Gold Diggers

Gold Diggers were a film that took place when the Great Depression that really hit hard on the United States. This film was based on a group of young girls that worked in musical theaters. It illustrated numerous issues during the depression; the two most important ones were gender and class. As we all know it was a hard time for women to work in public, especially as show girls. Some people treated them as mistresses as people with no dignity, and portrayed them as gold diggers whom only cared about money.

The Depression was a direct result of an imbalance distribution of wealth, as the poor get poorer, the rich get richer. It created a huge gap between the two ends, so was class levels. The rich could enjoy everything that the world could offer, while the poor were struggling to even get a job. The rich certainly thought they were far superior, and the poor were just to get their money in any possible way they could. Sadly, the showgirls belonged in the category as poor; they even had to steal milk from their neighbor to fill up their stomach.

Barney, the producer of the musicals put together a show that’s solely based on the Depression. It demonstrated the pain that many Americans had, how they had to struggle through their day to day life. They would march in the rain till they find a job. It showed us the desperate mode that many Americans were in; it also showed their willingness to go through obstacles to find a job.

My favorite part of this movie was when Brad’ big brother, Lawrence, who opposed the idea of Polly marrying Brad. Somehow fell in love another showgirl Carol. It tells us that even though there were class divisions, there were tensions between the poor and the rich. But both classes could live under the same roof if they are willing to put differences aside.

The Crowd

The Crowd was a film based on the Great Depression. It all started with a young boy named Johnny, he was an outgoing and bright kid. But dreams soon faded away with the death of his father. When Johnny was a little bit older, he set out a journey to New York City to set his mark just like many other young American boys did. Johnny found himself an office job that wrote slogans for advertisement in a big company that worked during 9 to 5. His colleagues were just like him, wore suits, they all worked like an assembly line in a sense. Back then big corporations were like a rising star, people loved it, and government also loved it. It was a time that consumer culture emerged as mainstream. People loved the consumption freedom that they had.

Little Johnny’s fate soon changed after he met a girl named Mary on a blind date, they hit it off right off the bat, as they shared the same passion and interests. Not long after they got married, they moved into a small apartment together, Johnny was getting paid the same as he did before he got married, and the arguments started. I think this tells us that during that period of time, right after WWI that people were busy trying to enjoy the freedom both men and women that they fought hard for. Even though we won the war, but there were huge issues in economic sector that were left behind, Liberty Bonds for one. Therefore, it was hard for economy to recover from that short period of time. Someone might argue it was destined to fail.

I also believe that it was not just a battle against poverty during that period, it was also a battle for class, I remember seeing the Christmas dinner Johnny had with his in-laws, there was no doubt that they did not think much of him, because the apartment he was living in and the wage he was earning. Just like in any period of time, the poor will always get looked down by the higher class. So the in-laws they did not think he was the same class as they were.

My favorite part of the film was definitely the scenes toward the end of it; Johnny lost his job because he could not concentrate on it anymore after losing his daughter in a car accident. They were forced to move to rural area. Mary could not take it anymore so she decided to leave Johnny, but Johnny found a job as a clown that he used to despite on the same day, and begged Mary to stay. I think it showed not just Johnny, an average American worker, but also the character of the whole nation, even though time was tough, but they did not give up the hope, they were willing to fight back.

Heart of Humanity

As we can see from the film that people were willing and able to unite as one nation, even though there were many diversities among the population, they were able to anwser country’s call when they are called upon, and willing to put its need before themselves. Like people say that no one wins in a war, that shows their understanding of the cause of the war, that is to fight for freedom, for their families, for their loved ones, for the people that struggled overseas, as well as for themselves.

There is no harder time for one to face than a war, one might have to face grievences, poverty in order to supply the necessities in a war. But it also unifies a country as a whole, as everyone fights for the same cause. War creates deaths, what it also does is make freedom for many to enjoy. No one in their right mind would go to a war, unless he knows it is for a cause that is greater than his life, that says a lot about the people that fight for its country, they fight because they want to search for that freedom that everyone admires. It is the source to a great nation.

In the film it showed that women were not just someone that cooked meals for their husbands. They had a greater mission, that is to gain respect and equality through a time like war in helping and reinforcing them with the necessities that were needed in a war. They showed their courage to those doubting men that they deserved the freedom that were only provinced to men.

One of the most memorable moments in the film to me was when Nannette went back into the building to rescue the baby, and was trapped in there when a group of German soldiers followed in there as well. One of the German soldiers tried to threat her of killing the baby if she did not do what he asked her to do. Nannette fought him till the last minute untill help arrived. It showed Nannette’s unwillingness to bend over to imperial power.

The Traffic in Souls

In film The Traffic in Souls, it demonstrated numerous issues dating back to the Progressive Era. Issues of social reforms, immigration, prosperity, and the most important of all in accordance of the film was gender issue during that period. Eric Foner said in chapter 18 that “it was a period that people witnessed the flowering of understandings of freedom based on individual fulfillment and personal self-determination—the ability to participate fully in the ever-expanding consumer marketplace and, especially for women, to enjoy economic and sexual freedoms long considered province of men” (639). It was certainly a time of changes was being made, for the better and worse. While freedom was expanding through door to door, women were enjoying freedom that they never had before, but they were also facing treatment of inequality, many people treated them as a money making machine, a commodity, that can be exchanged for money.

In the film we learned that it was a time people were searching for the true meaning of freedom, they were facing a brand new culture through social reforming as they had never faced before. Even though time was changing, but there was one rule that never changed, and that was wealth determined the freedom that one could enjoy. There is a distinctive difference between the rich and the poor, the former were always being treated as high class, as men with power, and on one would give a tiny bit of sympathy to those poor as they did not exist.

In the film we saw that women were also trying to find its identity in this brand new society, as they were trying to enjoy this freedom to fulfill them same as men as well. They were not just someone’s housewife or reproduction machine anymore. But it also gave the chance to those opportunists that wanted to make off money them, in a sense that people still treated women as second class citizen, nothing more than a tool. The film also showed that even during a time where our society was full of scum, but justice still existed. Justice always prevails at the end.

There were some key sequences in the film that directly related to what Foner talked about in his book. One being social justice, the other one being inequality in gender. I believe no matter in what time period we are in, those two issues will exist as long as we are alive. With that being said, there are always improvements that can be made. One can start doing that by examining himself as what freedom and equality are.