During the Great Depression, many Americans sought for a way to escape the depressing nature of their everyday lives. However, amidst all of the economic despair, there were many different ways that people were able to escape reality. One of the most prominent examples would be film and the theatres.
One of the predominant ways that Americans were able to escape their lives was through events occurring in theatres. If people could afford to spend around ten cents on a ticket, they were allowed to enter the theatres. It was in these theatres that they were able to enjoy a variety of entertainment such as orchestra music, news of current political affairs, or even very basic forms of cartoons.
Due to the economic downturn, the cinemas had to reduce their rates for tickets by around ten cents, which devastated the profit margins of these companies. Despite these challenges, the theatres were able to counteract this by cutting costs from certain operations and were even able to afford to advertise in newspapers such as the Seattle Times. This was an early example of the mass advertisement and commercialization of almost everything that we have in society, which is shown in our modern society as well.
However, the increase of advertisement and consumer bases for these cinemas meant that there was a need for more innovation within the film industry. As a result, many interesting new types of movies and genres were invented. Notably, the introduction of the new types of comedy films. One of these types of films was the “screwball comedy”, which was a type of slapstick comedy that portrayed the divide between economic classes among other issues in a funny way. One very famous example of the time was, “My Man Godfrey”. In hindsight, the increased focus on comedy films can be seen as a way for the American public to escape the depression of the Great Depression. People were able to enjoy life as it once was as well as find humor in the smaller things in life once again. Not only that, but the fact that film allowed major problems like the economic divide to be addressed in an indirect way helped to open up discussion gradually. Throughout history, people have used comedy and entertainment as an escape from life when it gets too serious, and that was well represented with this.
The escapism in movies became quite literal, in addition to being figurative. Some movies began to be advertised as “Jungle”, among many other things. These films were essentially depicting other countries and natural settings and the beauty that they held. Some movies, for example, depicted a jungle safari through scenic jungles.This was yet another way that people were able to picture themselves far away, in a land much more beautiful than America’s current state. People also began to see social-based movies, such as a movie titled, “Freaks”, which challenged the ideas about disabled people in America. People were able to critique the status quo of how disabled people were treated through talking about it in the context of the film, opening up discussion for the future.
Cinemas were not only able to inspire joy, but they provided a platform to talk about the issues that mattered during a very key point in America’s history. The usage of movies to discuss important topics is seen even today, with modern films tackling race relations, economic inequality, and other topics.
Sources:
“1929-1936: Stormy Weather”-Class Documentary
Rushil, your article was interesting and insightful on the conditions of the Great Depression and the methods people used to escape. One idea that you wrote about was particularly interesting to me, and that was the idea that people seek entertainment in times of crisis to provide an escape from the conflict. Clearly, the Great Depression was a time of conflict and hardship, and these dime theaters were an effective catharsis for the American people. What do you think about the current events and their effect on the people and entertainment. Certainly conditions today are not as bad as the Great Depression, but there is no doubt that within the US there is much political and social conflict. Do you think that entertainment has a role to play in the coming days? Will movies once again provide an outlet to the American people? We will have to see.
ReplyDeleteFascinating article. We definitely do not seem to have lost the practice of escaping into a movie during a hard week or a stormy night, and I would guess that many Americans do this kind of thing. What I think is interesting about the example of Freaks is that the movie goers were finding joy in the pain of others with this movie. The pain and difficulty that some little people and conjoined twins come upon in their lives at a carnival became wildly popular and a symbol of American moviegoing during the period. It seems like some would say that this entertainment at the pain of others is a cruel part of human nature that has existed since ancient gladiator fights and still continues today with the humiliation of popular characters on sitcoms. https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v18519
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/