of all the problems that were left behind by the Cold War generation.

To the left, Pictures from the movie "I Robot". To the right, pictures of nuclear test conducted during the Cold War.

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