Few experiences in America show as many American identities as the period known as the Space Race. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, commonly referred to as simply NASA, became a symbol of the very essence of what America stood for. This unique event in American history, that occurred from 1957 to 1975, had most Americans looking to the skies. Given the historical importance and the extreme national pride that this time period still evokes, it is unsurprising that Hollywood has devoted time and resources to developing many movies involving this theme. Hidden Figures produced in 2016 and The Right Stuff in 1983 are movies that strongly show how the Space Race affected the American people. Although the two movies encompass much …show more content…
The beep that came from the satellite became very much like a gunshot at the start of a race, and signified the race for space had begun. Two Americans identities were born out of this action, a trepidation of Soviet power and in response to the fear of this power, a growing sense of nationalism. In his commentary on the fear and panic that the launch caused in Americans, newspaper cartoon analyst Mark Bryant explains, “Frank Williams captured the Cold War alarm occasioned by Sputnik: his drawing for the Detroit Free Press shows an American scientist saying ‘Down Boy!’ to a US citizen trying to reach for the panic button as Sputnik races past the windows” (Bryant 59). Much of the American public felt that if the Russians had a more advance space program than the United States, and it would not be long before the Soviet Union posed a threat to the nation’s …show more content…
As the satellite takes off, the movie then adds a hazy image of a Russian commander laughing manically in his triumph at his country’s accomplishments (The Right Stuff). The use of color and lighting in this passage depicts the Soviets as crazed, powerful, and almost devil-like; fully capable of annihilating the U.S. with a push of a button. In the next scene, a man is seen running at top speed, out of breath and disheveled, he delivers the message, “It’s called Sputnik!” to a top-secret meeting of United States government officials (The Right Stuff). The urgency to protect America from the overwhelming power of the Soviets is amplified by the clicking of his dress shoes while running and the panicked tone of his voice. To further the threat that the Soviets presented, inside the meeting Vice-President Lyndon Johnson declared, “Whoever controls the high ground of space will control the world… Now the communists have established a foothold in outer space. Pretty soon they’ll have damn space platforms up there to drop nuclear bombs on us like rocks from a highway overpass” (The Right Stuff). His statement expresses the fear that the Soviet Union would have longer reaching and easier to use missiles, and many Americans of the time felt those weapons would be used against the United States. The vulnerability of having technologically inferior