Framing Failure: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Fifty Years Apart

Abstract

“Framing Failure: The Bay of Pigs Fifty Years Apart” examines the memory of the failed 1961 invasion of the Bay of Pigs, and then fifty years on, in the 2000s. It analyses how the memory has been framed in three key perspectives to handle the consequences of a prominent failure on a domestic and foreign stage. This paper argues that despite the time span, each perspective frames the failure differently without addressing the event, to ultimately demonstrate an inability or unwillingness to deal with loss directly. The presidential perspective hides behind public half-truths to avoid blame but needs to address the event directly to change present policies. The Cuban community’s perspectives do not view the event in terms of failure, but instead pushes heroic ideals and justifications. And the popular culture perspective is far more openly critical, using creative liberties to explore themes of fear and failure on a broader scale.