Portrayal of Politics - Essay Example

Ninotchka is an epitome of an anti-Soviet film. Like any other such film, "Every Russian- whether peasant or nobility- is caricatured as villain incarnate and the whole nation is represented as a threat to mankind, nineteenth-century style" (Fyne 194). Understandably, American sentiments toward the Soviet Union at the time of these anti-Soviet films are degradation of communism as symbolized, at that time, by none other than the USSR. According to Fyne, Ninotchka was a "strong indictment about a regime that most Americans, sitting comfortably in their capitalist living rooms and reading about mass executions, feared and mistrusted" (200).

In 1943, that sentiment changed drastically. It must be noted that this time was after Pearl Harbor. After Pearl Harbor, "the U.S. and the Soviet Union were now brothers-in-arms" (Fyne 200), hence this new alliance "had to be solidified on the screen" (Fyne 200). New films espousing the goodness of the Soviet Union were produced. One of these is The North Star which was known as Armored Attack. The heroism and bravery of the comrade were vilified: 'I am willing to die in battle to keep my people from Fascist slavery" (Comrade Dean Jagger in The North Star).

The changing political view of Hollywood is perhaps its greatest contribution to the war effort (Mayhew 334).The drastic change in how Hollywood viewed the Soviet Union in such a short span of time (five years) is notably not confined to just the Soviet Union. Such dramatic changes in political beliefs presented in Hollywood films also happened with the People's Republic of China. Supporters of political beliefs currently being portrayed as evil by these same films should not despair. With the history of Hollywood, such portrayal will eventually be reversed in the near future.

In Hollywood actors come and go, it appears so does its political views and beliefs.