a stars-and-stripes motif including a Queen of Diamonds which will become a crucial plot element since it sets-off Shaw’s programming. The next scene continues with patriotic symbols, of which many are used in the film with contradictory and ironic meanings, as we see an American Eagle on the side of a drum that is being beaten during the ceremony for Sergeant Shaw, who is being decorated as a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. At this point in the film we are treated to the character of Shaw’s mother, Mrs. Iselin, who is meant to symbolize one of the communist zealots of the McCarthy era whose politically-motivated,
...