The Americans humanizes Soviet spies where Le Carré demonized them
Evidence
This brings us to a contrast between The Americans and even some of the most sophisticated spy fiction, such as that of John Le Carré. In Le Carré’s work, George Smiley’s adversary is the KGB Spymaster Karla — and for all that Le Carré complicated the broadbrush good-and-evil binary of Cold War propaganda, Karla remained an almost demonic figure whose commitment was incomprehensible to Smiley and his self-styled liberal pragmatism. In The Americans, the Soviets are transformed into our likeness. This first of all happens through the foregrounding of Elizabeth and Philip. But they are well supported by the rich cast of characters in the rezidentura (KGB station): Nina Krylova, a double, then triple agent, fragile but resilient and resourceful; the pragmatic strategist Arkady Ivanovich; the ambitious and enigmatic Oleg Burov. The decision to have the characters in the embassy speak Russian is important; their difference from Westerners is maintained, and the absurd convention whereby they are heard speaking bad English in pantomime Russian accents is avoided. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 721
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: The show makes Soviet spies more glamorous than American agents — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 722
Related
- The show makes Soviet spies more glamorous than American agents (similarity 0.87)
Broader Connections
- The show makes Soviet spies more glamorous than American agents
#qualifies(0.82) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 722