Huh.
TV show Dallas was the main reason behind the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union, it has been claimed.
Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart said that former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev told him that the 1980s soap opera ‘had more effect’ in ending the Cold War than anything else.
Mr Stewart, 68, said the Gorbachev admitted an illicit broadcast of the US show in Russia had opened his people’s eyes to Western life, and the Texas-based show ‘brought down’ the communist superpower.
[…]
Mr Stewart said it had taken place in the early 1990s just as the Soviet Union was starting to open up. Before then, the Russians had been stopped by the government from listening to Western music or watching TV shows.
He said: ‘He was saying what brought Russia down was they weren’t allowed to see any shows from anywhere and they had in the churches they had giant blockers of signals so they’d only get fed the information from the government.
[…]
‘What Gorbachev was saying it was Dallas the TV show, somebody managed to get a VHS to work and broadcast it to part of Russia and they thought, ”Hang on, that’s how people live in America?”
‘He said that had more effect, that half an hour, than anything else.’
Wasn’t there a movie that had a similar effect? Something anti-American that was shown in Russia?
Red Dawn.
Excellent movie, perfectly embodiment of leftist communist thirst for human rights abuse and power at any cost.
On this, we agree!
For a cheesy action flick (NTTAWWT, of course) it had quite the impact on me during my high-school years. ’twas a big part of why I enlisted as an infantry solider at 17, and that scene where the Russian (Cuban?) Colonel sent his guys to the sporting goods store to get the list of gun owners also helped cement some of my Second Amendment opinions.
Haven’t seen the remake yet – am a lil’ afraid of being disappointed.
Under no circumstances should you waste your time on the remake. You will be sorely disappointed.
Kinda figured as much…tho it couldn’t be any more disappointing than when I first saw “Starship Troopers”. Anyone who read the book first and then saw the movie should be able to know that pain.
Anywhos – in addition to Dallas, I always heard that blue jeans had a lot to do with the demise of the USSR as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall. Once the commies got a taste of our sweet denim jeans, they just had to have more of our All-American products & goods.
Loved Red Dawn as well and that ‘list of gun owners’ had an effect on me too.
You’ll probably look down on me, but I read the book and saw the movie and I liked the movie better (but I did see the movie first). Totally different stories so I never really compared them. Kind of like Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger”. I liked the book better, but the movie was so different I judged it on its own merit, there simply was no comparison.
Won’t look down on someone over a matter of taste…I ain’t gonna be the one to yuck someone else’s yum! And seeing the movie before reading the book most likely made it far more palatable.