Kallt krig i klassrummet : Spelfilm i historieundervisningen

Sammanfattning: This study aims to examine how some people in the United States of America during a period of ten years shortly after World War II used motion pictures to spread their political beliefs to the general public. The study also assesses how movies can be used as a teaching method about the Cold War in the subject of history in Swedish upper secondary schools. The main object for the analysis is two movies All the King’s Men (1949) and Rio Bravo (1959), and how they’re used to spread ideological messages to the masses. This study will also try to explain how two political beliefs, communism and McCarthyism rose to such prominent positions in Hollywood. The tools for the analysis of the movies are based on three methods by Jeff Smith about analyzing movies. Furthermore, I’ve presented previous research about films with political messages made during the same period and also what has been said about showing films for educational purposes in the subject of history. The results from this study shows that you can interpret that some films made in Hollywood during the early stages of the Cold War had political messages in them, if you knew what to look for. The results also show that films can and should be used for educational purposes about the Cold War as long as it’s done properly, so that the students can broaden their historical knowledge.