Film Lesson - The Right Stuff

The Space Race, similar to the many other ”races” occurring between the US and the USSR, was the central theme behind the 1983, award winning film, The Right Stuff. This particular race was a competition during the Cold War, between the two leading world powers to outplay the other in creating the more superior space technology; the first goal of the two nations was to first develop a capable aircraft, and then launch the first human into space, as was depicted in the movie. The film touched very lightly on the Cold War itself, but all its inferences were made quite visible through the fierce competition between the former allies in World War II.

The U.S. and the USSR were competing to dominate the other in several fields during the Cold War. From politics, to ideology, to military, and to science, these two nations duked it out on each other, neither dropping out. The Right Stuff focuses on the Space Race, the struggle between the two world powers to dominate humankind’s newest frontier: space. The movie showed numerous attempts on the American side to produce the first rocket. But first, they started miniscule. It was implied in the movie that the first they need to do was break the sound barrier. Attempts were made before, but the main character of the story, one of the greatest pilots in the world, managed to pull it off. Fast forward a bit, and now America was creating its first vessels. Unfortunately, most of the first rockets sort of exploded, or fell under their own weight. The Russians were quick to beat them, launching the first object into space, the Sputnik, complete with footage on the groundbreaking event. The Americans quickened up their game after hearing (and seeing) the news. In time, we were able to launch a monkey into space. But then the Russians beat them again, this time launching a human into space. America trailed behind, and finally won over Russia when we were the first to land a human onto the moon. “It isn’t over until the fat lady sings” would be a good expression for this battle for space, since the Russians seemed to have dominated us through most of the race, until we stepped up and won over them in the end.

Many of the scenes in the movie were portrayed the actual event in a more comical light. For example, the government meetings in America to discuss what they would do to counteract the Soviet advances seemed more like a comedy than a serious event (which I would think it was). It was probably true to fact though, which is what counts. The two scenes that showed the government conference will help me to remember this Cold War event because its abstractness, and the abstractness of the official’s ideas really proved how desperate the U.S. were to outmatch their rival in space technology. Another scene, played three times I’m pretty sure, was the black and white film grain footage of the man who had invented the rocket, standing in a cloud of smoke in his own successful invention. Oddly, this gave me chills. Seeing this from the point of view of a member of the government in 1957, I would have been fear-stricken and angry. I’d probably think “Damnit! They got ahead of us?!,” and some other stuff that I don’t want to put here, but the point gets across. This will definitely help me to remember the space race and Cold War because of the sheer emotion that I imagined the senators / congressman of the meeting probably felt.