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→Manipulation of popular emotion
The facts of the matter are far more complex. In the film, the Communist threat ''does'' exist. But the person behind the campaign to popularize that threat ''is herself an agent of that threat.'' Or so she pretends, at least in her dealings with Soviet and Chinese agents that actually induce them to recruit and train an assassin and place that assassin at her disposal. What she actually intends is to seize power in America and then launch a war of revenge against her very helpers. That Mrs. Iselin would conceive that such a plan could actually work, only shows the profound megalomania that afflicts this character.
The facts of the matter are far more complex. In the film, the Communist threat ''does'' exist. But the person behind the campaign to popularize that threat ''is herself an agent of that threat.'' Or so she pretends, at least in her dealings with Soviet and Chinese agents that actually induce them to recruit and train an assassin and place that assassin at her disposal. What she actually intends is to seize power in America and then launch a war of revenge against her very helpers. That Mrs. Iselin would conceive that such a plan could actually work, only shows the profound megalomania that afflicts this character.
(Of course, Mrs. Iselin, having accused the Soviets of underestimating her, is herself guilty of underestimating her son. Once Raymond Shaw realizes that his mother is "the American operator," he holds her responsible for the death of his wife and proves himself quite capable of taking the ultimate revenge.)
=== Other themes ===
=== Other themes ===