The Great Depression and the American Film Industry - Case Study Example

The Great Depression and the American Film Industry: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Hollywood Ten Introduction The Great Depression was a major global economic downturn in the early 1930s. The duration of the Great Depression varied from one nation to the next. For many nations, however, it kicked off in 1930 and lasted through the late 1930s or mid-1940. In the United States, the crash of the Stock Markets in 1929 triggered the event that soon affected most Americans. At the peak of the depression, approximately 25 per cent of working Americans were out of jobs. Many more were barely surviving. The Great Depression impacted several aspects of the American film industry (Lee 373). The industry grew, albeit slowly, in the face of the depression. Weighed down by the harshness of the depression, increasingly more Americans found solace in the films. This paper discusses the effects of the depression first on the film industry as a whole then on two specific aspects of the industry, namely the Hollywood Blacklist and the Hollywood Ten. General Effects on the Film Industry By the onset of the depression, film was becoming the preferred form of entertainment for most Americans (Anderson 33). Thus, even as the depression peaked and unemployment and poverty roared, between 60 and 70 million Americans were spending fifteen cents a week to watch a movie at the theaters. The Great Depression disrupted existing social structures. For instance, in a bid for households to make ends meet, women who were hitherto housewives were forced to look for paid work to supplement their incomes of their working husbands or to substitute it if the husband had lost their job. Comedies produced in the depression and subsequent years began to portray disdain for traditional values and institutions (Eckstein 429). Films such as Duck Soup (1933) and Animal Crackers (1930) satirized class structures, marriage, and universities among other institutions. Other directors such as Mae West used sexual innuendo to mock the morality of the middle class. Their earliest films such as I’m No Angel (1933) contributed to the development of the Motion Picture Production Code of 1934. The Code was prompted by public and government pressure and bound directors to refrain from the use sexually suggestive language and actions in their films. As Hollywood directors tried to comply with the new Code, the studios had growing demand for gifted screenwriters who would mint witty conversations for the actors. Hollywood was one of the few places in the country where people still held full jobs and salaries were on the rise (Kokonis 172). Soon scores of talented writers stormed the West Coast. They injected into films the much-needed creativity and helped studios comply with the new Code. These events led to the emergence of the so-called screwball comedy (Eckstein 430). It was characterized by sharp dialog, smart and strong women who played leading roles and intriguing twists and turns in the plot. The storyline often included juxtaposing the wealthy and the poor. Overall, the films depicted their lower class protagonists in good light while presenting the rich as inept and far-removed from the realities of the common people. My Man Godfrey (1936) is an example of the genre. Carol Lombard plays Irene Bullock, a wealthy young woman who meets Godfrey, a derelict at the city dump. They hire him as the family butler. Godfrey injects the much-needed sense of reality into the rich, spoiled family. The settings of the screwball films related to the harsh times of the Great Depression (Lee 380). In addition, they captured the emotions of their audiences and manipulated them with creative, positive twists at the end. In a way, they served to “humanize” the wealthy at a time of rampant unemployment and poverty. The Hollywood Blacklist The Hollywood blacklist refers to the mid-1900s practice of withholding employment from film industry professionals such as directors, writers and actors whose political beliefs or associations were suspected (Anderson 51). People were denied work on claims that they belonged to or sympathized with the Party, were involved in political causes that the enforcers of the blacklist linked to communism or declined to cooperate in investigations into the activities of the Communist Party. The blacklist was strictly enforced from the late 1940s through the late 1950s. Historical Background To understand the Hollywood Blacklist, a basic understanding of the attitudes of Americans towards the Communist Party in the 1920s through 1930s is necessary (Anderson 48). In the 1920s, the Communist Party was small yet determined. In captured the attention of a few Americans but its influence was insignificant. Starting the early 1930s, the Party began to associate itself with the labor movement in the country. As a result, it began to captivate more Americans. The Communist Party took advantage of the Great Depression to gain favor with African Americans who were hardest hit by the depression. They offered legal defense in a small number of criminal cases involving high profile black Americans. They hoped the good gesture would persuade the black community to join the party. Senior FBI officers believed that the party was on a mission to dismantle American values (Anderson 42). They made it their mission to destroy the part before it destroyed American values. Soon, the FBI started to pursue suspected Communists. Of all the groups that the agency set out to investigate, the film industry captured the most of their investigative interest. An early report by the FBI concluded that the Communist Party was using prominent sympathizers in the industry to promote their policies. The FBI also accused some executives in the industry of hiring Communists and protecting them whenever their names came into the public domain. The Congress became interested in investigating the alleged protectors. Congress set up the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to investigate people they suspected associated with the Communist Party and constituted what HUAC labeled the “Red threat” to America. During the Great Depression, two strikes rocked the film industry. The strikes worsened the tension that already existed between Hollywood studios and labor unions. In addition, the strikes created a pretext for FBI and Congress to blow their long-standing suspicion of Hollywood full scale (Anderson 39).It is worth noting that Hollywood operatives themselves, possibly driven by personal vendetta, initiated the blacklist. In a column published in their magazine The Hollywood Reporter, William Wilkerson blacklisted several Hollywood prominent figures as being sympathizers of Communism. Congress took advantage of the list and subsequent ones to grill the suspects. Several years later in 2012, Wilkerson’s son would apologize for the involvement of the newspaper in the blacklist. The Hollywood Ten The “Hollywood Ten” were the original victims of blacklisting, the majority of whom were screenwriters (Eckstein 429). When summoned by HUAC in October 1947, they refused to appear before the Committee and testify about their political affiliation. The blacklisting of the ten marked the end of the careers of most of them. Later in their 1981 autobiography, Lester Cole, a screenwriter, would claim that all the “Hollywood Ten” were indeed communists. While that claim largely remains unverified, the “Hollywood Ten” blacklist no doubt marked the beginning of a series of such lists. While the influence of the Hollywood Ten on the film industry is not well-documented (Pontikes, Negro, and Rao 460), it is likely that their listing marked the beginning of the events that culminated in the bankruptcy of the major producers, hence the “Hollywood Renaissance”. The Impact of the Hollywood Blacklist on the Film Industry HUAC is credited with the deaths of scores of people in the film and entertainment industries (Anderson 30). The committee was later joined by their Senate counterpart. Wisconsin’s Senator Joseph McCarthy spearheaded the witch-hunt for suspected Communist sympathizers in government and the private sector alike. He successfully dragged all government institutions into the witch-hunt. Some careers in the industry were destroyed permanently (Eckstein 424). Many other artists suffered setbacks in their careers. The careers of actors and directors were more severely affected than those of screenwriters. Unlike actors and directors, screenwriters continued to write scripts under assumed names. Still, many writers were affected as the Communist Party had made in-depth among these professionals. Besides several deaths of professionals in the film industry, the blacklists led to what came to be dubbed the “Red Scare” (Pontikes, Negro, and Rao 460). This was a period of intense panic that descended upon Hollywood between 1945 and 1960 in the aftermath of WWII and the activities of HUAC. Conservative film industry professionals worked with their political counterparts to fight communism and defend capitalism. They portrayed communists as unpatriotic and a threat to capitalism and the American people. Artists who were suspected of being communists or sympathizers of communism were blacklisted and denied work. Blacklisting was a systematized process in which film producers hired clearance officers to scrutinize their would-be employees. One would expect that given the thoroughness of the blacklisting process, Hollywood professionals would view one another with less suspicion. This was not the case. Artists who merely associated with blacklisted artists had great difficulty finding work in Hollywood, even though they were not blacklisted themselves. In the longer-run, the “Red Scare” that rocked Hollywood in the aftermath of the blacklist led to what Hollywood historians came to call the “Hollywood Renaissance” (Kokonis 188). The blacklists and the resultant "Red Scare" robbed Hollywood of its much-needed talent – the screenwriters. Reportedly, the Communist Party had made more inroads among the writers than any other group of professionals. By virtue of their work and talent, the writers found ingenious ways of putting communist ideas into the words of the actors and ultimately into the heads of the audience. In other words, they were of strategic importance to the party. Unable to hire and retain the best screenwriters in the industry, the major film producers found themselves on the edge of bankruptcy in the late 1960s through the early 1970s (Kokonis 172). As a result, the industry entered a period of radicalization and innovation that Hollywood scholars dubbed the “Hollywood Renaissance”. In essence, the industry underwent a rebirth and rejuvenated it and recovered its fortunes. Notable films of this era included Easy Rider (1969), The Graduate (1967) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Accordingly, the films of that era marked the return of “true American cinema”. However, it is not clear what the marks of a true American film are. The scholars also claim that the films of the era had “artistic sensibilities” that brought them close to appealing to European audiences. In turn, the Hollywood Renaissance led to what is today called “New Hollywood”. Conclusion The Great Depression impacted several areas of the American film industry. Even as unemployment and poverty soared, the film industry was one of the few areas to experience growth in the economy, although at a very slow pace. Cumbered by the burdens of the depression, Americans found solace in the films, thereby fueling the growth. However, the industry was not completely insulated from the turbulence of the depression. During the depression, two screenwriters’ strikes rocked the industry. For a long time, the government had suspected Hollywood of involvement with the Communist Party. The strikes gave the government an excuse to enter and investigate the industry (Anderson 33). Several lists of prominent persons in the industry were published for their alleged engagement with the party. The first and most infamous of the lists was the Hollywood Ten. The several blacklists that ensued had several effects on the industry including the death of careers, the “Red Scare” and the “Hollywood Renaissance”. Works Cited Anderson, José Felipé. "Freedom of Association, the Communist Party, and the Hollywood Ten: The Forgotten First Amendment Legacy of Charles Hamilton Houston." McGeorge Law Review40.25 (2009): 25-54. Print. Eckstein, Arthur. "The Hollywood Ten in history and memory." Film History 16.4 (2004): 424-436. Print. Kokonis, Michalis. Hollywood’s Major Crisis and the American Film “Renaissance”. Thesis. Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2009. Print. Lee, Kevin. ""The Little State Department": Hollywood and the MPAAs Influence on U.S. Trade Relations." Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business28.2 (2008): 371-398. Print. Pontikes, Elizabeth, Giacomo Negro, and Hayagreeva Rao. "Stained Red: A Study of Stigma by Association to Blacklisted Artists during the "Red Scare" in Hollywood, 1945 to 1960." American Sociological Review75.3 (2010): 456-478. Print. Read More