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Essay on social issues during progressive era
American history chapter 8 the progressive era
Progressive Era Quizlet
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When we take into account the history of U.S movies the Progressive Era is roughly chartered around 1900-1920, a period that witnessed intense social reform. Social unrest and street crime became a major concern as cities were expanding rapidly filling with immigrants and the poor and leading some of them to form criminal gangs (Rafter 15). There was forced prostitution and police were uneducated, corrupt and brutal and this state came to a close with the enactment of the anti-alcohol 18th Amendment which encouraged bootlegging and organized crime. During the silent film era US became concerned about the manifestations of crime. Ordinary citizens for the first time began to think about the sources of criminality and ways to improve social
control. The Great Train Robbery (1903) is supposed to be the first crime film directed by Edwin S. Porter. The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) directed by D.W Griffith was the early precedent of the gangster genre. Regeneration (1915) directed by Raoul Walsh can be considered the first feature length gangster film. The 1920s saw the flourishing of crime films especially gangster films. The gangster genre was also the forerunner of detective noirs of the 1940s with its emphasis on grimy cities and themes of corruption (Rafter 16).
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
When a technological divergent can teleport an individual into the past and reconstruct the previous time settings, a historical relation is explored as an American cultural context through the classical creation of the cinema. As a non-traditional presentation of a significant text, the film’s viewpoint is studied over the discourse of beauty, travelling through time in a motion picture captured on film. The science fiction comedy film released in 1985, “Back to the Future”, produced by Robert Zemeckis, tells the story of a teenage boy named Marty, who is navigated across space-time to the year 1955, where he encounters his future parents and unexpectedly, his mother becomes romantically interested in him. By the creation of the obstacle, he must determine a solution to get his parents to fall in love. When the past history is fixed with the help of a scientist Dr. Emmett, he assists Marty in finding his way back to the future of 1985.
U.S.'s Influence on British Cinema Culture Between 1930 and 1980 Britain and America have always had a very close relationship that could have stemmed from a number of different things. The English discovered America, they both speak the same language and the fact that America helped Britain in the first World War may have played an important part in why the two countries are so close. Due to this close bond or the 'special relationship' between the countries, over time we have influenced each other endlessly but perhaps none more so than the influence that America has had over British cinema between the 1930's and 1980's. Since the late 1800's and early 1900's, Britain has made a great deal of films and continues to do so today. Britain has an impressive film industry
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
The American Dream during the 1950s was the belief in opportunity for success, everybody was created equal and everybody had an equal opportunity to have a career, raise a family and live successful and comfortable lives. The American Dream is an idea that suggests anyone living in the United States has the potential to live a happy and successful life; as long as you work hard you can achieve anything. The American Dream is just that a Dream, it isn’t reality, that successful life is far fetched. In the films Avalon, Quiz Show, The Apartment, A Face in the Crowd and Tin Men, they all have the same ending, chasing that American Dream and losing their jobs. Some people think that the American Dream represents the desire to live a better life than the previous generation did, and there is a legitimate opportunity for this to happen, as long as you work hard enough. This is especially true in the case of the Avalon movie. The desire of many parents for their children is to lead happy lives. This is especially true among immigrants, because many of them fled their native countries, which were difficult to live in, to live in the land of opportunity.
It is no doubt that Martin Scorsese has heavily influenced the emulating of American film making from European influences. He is a prime example of a ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ director, not only from his ethnicity and background, but from his sheer interest in this form
Movies have always been a source of entertainment to many. It’s thanks to innovations in the movie industry that allow us to enjoy the quality of movies we have today. A notable movie called Citizen Cane is an example of this that was able to change the way we watch and enjoy movies. The director and creator of “Citizen Kane,” Orson, had the talent and ability to create a different type of experience that amazed everyone during the time of its release, and arguably even today. He was able to bring together and optimize the use of music, makeup, special effects to create a spectacular movie experience that would transcend time. Orson did this by choosing to be different with his approach at directing, compared to others in the industry during
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
The film industry was one of the most exciting developments of the turn of the century. It influenced people in many ways, whether it involved people’s weekly routines, the way people behaved, or even fashion. Before motion pictures were introduced, entertainment was often “homemade”. People would play the piano, ride bicycles, or listen to their gramophones to entertain themselves. However, with the beginning of the film industry, people had a new way to spend their free time. Film was such a popular innovation that by the 1900’s, almost every town had a cinema. People would go to watch a movie several times a week because it was so cheap and easy to access. It was a way for people to escape from the world’s problems.
recently watched “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning thief”, and I was surprised by all the recent settings. I for all liked it because it felt more real and interesting. Movies that have modern day settings are better, because when you see something that happened in the movie you can be like “oh this happened here” or “ I wanna go there someday ” and you could, because it's in a “ modern day ”. Also you could relate it to something that is going on today in life. . If we were watching ancient Greek and there were old settings, then it would be boring because you don’t have a clue where things happened or can't relate to the setting. For example the Hollywood sign, you would know that it’s big and that it’s in the mountains. If it were old you wouldn’t know
I believe that watching foreign films is not a waste of time and energy because they allow the viewer to be exposed to new forms of life, they, more often than American films, grant viewers the opportunity to watch more consistently thought-provoking films and are quite often not made with a primary goal being the largest profit possible, making for more artistic and realistic films.
To this day, the United States has been considered a nation that thrives off of globalization. While the U.S. may be a great influence to foreign nations, foreign nations also have a significant impact on the U.S. Take the world of Hollywood as an illustration. As mentioned by The Economist, the Hollywood industry has become immensely successful due to its acceptance of foreign talent and money. Award wining motion pictures have actually been remakes of foreign motion pictures. Such case is seen with the film “The Departed” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2007. This given film was a remake of a Chinese film entitled, “Infernal Affairs.” Another great example is the motion picture “The Tourist” which thrived at the box office
The change in culture and the value of society as a whole has greatly contributed to the evolution of the romance genre. In the book American Cinema and Culture by John Belton, he describes the women’s movement as turning into a sexual revolution. In the 1960s, the amount of working women grew tremendously (Cohen). Mothers began to encourage their daughters to marry at a later age and pursue a college education and career. In 1996 a women's movement organization named the National Organization for Women (NOW) was established. Belton states that a big source the oppression of women was marriage. Before this revolution, it was the job of the woman to take care of the children, clean the house, and cook the food. The sexism of the student revolution led to an uprising for the
What is good cinema? It has taken me all semester in order to fully respond to this question adequately. With this final assignment given, I am able to properly depict what in my view is seen as good cinema. The films that are under scrutiny this week are personally viewed as what could be the two most possibly, textbook perfect films that could be deemed as good cinema within this entire semester. “White” and “Synecdoche” could easily be seen to the general public as something of not good cinema because of the little to non-action, or the ability of this film to be considered as less powerful impact on its viewers seen by Universal Studios or any other company of its kind. These two movies are similar in the sense they both portray their films plots, character symmetry, and context of the films all come together to prove the framework is reckoned as good cinema. The deciding factor as to what can be seen as good cinema is well represented when one’s ability to be questioned throughout the film and to accurately respond to those questions afterwards with no hesitant is where the answer lies. Both movies show a droopy demeanor towards that is almost constantly leaving you on the edge of our seats. As the audience progresses the knowledge of these films, depending on the individual you either love or hate the way the movie can change its context drastically.
American cinema can connect us to our American experience through the portrayal of ideal lifestyles. However the American experience shown in films is generally flawed particularly in its portrayal of the American dream, disparagement of women and minorities and demonizing of other cultures. One might think as time passed and hollywood became more progressive these practices would grow out of favor however these trends are all too present in modern hollywood blockbusters. That being said American cinema is not limited to hollywood and boasts a healthy independent community that is making massive strides in progressive filmmaking.