Essay On Films During The Great Depression

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During the Great Depression, everyone was looking for a distraction from the terrible times around them. One way to put their mind at ease was to go to the theater and watch movies. Even during this era of distress, 60 to 80 million people a week still managed to go to the movies. Comedies were a great way to look at the bright side of situations and to put off the stress. In contrast, gangster films showed the fear that maybe what you are doing is not enough to get by and it would be nearly impossible to survive this economic crisis. Never the less, films of the Great Depression provided people hope and reassurance in that this too shall pass. Watching films from the Great Depression era today, we can see how people survived and made a living …show more content…

In the film Modern Times attention is brought upon how demanding and stressful being a factory can be. Although being comedic a point is made on how hard they work. There is even someone who advertising the failing idea of a machine to feed the workers as they work so there is no need for a break! After Charlie Chaplin’s character is given a break time at the factory his arms are still doing the motion in which his job requires on the assembly line. Comedy strikes as he walks around the factory twisting his arms as if he is till working. From this though we see how strict the job is and can conclude he had been on the job for a substantial amount of time. Working this hard can lead one to crave a way out, to live without having to work. There is an incident in which the character is arrested and put into jail. While seeming disastrous at the time, Chaplin’s character soon never wants to leave jail. He saves the police in a prison break and is upgraded to a “high-end” cell and then released shortly after. Entertainingly, he asks to stay, saying that he likes the way he is being treated. And why not, he does not have the stress of working and he gets meals and a roof above his head. After leaving jail he is told to search for a job but instead his search is for a way back in jail. In a comedic way, Chaplin manages to show how factory life in the Great Depression is a critical and stressful way to make a

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