TV Series (Dec 2016)
Guerre froide/ guerres froides : les représentations de l’opposition américano-soviétique dans Les Deux font la paire (Scarecrow and Mrs. King, CBS, 1983-1987), MacGyver (ABC, 1985-1992) et The Americans (FX, 2013-)
Abstract
The Cold War, which came to an end 25 years ago, seems to be rejuvenated since the disagreements between Russia and the Unites States on the Syrian and Ukrainian issues. Some old habits reappear and a TV show, currently in its third season, The Americans (FX, 2013- ) approaches the early 80s with a realistic style. It depicts a ruthless world: the struggle between American and Soviet agents in the DC area. Here this series will get under scrutiny along with two older, more light-hearted, series which were produced at the time of the events: Scarecrow and Mrs. King (CBS, 1983-1987) and MacGyver (ABC, 1985-1992). These three series focus on the Reagan era, which is why they are worth being compared. The two 1980s series faced the challenge of how to represent contemporaneous events, which could inspire fear or controversy. The most recent TV show dramatizes the same events, but uses them to set up a historic drama, and the violence is more explicit. Indeed, Scarecrow and Mrs. King represents the Cold War according to the liberal dogma, with references to the corporate world; it shifts the ideological to the economic domain. MacGyver uses a more traditional patriotic discourse, yet combined with humanism, and restrains itself from making a devil of the adversary. Finally, The Americans gives another version of the violence of the East versus West conflict by linking them with today’s political and social issues: abroad, the American military and diplomatic interventions, in a context where the globalization based on several centres questions the domination of the US as a superpower. At home, aspects of the American lifestyle evolve: family, mass consumption, and the relationship between personal and professional life.
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