Cold War Nostalgia in The Game

Barnett, NJ

Abstract

This article explores how nostalgia for both the Cold War and the 1970s became a key feature of the BBC drama The Game (2014). It argues that the serial situated the Cold War as a more stable era in international relations in which the enemy played by a specific set of rules, thus leading to a manageable and predictable danger compared to the terror threat of the twentyfirst century. Furthermore, the article argues that the serial presents the 1970s as a golden age which was defined by the continuity of consensus politics and communities of class and family. Finally, the article examines how this nostalgia is reinforced by narrative devices which engage with generic features such as the storyline playing out like a game. However, in the re-imagined Cold War of the twenty-first century, the traditional chess trope has been replaced by the more complex game of Alice Chess.

Citation

Barnett, N. (2018). Cold War Nostalgia in The Game. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 15(3), 436-452. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2018.0431

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jul 10, 2019
• Journal: Journal of British Cinema and Television
• Print ISSN: 1743-4521
• Electronic ISSN: 1755-1714
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 436-452
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2018.0431
• Publisher URL: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/jbctv.2018.0431
• Related Public URLs: https://www.euppublishing.com/loi/jbctv