Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 108

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Popular Culture Review

reveal to Shannon that Anna is a Soviet agent and has seduced a British officer in
order to get information for her country. The US government then enlists Shannon
to gather information from the Soviet Union by taking Anna there. Anna and
Shannon go to Russia, where Shannon spies. The Russians catch on to his status as
spy, however, and begin giving him a memory-loss drug. When they threaten to
completely erase his memory and turn him into a vegetable, Anna saves him and
they fly back together to the United States.
Through the character of Anna, the film highlights American susceptibility to
the seduction of Communism. While Shannon and his colleague Major Rexford
are angry about the Russian plane invading American airspace, when a red-lipped,
beautiful blonde steps out of the aircraft, they begin acting like love-struck
schoolboys. Anna elicits sympathy from Shannon by telling him that she was forced
to leave Russia in order to prevent her own execution: “I came here to prevent
myself from getting shot.” Yet, she remains loyal to the Soviet government, telling
Shannon that she is “not angry enough to talk against my country.” Immediately,
Anna begins seducing Shannon. He tells her that she must be searched, and she
starts to undress in front of him. Then he tells her to go into the bathroom. She
comes out wrapped in a towel, stands in front of the fire, and dresses in front of
both Shannon and Rexford. Shannon comments, “this might be some new form of
Russian propaganda.” Shannon easily falls under Anna’s spell.
In addition to being seduced by her good looks. Shannon is drawn to Anna’s
ability as a pilot. When Shannon and Anna go on a flight together in separate jets,
Anna can almost keep up with Shannon’s expert flying. After Anna demonstrates
her prowess as a pilot. Shannon begins to seriously fall in love with her, kissing
her and calling her a “silly Siberian cupcake.” While the film portrays the Soviet
woman as beautiful and skilled, the ultimate point of the film is to demonstrate
that however seductive Anna is as a woman, she cannot compete with the seductions
of capitalist society.
When Shannon takes Anna to Palm Springs, she is overcome with the wonders
of consumer society. Shannon takes Anna to buy a bathing suit, commenting as
they look at a suit, “we both believe in uplifting the masses.” Anna is flattered that
Shannon thinks she looks great in a bathing suit. When Anna sees the suite they are
staying in she runs from room to room and jumps on the bed with a childlike glee.
She cannot believe that the suite is for one couple only, commenting that four
families could easily live in this suite, and do so in Russia. As Shannon and Anna
rest from dancing, Anna proclaims love to be a “dangerous narcotic,” but is
completely overwhelmed by a plate of prime rib she sees in the restaurant,
commenting, “How can the Russians compete with such propaganda?”
While Anna initially seems like an easy convert to capitalism, the film reveals
her duplicitous nature when Shannon discovers that she is a double agent. Shannon