1984 - The year of Ronald Reagan 4/9
Audio 48:30
President of the United States Ronald Reagan (center) and First Lady Nancy Reagan (left), in 1982. He is the 40th President of the United States, in office from January 20, 1981 to January 20, 1989. © Mal Langsdon / REUTERS
By: Cécile Poss
51 mins
1984, the city of Bhopal, in India, is the victim of the biggest industrial disaster of all time, François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl hold hands on the battlefields of Verdun, the USSR boycots the Los Angeles Olympics, while a man wins one of the greatest electoral victories in US history: Ronald Reagan is re-elected president.
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But America is not doing well, she doubts.
Its economy has been hit hard by the oil crisis.
Unemployment soars, and the country retreats against the Soviets geopolitically.
"Make America Great Again" is already Reagan's campaign slogan.
The president will restore confidence in the greatness of America. It will initiate several reforms, in particular on the economic level, by lowering taxes, minimizing the role of the State in the economy and in social assistance. The time has come for ultraliberalism, deindustrialization, the reign of the Stock Exchange, extreme globalization. Reagan is inspired by what is done in the Great Britain of Margaret Thatcher. And over time, it works, the economy is doing well. But not everyone benefits, more and more people are left behind, and the system will eventually collapse and cause the repeated economic crises that we have known.
Hollywood cinema serves as a catalyst for this image of a strong, virilist America, this cult of performance.
The 80s are the birth of very mainstream cinema, huge blockbusters.
Indiana Jones and Star Wars are typical examples, which, in addition, will continue to follow.
A derivative product is appearing in the shops: the video cassette or VHS, inseparable from its video tape recorder.
With:
Nicole Bacharan,
political scientist specializing in the United States -
Phillipe Chassaigne
, historian specializing in Great Britain -
Thomas Snégaroff
, journalist and historian specializing in the United States -
Dick Tomasovic
, professor of cinema and audiovisual arts at ULiège.
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