The 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture went to Argo, a docudrama based on the true event known as the Canadian caper. In the movie, director and star Ben Affleck played a CIA exfiltration specialist who, under an the guise of an elaborate ruse, successfully extricated six Americans from Tehran during the midst of the Iranian hostage crisis. Below is the end credits from the movie, which presents the actors in the film with their real-life counterpart.

Despite the fact that the disaster occurred over 4 decades ago, the critical success of Argo shows that it continues to capture American interest and pervade American media. There is clearly something to be said for the dramatic nature of the crisis, since it occurred so abruptly and risked the lives of US citizens.

Yet might there be something more to describe the continuing interest in the Iranian Hostage crisis?