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Written in 1981, and eventually released to the public in 1983, the movie WarGames provided insight into American culture in the early eighties. The movie centers on a teenage computer hacker named David Lightman who unknowingly breaks into the computer system at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) center in Colorado. The system was designed primarily for running wartime simulations, but in a lapse of good judgment had been recently redesigned to allow full control of America’s nuclear arsenal. Once inside the system, David inadvertently triggers a countdown towards nuclear war. WarGames skillfully illustrates American society’s attitude towards the Soviet Union near the end of the cold war. The movie touches upon America’s fear of nuclear war, communist espionage, and the threat of communism itself. A frequently recurring theme in WarGames is America’s attitude towards the threat of nuclear war. WarGames was written and released while Ronald Reagan held the office of the President of the United States. This is particularly significant because Reagan pledged to “restore America’s defenses” after a reduction in weaponry during the Carter Administration (Faragher 592). Reagan’s proposed pl