Mrs. Ruland's U.S. History Class Project
Movies as an Antidote During the Great Depression
Ian and Alex
The Great Depression was a time of severe job shortages and economic struggle. People needed to get away from the daily stresses of not having a job and not being able to provide for their family. For most families it became to stressful and these families needed a temporary escape that could also give them hope for a better day. With the addition of sound to the This came to them in the form of movies. The Studio was also affected during the Great Depression, to increase their profits, they turned to movies that depicted the easy life, generally, movies that made people feel good and give them hope as well as remember the things that they had before the depression hit. The movie industry was a key player in the recovery of the people in a horrible time in american history.
Annotated Links
This site describes the effect on the minds of the audience. It describes how the audiences of movies during the Great Depression favored the films which portrayed the "easy life" and the lives of successful people. The audiences were also not only attracted to the movies but the sweepstakes and drawings that were held for patrons to win money.
This site describes the movies of 1929, which was the year the Great Depression began. The most Popular movies at the time were musicals such as The Broadway Melody and Applause. One of the movie genres of this year was the western such as The Virginian. The Cocoanuts was also a popular comedy of that year as well.
This is an organized by year directory of all the most popular movies of the 1930s focusing on each year. The movies that are here are of all genres.
This site shows a list of all the movies produced in 1941, the end of the depression. Some titles are considered masterpieces, for example Citizen Kane. It gives a little explanation of the movies such as its genre, actors, and a brief plot summary.
Movie Theatres of West Chester, PA
Annotation- This site explains how the business' of the depression, the movies in this particular article,
experienced a slump with the Crashing economy. The article talks about the theaters in Pennsylvania and how very few
had to close. This was a miracle and really helpful in the fight to come out of the depression by providing relief
for many families in anguish.
This site talks about the Emergence of 2 genres in the theater. It also talks about how the response to the depression was reflected in the theater. This can be seen in the comedies and gangster films of the day.
This site explains some of the aspects of the movie industry and how they were affected in the depression. It talks about the fact that the movies were so ingrained into the public and how something old evolved. It also talks about how the process of making movies was undergoing change as well. The actors were also changing, like their salaries.
This site describes the milestones that the film industry hit during the 1930s. Some of these mile stones were the establishment of the Screen Writer's guild, the movie King Kong, and the start of Shirley Temple's career. This was also the time foreign movies were dubbed over in english for an American audience.
This site describes why such troubled people would take time and money out of their lives to see movies. Some of the reasons include wanting to get away from the hardships and troubles of reality and escape to the movies The Studio also recognized that the average suffering person during the Great Depression had a common aspect, they were consumers.
Last updated March 28, 2008
© Marcella Ruland 1998-2008, All rights reserved
