The Space Race through the big screen: 21st century american diplomacy

Abstract

This thesis is focused on how to study Hollywood in a context of soft power. More specifically, how Hollywood provides audiences abroad with a window into American society and how it chooses to portray it. This thesis is focused on the narrative of the Space Race, how Hollywood engages with that narrative, how it portrays the story and on what it focuses. In turn, these stories told by Hollywood have an effect on America’s soft power. Our modern world has fundamentally changed. Modern technology allows ready and easy access for cultural products across the world. These cultural products shape perceptions abroad of a certain country. For the United States, Hollywood forms an important source of this soft power influence.