Film Industry In The 1950's

The 1950s was the time period after World War II, where America was victorious and had a stable economy. Now that troubles international was settling down, issues back at home arose. Shifting gender roles, anti-communism, and racial tension was the topic of interest instead of war. In 1950s, the movies were characterized by new technology, post-war affluence, and a non-traditional defiance.

In the 1950s, new technology and effects were introduced into the film industry. In the 1950s, many Americans had owned a television and had no reason to go to movie theaters. Therefore, the movie industry had to come with new ideas on how to bring back the audience. This causes the introduction of new effects and film technology. Some of these include;

Cinerama 3-D, Smell-O-Vision, Cinemascope, and other widescreen processes. As stated in the article, The fifties, “TV slashed movie attendance in half. What to do? Get a gimmick! While 3-D flicks caused eyestrain, and Smell-O-Vision, frankly, stank, the giant-screen travelogue This Is Cinerama pulled in megabucks. Shot with three connected cameras, the film was projected on three interlocking curved screens” (Entertainment Weekly 20). This quote goes to prove how the television caused the need for something appealing to bring people back to the theaters. The idea was to make the audience feel as if they were in the screen. In the 1950s 3-D movies were also introduced to bring more audience. This effect created the illusion that the objects were coming out of the screen. This brought audience as it was a new experience and were exciting. The 1950s introduced new ways to show movies and new effects on the screen to keep things stimulating.
The 1950s was the time period after World War II, therefore, the films contained a lot of post-war influence.

As stated in website, Filmsite, “The fear of the Communists continued to appear on-screen, mostly in blatantly anti-Communist, propagandistic films that are mostly fascinating from a social-historical point of view…At the end of the decade, the story of a young girl in hiding before being discovered with her family and sent to a concentration camp was filmed in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)” (Dirks 3). This quote shows that the war was still a big inspiration in the films of 1950. During the War, our “ally” Russia had took control of many land. Russia was a communist government, however, the Allies put that aside for the sake of winning the war. However, once the war ended, Russia became a threat to us as they had spread communism over Eastern Europe. In fear that the idea of communism might spread to America, anti-communism propaganda significantly increased. War influence was evident in the films of 1950s, which was the period of time where we would also face the Cold

War.
The 1950s also introduced the non-conformist attitude into the films.

As stated on the website, Filmsite, “In the period following WWII when most of the films were idealized with conventional portrayals of men and women, young people wanted new and exciting symbols of rebellion” (Dirks 1). Films did just this as big actresses were more sexual and didn’t follow the traditional female roles. One being Marilyn Monroe, seen as a huge sex symbol even till this day. Monroe was an example of how the 1950s was about rebelling against the traditionally views. This was shown in the films created in that decade. The rebellious portrayal was shown through the films for the teens. As quoted in the website, Filmsite, “Hollywood soon realized that the affluent teenage population could be exploited, now more rebellious than happy-go-lucky - as they had been previously portrayed in films (such as the Andy Hardy character played by Mickey Rooney)” (Dirks 1). This quote shows the shift the movies had as before the films were about friendly teen but now they had shifted to insubordinate teens. The 1950s was the beginning of the rebellious stage in

America.
The 1950s was a interesting part of our history. The films were a representation of this time period where many of the issues happening in the time period are evident. The film shows how many at time felt and it is clear these films have a deeper meaning. As stated in article, Fifty, “Most movies in the 1950s were shot in black and white, but the color on everyone's mind was an angry shade of red” (Entertainment Weekly). This means the films were representation of how the generation was feeling, angry and anxious.