The Cold War

[pic 1]

• Séance n°2

Activité d’expression orale : React. What do you expect to learn?[pic 2]

• Comic book cover of The Flash.
• Propaganda in The Flash.

Activité de compréhension orale : Analyse the video. What was the Cold War about? How did The Flash

advance America’s vision & sway readers in favour of America? What did the Flash symbolise?

• 1st study:[pic 3]

1 speaker (a youtuber)

What about: propaganda in The Flash

Construction of the extract: 1st part] introduction of the creation of The Flash – 2nd part] introduction of the Cold War –

3rd part] example of political propaganda through an extract from The Flash

• 2nd study:[pic 4]

Who: Barry Allen, new alter ego of The Flash created in 1956 When: 1956 – golden age heroes – Cold War

Where: America

What for: advance’s America’s vision of power & ideals ≈ a political tool for propaganda ; sway readers in favour of America & against communism

• 3rd study:[pic 5]

Cold War = a multi-national conflict that lasted 40 years mainly between the USA & the USSR ; no physical war but a conflict of espionage (CIA v. GGB), military intidimation (Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962), technological innovation (race in space) & nuclear supremacy ; goal: advance one’s own powers & ideals ; tool: political proaganda through literature (comic books)

How: fight against Turtleman: The Flash must run around him to stop him ≈ a tactic of fighting without physical confrontation + a way to contain the bad guy // USA contained Communism to avoid its spread all around the world The Flash = an embodiment of America ≈ a country containing the spread of Communism & a land of freedom

To Cold War propaganda …        <a>[pic 6]

The Flash was first published in 1956, in the midst of the Cold War, a multi-national conflict which opposed mainly the United States against the Soviet Union (USSR) but “cold” insofar as it wasn’t a physical war but a conflict of espionage, military intimidation (Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962), technological innovation (race in space) & nuclear supremacy. Both countries wanted to advance their own powers and ideals, while discrediting the other. Comic books became a political tool for propaganda as it conveyed a positive image of America. For instance, the Flash embodied (embody) the American tactic of containment: containing his opponents just like America was containing the spread of Communism. The Flash was also the fastest man alive, nobody could contain him; hence, he symbolised ultimate freedom.

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