The progress of the film industry was remarkably fast in the first quarter of this century. I have chosen two films namely The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Greed (1924) for comparison and contrast to show how much the industry had evolved within the short span of nine years. These two films are chosen for the short time span between them. This short time span will enable us to evaluate the development of the film industry in terms of the psychological build-up of the plot and the characters, cinematic qualities and the gradual acceptance of ironies in the films on the part of the American audience.D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and Erich Von Stroheim's Greed are both films adapted from novels written by Thomas Dixon and Frank Norris respectively. However one of the differences between these two films lies in the human characters portrayed.
In The Birth of a Nation, the characters are portrayed as either wholly good or evil. One could easily distinguish between the heroes and villains in the film. For example, the hero in the film, Ben Stoneman is portrayed as courageous, loving and righteous as opposed to the villains Lynch (the false reformer) and Gus (the black soldier), who are portrayed as scheming and lustful. This lopsided depiction of human nature is not realistic, as humans cannot be either wholly good or wholly evil.
This is an example of idealism with clear influences from Pollyanna stories, which was well accepted by the audience then. Thus a realistic depiction of humans should be that of portraying their strengths and weaknesses. The characters in Von Stroheim's Greed, on the other hand, possess this practical depiction of humans. In this film the characters are a real portrayal of real human beings with imperfections and weaknesses. McTeague for instance, is portrayed as kind and gentle towards animals yet violent by nature.
Marcus, McTeague's friend and later his foe, is portrayed as a humorous, witty but at the same time scheming and harbors grudges against McTeague. Comparing these characters to the ones in The Birth of a Nation, clearly the characters in Greed are much more realistic, painting a true picture of the complexity of human nature. It is also a break from the then prevailing norm in Hollywood's films of showing only one-sided nature of the characters, which is either wholly good or wholly bad.In addition to that, Von Stroheim also showed the psychological development of his characters.
The overall appeal of the cinema to the masses was particularly evident during the interwar era. Audiences worldwide wanted to watch the variety of films, particularly American produced films, and they always went back. The visibly attractive and glamorous Hollywood movies often depicted the success of the underdog over unjust authority. Values of cash over culture were often a theme in the early American films and societies with restricted social mobility, such as those in Europe, could dream of such a triumph. The working class and unemployed could fantasise about wealth, fame and freedom which America as a country was portrayed as offering.
Throughout the novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses cruelty to argue that similar dignities exist across very socially different people and that both people of the elitist old money and the contemptible new money are capable of cruelty. In doing so, he wants us to see that wealth, or the culmination of both monetary currency and social currency, can disguise cruelty with a beautiful façade and that to successfully judge a person’s personality, one must look beyond superficial gestures and instead into the inner brutality of the person.
Money can cause people to act selfish and arrogant, especially when they have so much money they do noteven know what to spend it on. In the novel,
In Greed the three main protagonists involved are McTeauge usually referred to as Mac, Marcus identified as Mac’s best friend and Trina who becomes the wife of Mac after being introduced by his best friend Marcus. The relationships and roles of these characters change as circumstances with lust, greed and selfishness influence each. Mac works as a dentist in San Francisco and is initially introduced to Trina strictly as a patient with the help of Marcus’ friendly referral. During his dental work with Trina that spans over the time of two weeks, Mac realizes that this he feels a need to please Trina by completing the dental work correctly and as painless as possible. Working with her daily for two weeks he grows interest in her romantically and once her daily visits stop, McTeauge realizes that “She's been the first girl I've ever known. I couldn't help myself!... -- I was so close to her -- an' smelled her hair -- an' felt her breath! Oh!...you don't know!” as he expresses to Marcus. After hearing Mac’s feelings towards Trina, Marcus arranges for a get together that is eventually the start of the McTeauge and Trina
Clara’s experience with the motion picture industry gives us a picture of what it was like in the 1920’s. It was new and intriguing, enticing and corrupt. The motion picture industry underpaid Bow, which is almost inconceivable today. The environment of Hollywood now pays actors and actresses corpulent amounts of money...but that may be the only change. The “star-maker” environment is still as enticing and corrupt as yesterday’s.
Jewel, R. B (2007). The Golden Age of Cinema, Hollywood 1929-1940. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. p255.
Released in 1915, Birth of a Nation became America’s first full length film. The three hour silent movie reflected on two families, one from the south and one in the north, ...
The only positive we can bring out from the themes The Birth of a Nation displayed is that we can learn from the evil in the film, to understand how to tackle and overcome such evil, which will help towards equality and justice, something which The Birth of a Nation neglects in order to promote white
“Everybody has good and evil within them. All we're trying to say is that people are not all good or all bad. People are more complicated than you think, and one has to be more knowledgeable about the complexities.” This quotation from Stephen Schwartz establishes that even the best of people can be bitter by their own nature. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding removes the restraints of society to prove that it is human nature to live primitively and that evil lies within all of us. The sanctions of society begin to deteriorate due to the loss of communication, Jack’s obsession with hunting, and the inhumane nature of Jack and his “tribe”.
In 1915 the American film industry was forever changed as it took its first step toward modern filmmaking. It was the year D.W. Griffith’s A The Birth of a Nation was released, a racially insensitive film depicting life during the Civil War and Reconstruction in America. It is arguably first major success in American cinema as it was the highest grossing film of its time. It is no accident that the film destine to redefine the film industry in the United States would inevitable be a national historical epic, for the film was a response to the growing presents of foreign films dominating American cinema. Though ultimately The Birth of a Nation and D.W. Griffith were a product of circumstances created by corporate attempts to industrialize filmmaking.
Greed. Think of it as a ying-yang, there are two completely different sides to it, but yet they are so similar. Greed is bittersweet. When pandora lift open the box, she let out this character trait. This character trait, “Greed” was identified as “bad”, that is not all to it though. There is always two sides to something, two sides to every story, two sides to every situation, there is a victim, and there is the perpetrator. As humans, the goal is to strive for success, nothing can stop that. As humans, we are born into a greedy society, where everybody wants the best for themselves, nothing can change that. There are limits to greed, limits that if crossed can go from good greed to bad greed. The person that determines the type of greed
The Lord of the Flies gives an accurate insight to the problems that we are faced with everyday like violence, greed, fear, and religious power and shows how civilization and savagery contrast because of this. It shows us no matter who we are evil lies within all of us. This is exemplified through the breaking of the conch, the Lord of the Flies (pigs head), and through Jack. This novel shows that even the most innocent of children can turn evil, everyone is capable. Friedrich Nietzsche once said ““Man is the cruelest animal.”
Chekhov used characterization to put forward the message that greed is a truly crippling trait of mankind. Through both the actions and dialogue of the banker the reader saw how greed causes man to behave. Via the dialogue and thoughts of the dynamic character, the lawyer, the reader realized the awful results of avarice. Greed is a timeless theme that, throughout history, has had a perpetually poor outcome.
Greed can bring out the worst in people, making them do despicable things. The Pearl by John Steinbeck is a perfect example of this. This ‘calm before the storm‘ story portrays how greed drives people in a phenomenal way. It follows a small, poor family that consists of Kino and Juana, on a long rampageous path to heal their child, Coyotito, after he was tragically bitten by a scorpion. Kino and Juana try many things but nothing seems to work, when the doctor would not try to heal their child. Kino stops at nothing to try and save his son, which after finding the “Pearl of the World” (Steinbeck 35) soon transforms into greed. The message of greed is woven in the novella and is a reoccuring theme in The Pearl. From the priest
Greed, being a key human condition, has shaped society from the very start. In fact, some scholars believe that greed was the first major milestone of human success, when the first human wondered why he/she had to scrounge around for necessities; it is a part of being human to be greedy. Wanting a new car, to be loved by another, or to desire the feeling of well doing when feeding the needy, these are all factions of greed...