How does the film relate to the chapter in Foner?
This film relates directly to Foner’s chapter because of all the references to the Great Depression and the consequences the characters face because of it. The whole premise of the movie starts with the show’s director not being able to afford the production, and the actresses who are out of the work that their livelihood depends on. It is clear to see that some of the hardest hit sectors of the economy were in places like the entertainment industry, which was a luxury many people were unable to afford. However the film also shows that not everyone was seriously hurt by the Depression, made evident by Brad’s millionaire family members.
What can we learn about American culture during the time period by interpreting the film as a primary historical source?
I think that more than anything, this movie showed that even though times were bad, people still liked to laugh and at least had a little bit of humor about the whole thing. I had never realized that the “We’re In The Money” song had come from a Depression Era movie, and I think this shows that while Americans may have been downtrodden, they could still appreciate the irony in a song like that in this movie. This was also a very funny love story, and I think as a primary source it gives us a look at the “lighter side of the Depression”. Most of the time when reading history books, we think of the Depression as some horrible dark period where everyone was starving and moping about constantly. While I’m not trying to downplay the serious suffering of many people in the population, it is important to realize that people still had hope and didn’t just bring their lives to a halt because of a bad economy.
What does the film reveal about attitudes toward gender, class, and race?
There wasn’t really much about race, but gender and class played a big role in this movie. Gender wise, we saw the women in this movie portrayed as much more independent characters than in the previous films. Although they were “gold diggers” trying to depend on men for their money, they were still making their own livings, small as they may have been. And also, the men in the movie seemed to accept and enjoy the idea of more dynamic female personalities. As far as class goes, this movie showed how the upper classes were still living the good life with $75 hats and other luxury items, when much of the country was struggling to keep alive. I think again, as a primary source, this gives us a first hand view of how the Depression did not hit everyone equally, and people with big money were still able to live the good life.
What was the most important scene in the film?
I’m really not sure that there was one single pivotal scene in this movie. I guess the climax of the plot is when everyone decides to marry everyone else before living happily ever after. But in the context of how the movie relates to the class, I think it was more the overall mood of the film regarding life in the Depression era that made the most significant points about the time period.
Overall Rating
This was my favorite movie we have watched so far, probably because I’m the kind of person who likes to have audio dialogue to keep me interested. But the choreography was great, and I’m glad I finally found out where “We’re In The Money” came from. However, the only thing I wish he would have done a little differently was cut the big dance scene at the end a little shorter, or at least broken it up by some plot points. But it was very good visually, so I have to give him credit for that. Overall though, I thought the film was very funny and entertaining, and I’m sure it was a hit when it came out.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The Crowd
How does the film relate to the chapter in Foner?
I think this film relates to Foner’s chapter in that it definitely represents the “business culture” he writes about. The main character, John, moves to the city in hopes of being a successful business man, and when he gets there the hustle and bustle is overwhelming and intoxicating. Foner describes the twenties as a “decade of prosperity”, and we see that John is one of the many in the giant “crowd” of the city trying to get his piece of the pie. But we also see in this film that it is not as easy as it may appear, and John is constantly on an uphill battle to make it big. However, for a brief time, when he finally does win the slogan writing contest and receives $500, he does get to live the large life of the twenties, if only for a brief time before his entire life falls apart.
What can we learn about American culture during the time period by interpreting the film as a primary historical source?
One of the things I found very interesting is how many advertisements we see in the film. This shows that the consumer culture Foner keeps talking about really was starting to emerge in a big way. For the directory to consciously put ads in the scenery shows that they were actually a significant part of the world people were living in. Also, just the idea that John is writing slogans shows that consumerism really was reaching new heights in the twenties.
What does the film reveal about attitudes toward gender, class, and race?
I think this film mostly spoke for the attitudes towards class and wealth, and the American ideas of what it was like to work and start a family. John and Mary are in essence acting out the dream for the American middle class, which is to go find a job with “the crowd”, and basically follow the straight path to a career, home, children, etc. However, when John’s downfall begins, we see that this dream is not permanent, and that although it was possible for people to make it in the United States, people’s jobs and lives still came with relatively little security unless you were constantly struggling in the race for success.
What was the most important scene in the film?
I think the most important scene was when the little girl dies, and we just see an entire city that just goes on around John and his family like nothing every happened. At this part the caption reads, "MONTHS...ENDLESS MONTHS. The crowd laughs with you always...but it will cry with you for only a day”. I think this shows how although America was booming in business and cities seemed to be the place where dreams were made, that they could still be very impersonal and cold. I think this shows a new mindset in America, where it is very possible to become successful, but you are on your own and if you fall, no one is going to help you up. I think this also could be looked at as sort of a metaphor for the economic success of the twenties and the aftermath of the Depression.
Overall Rating
I can see why this was a very popular film at the time of its release and why it has stayed around as a very influential movie. I think it really gets at the downside of economic success in urban areas, and does a great job of portraying the isolation and sense of insignificance a person could feel if they were in the middle of all this. I think many of the issues brought up are still relevant today, making this a timeless and enjoyable movie.
I think this film relates to Foner’s chapter in that it definitely represents the “business culture” he writes about. The main character, John, moves to the city in hopes of being a successful business man, and when he gets there the hustle and bustle is overwhelming and intoxicating. Foner describes the twenties as a “decade of prosperity”, and we see that John is one of the many in the giant “crowd” of the city trying to get his piece of the pie. But we also see in this film that it is not as easy as it may appear, and John is constantly on an uphill battle to make it big. However, for a brief time, when he finally does win the slogan writing contest and receives $500, he does get to live the large life of the twenties, if only for a brief time before his entire life falls apart.
What can we learn about American culture during the time period by interpreting the film as a primary historical source?
One of the things I found very interesting is how many advertisements we see in the film. This shows that the consumer culture Foner keeps talking about really was starting to emerge in a big way. For the directory to consciously put ads in the scenery shows that they were actually a significant part of the world people were living in. Also, just the idea that John is writing slogans shows that consumerism really was reaching new heights in the twenties.
What does the film reveal about attitudes toward gender, class, and race?
I think this film mostly spoke for the attitudes towards class and wealth, and the American ideas of what it was like to work and start a family. John and Mary are in essence acting out the dream for the American middle class, which is to go find a job with “the crowd”, and basically follow the straight path to a career, home, children, etc. However, when John’s downfall begins, we see that this dream is not permanent, and that although it was possible for people to make it in the United States, people’s jobs and lives still came with relatively little security unless you were constantly struggling in the race for success.
What was the most important scene in the film?
I think the most important scene was when the little girl dies, and we just see an entire city that just goes on around John and his family like nothing every happened. At this part the caption reads, "MONTHS...ENDLESS MONTHS. The crowd laughs with you always...but it will cry with you for only a day”. I think this shows how although America was booming in business and cities seemed to be the place where dreams were made, that they could still be very impersonal and cold. I think this shows a new mindset in America, where it is very possible to become successful, but you are on your own and if you fall, no one is going to help you up. I think this also could be looked at as sort of a metaphor for the economic success of the twenties and the aftermath of the Depression.
Overall Rating
I can see why this was a very popular film at the time of its release and why it has stayed around as a very influential movie. I think it really gets at the downside of economic success in urban areas, and does a great job of portraying the isolation and sense of insignificance a person could feel if they were in the middle of all this. I think many of the issues brought up are still relevant today, making this a timeless and enjoyable movie.
The Traffic In Souls
How does the film relate to the chapter in Foner?
“The Traffic in Souls” has a few elements that relate to various sections in Foner’s chapter on the Progressive Era. But more than anything, I thought the overall idea of a film portraying the struggles of some people suffering in society fit in with the goals of some progressives at the time. I felt that the film was made in the “mudraking” style which Foner describes as, “using journalistic skills to expose the underside of American life” (586). Although this was obviously not a work of journalism, it still showed the harsh realities of some women forced into prostitution, and served to put a human face on a social problem. The progressives at the time sought to expose problems in the United States in order to work towards solving them, and I think this film is an excellent example of their attempts to achieve that.
What can we learn about American culture during the time period by interpreting the film as a primary historical source?
Films are definitely a unique primary source in that we can watch actual people of the time artistically portraying the values and culture of society at the time. What I got most out of this film, other than the goals of mudraking I previously mentioned and the attitudes towards women I will discuss in the following question, is that Americans at the time really loved sensationalism in their entertainment. This really hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years I suppose, but to have such a “scandalous” subject as forced prostitution for a major hit movie shows that Americans loved to be shocked even at the turn of the century. To me, this is one of the many aspects that is ushered in by the beginning of a mass consumer culture. It still holds true today that the best selling entertainment is that which shakes the audience and slightly disturbs and excites them. I think that the success of this controversial movie shows that the love of scandal is a core aspect of modern American culture.
What does the film reveal about attitudes toward gender, class, and race? What was the most important scene in the film?
I really didn’t notice too many significant commentaries on class or race, but I think what this film says about the attitudes towards women is huge. Maybe this is just my personal interpretation, but when watching the movie I felt that most of the women were portrayed as helpless victims. They are sometimes looked at as even childish, such as when one of the captions about the kidnapping reads, “A pretty little girl disappeared in a candy store”. When Mary’s sister gets taken and locked up in the room, she spends only about ten seconds actually making a legitimate effort to escape, and the rest of the time we just see her dramatically fainting and crying about her misfortune. For this reason, I think this was the most important scene in the film for me. I think that if this movie had been made today with our contemporary views of women, Mary’s sister would have been breaking out of the window, or waiting at the side of the door to knock her captors in the head with a lamp. The idea that she would just accept her fate and sit around waiting to be rescued tells us that women were not expected to have the capacity to take care of themselves. But while this scene and most of the film shows women as being helpless, it still needs to be noted that in the end, Mary did actually play a key part in the rescue of her sister. This shows that although limited, there were some feminist attitudes beginning to form at the time.
Overall Rating
I think it’s hard to look at silent films like this as a modern movie viewer (and not an especially avid one at that!), but for the time I think it was probably a good movie. Like I said before, movies made today on the same topic are drastically different, much more violent, graphic, and arguable more exciting. However for the audience of the early 1900s I’m sure this was a sensational movie that was both entertaining and eye opening.
“The Traffic in Souls” has a few elements that relate to various sections in Foner’s chapter on the Progressive Era. But more than anything, I thought the overall idea of a film portraying the struggles of some people suffering in society fit in with the goals of some progressives at the time. I felt that the film was made in the “mudraking” style which Foner describes as, “using journalistic skills to expose the underside of American life” (586). Although this was obviously not a work of journalism, it still showed the harsh realities of some women forced into prostitution, and served to put a human face on a social problem. The progressives at the time sought to expose problems in the United States in order to work towards solving them, and I think this film is an excellent example of their attempts to achieve that.
What can we learn about American culture during the time period by interpreting the film as a primary historical source?
Films are definitely a unique primary source in that we can watch actual people of the time artistically portraying the values and culture of society at the time. What I got most out of this film, other than the goals of mudraking I previously mentioned and the attitudes towards women I will discuss in the following question, is that Americans at the time really loved sensationalism in their entertainment. This really hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years I suppose, but to have such a “scandalous” subject as forced prostitution for a major hit movie shows that Americans loved to be shocked even at the turn of the century. To me, this is one of the many aspects that is ushered in by the beginning of a mass consumer culture. It still holds true today that the best selling entertainment is that which shakes the audience and slightly disturbs and excites them. I think that the success of this controversial movie shows that the love of scandal is a core aspect of modern American culture.
What does the film reveal about attitudes toward gender, class, and race? What was the most important scene in the film?
I really didn’t notice too many significant commentaries on class or race, but I think what this film says about the attitudes towards women is huge. Maybe this is just my personal interpretation, but when watching the movie I felt that most of the women were portrayed as helpless victims. They are sometimes looked at as even childish, such as when one of the captions about the kidnapping reads, “A pretty little girl disappeared in a candy store”. When Mary’s sister gets taken and locked up in the room, she spends only about ten seconds actually making a legitimate effort to escape, and the rest of the time we just see her dramatically fainting and crying about her misfortune. For this reason, I think this was the most important scene in the film for me. I think that if this movie had been made today with our contemporary views of women, Mary’s sister would have been breaking out of the window, or waiting at the side of the door to knock her captors in the head with a lamp. The idea that she would just accept her fate and sit around waiting to be rescued tells us that women were not expected to have the capacity to take care of themselves. But while this scene and most of the film shows women as being helpless, it still needs to be noted that in the end, Mary did actually play a key part in the rescue of her sister. This shows that although limited, there were some feminist attitudes beginning to form at the time.
Overall Rating
I think it’s hard to look at silent films like this as a modern movie viewer (and not an especially avid one at that!), but for the time I think it was probably a good movie. Like I said before, movies made today on the same topic are drastically different, much more violent, graphic, and arguable more exciting. However for the audience of the early 1900s I’m sure this was a sensational movie that was both entertaining and eye opening.
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