Growing
up, Spies Like Us, was one of the
first comedies I ever saw, and is one of the reasons Dan Akroyd and Chevy Chase
are two of my favorite actors of all time. The movie takes place in the Cold
War days of the 1980s. In the movie, the “Ace Tomato Company,” a secret
government agency responsible for national security, notices a team of Soviets
with a nuclear bomb moving across the Russian border. In reaction, the Ace
Tomato Company sends four spies to Russia to complete a very risky objective:
to launch the nuke at the U.S. and attempt to destroy it mid-launch in order to
test a new nuclear defense system. The team of spies used in this operation
consists of two highly trained “real” spies, and two phony spies to be used as
decoys, Akroyd and Chase.
Although the
movie’s primary purpose is to be funny and have an excuse to crack jokes, Spies Like Us contains one place that
makes an argument about the secret and powerful role of our government in the
1980s during the Cold War. The place is referred to as WAMP, which is an
underground military nuclear defense base that is in the middle of a vast
dessert. The depiction and overall role of this underground base effectively
argues that during the times of the Cold War, and even today, our government
has secret places where operations take place that even the President doesn’t
know about.
When the spies
reach the nuke traveling through Russia, two men from the Ace Tomato Company join
the military at WAMP, to prepare to destroy the nuke that the spies are
instructed to launch.
The symbolism and role that WAMP plays in Spies Like Us, is important to the film’s argument of pathos. At this place and time in the film, WAMP is quite literally the only place in the world that is capable of stopping a nuclear bomb from landing inside the United States and causing an instant global nuclear war. The people inside WAMP and the spies, according to the movie, are the only people in the world that know of this possible threat to the destruction of humanity, not even the President. The emotional appeal of this film’s argument about the government’s mysterious power lies in the gravity of this situation that takes place only inside this secret underground base. The situation invokes an eerie and anxious mood that causes the audience to ask questions like; How do we know something like this hasn’t happened before? Do places like this exist? How much does the government know that I don’t know? WAMP symbolizes a location during the Reagan Administration that was ultimately responsible for protecting American’s lives, and curing their greatest and most realistic fears, a nuclear attack.
The argument of ethos
used in Spies Like Us is the effort
that the film takes to depict WAMP as technologically advanced, accurate, and powerful.
This detailed depiction establishes credibility to the film and to the argument
the film makes by the use of WAMP. In the scenes that involve WAMP, the movie
leaves out humor and takes time to show the power and mystery of this secret
government location. During scenes inside WAMP, the background sounds in make
this place seem very “high tech,” including various beeping computer sounds,
large metal doors shutting, and other industrial machinery movement noises.
During the scene where the people at WAMP try to shoot down the nuke from
space, WAMP’s computers eject two enormous “laser gun” looking machines from
underground that look like something from a futuristic space movie. The bizarre,
futuristic looking, and advanced technology in WAMP speaks for the place’s
credibility as one that is spot-on to what a real nuclear defense base looks
like. The shock and awe of this computerized technology and machinery, which
was a major cultural obsession during the 1980s, allows the audience to believe
that WAMP is making a statement to resemble a place that exists in real life.
Another example of
an argument that WAMP makes through ethos is the secret base’s underlined
purpose, to protect the United States. In this film, as a place that is
protecting American’s lives, WAMP might argue for people to be supportive of
secret government operations involving nuclear defense. During the 1980s, a
Russian attack was possible and this caused much anxiety among Americans;
because of this, spending billions of dollars, such as the spending on
technology in WAMP, to protect the U.S. from a Russian attack was a core belief
for many Americans. According to Lunsford in Everything’s an Argument, “You can also establish credibility by
connecting your own beliefs to core principles that are well established and
widely respected” (Lunsford 60). Showing that WAMP has the capability of
stopping a nuclear attack gives credibility to the place and the argument that
nuclear defense systems, even if they are secret, are necessary to protect the
United States.
The use of logos
as an appeal stating that secret places like “WAMP” are necessary in such times
of the Cold War is also used. In the 1980s, a crisis like the one depicted in Spies Like Us, is one that is very
possible. According to the movie, the defense system in “WAMP” is a new system
that needed to be tested, which is one of the reasons the missile is launched
at the U.S. When commenting on the tremendous risk involved in the unauthorized
launching of the nuke at the U.S. for defense research, General Sline, the man
in charge of “WAMP,” states, “To guarantee the American way of life, I’m
willing to take that risk… a weapon unused is a useless weapon” (Spies Like Us Film). General Sline uses
logic to state that in order to secure American life, risky and secret actions
like the ones taken at “WAMP” need to happen. Since the crisis in this movie is
one that was realistic during the time period, the audience could logically
assume that places like “WAMP” definitely exist due to the possibility of
extreme situations like the one in this film.
The depiction and
role that “WAMP” plays in Spies like Us
effectively argues that we don’t know the entirety of the power and secrets of
our government. During the 1980s the threat to national security was one of all
American’s greatest fears, and since Spies
Like Us shows that how our government can secretly destroy nukes from outer
space, while being extremely hilarious, I’ll give it 5 slurpees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK5tWGKHdA4
(note only watch from 0:00-1:45) *this was the only clip from the movie I could
find that shows WAMP
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