FX2012 Blog

Name: Daniel Joseph Courtney

Student number: 117439804

Module: FX2012: American Cinema & Culture

Lecturer: Gwenda Young

Topic- Modernism in American film, art, cultural production 1920s-1930s

There is without doubt an abundance of examples and instances of which one can discuss, regarding the relation of American film, art, and cultural production to Modernism. The periods of 1920’s and 1930’s alone boast an incredible evolution within film production and the transformation of how they are viewed within society. Although this period in film was home to some of the most innovative and creative minds in filmic history, both in America and in Europe. Where geniuses such as the likes of F.W Murnau, Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang and Paul Fejos were all enticed and/or brought over to the United States to produce their art. However, in the eyes of the ruling state at this time films were not exactly ‘art’, merely a commodity of which to be consumed by the paying public. Hence forth they were not protected by the 1st amendment, which in turn caused a bounty of issues and turmoil regarding the censorship of the pictures being produced and distributed. A contrast in many ways to the world of film in modernity where many pictures are made with the clear intention to ruffle the feathers and beg questions of the ruling state, urging the public to readdress and demand answers from their current ruling body.

The production of films at the time were made in a Fordian model of production, being pumped out like they are from the factory line, whilst at the same time this period was rife with innovators (directors/filmmakers) who were breaking barriers in artistic measure and visual effect. Influenced both mindfully and physically (Fritz Lang/etc) by their European counterparts.

King Vidor’s The Crowd (1928) is the quintessential example to express how this ‘Fordian’ mode of film production was imbedded within next to all consumer markets, cinema being no exception. There are many ideas presented in The Crowd that adhere to the consumerist nature of the United States during this time, Vidor understands this and from the sensational opening is trying to place the audience within the Metropolis of the city, the rat race’ that ordinary people come from far and wide to willingly take part in, as that’s what they are told to believe is important and will bring happiness. The characters of ‘John & Mary’ are a clear representation of this hopeful populus, going through life doing what is expected of them regardless of if they are truly happy or not. Although in modernity there is a far greater appetite and exception for those who walk to the beat of their own drum, and take the road less travelled, however there are many films that have been made in today’s world which delve into the theme of social and family pressures to do as what is expected of them and repress any wants of individuality. Take Billy Elliot (2000) for example, granted very different circumstances but the meaning behind it remains relevant, and the same for many other films in modernity. There is an expectation for almost everyone to follow the path they are apparently supposed to take. For John and Mary, it’s no different, pressures of marriage, having children, accumulate more commodities and you will lead a happy life. The lie that was fed to them by western capitalism and policy of inhumane marketing. Even the demand for couples to have children was in order to create a whole new category of potential consumers. These pessimistic points are summarized by John’s post work operation on himself in the mirror. He has the suit, he has the hair, waxed, and combed to perfection, and he has the hard-working attitude, modelling the notion that ‘looking the part’ is a vital cog in the journey to success. He and the hundreds of others just like him, and thousands in his part of the city and so on. The reality is that people like John, to paraphrase what Siegfried Kracauer exclaims in The Mass Ornament (1927) that men and women like our protagonists does his or her task on the conveyor belt, performing a partial function without ever grasping the totality. This pessimistic ideology is what allows capitalism to work, and why the marketing of consumerism was so important in the 1920’s and 1930’s, that is also still very much prevalent today, only through different modes and mechanics.

What I’ve learned

- This was a time of prohibition in America, extenuating the idea and strive for control lead by the government and those in political power.

- Placing things in context => politics, culture, filmic language. (Billy Wilder, etc)

“The business of America is business” (Calvin Coolidge, US president 1923–29)

- :The Commercial aspect of the Hollywood system (capitalism) as a whole commented on by King Vidor with “The Crowd” amongst other works… Clean Americans, all just potential consumers, parts of a machine with no choice nor individuality.

- The ‘Yellow pages’ media from 1920’s/30’s America can most definitely be linked to the modern-day tabloid journalism and social media we see throughout the modernist western world today.

Applause (1929) is another film which paints a very clear and undesirable picture of the film industry at this period of time, not only is it quite uncomfortable to watch it is also particularly invoking of self-assessment due to the detest of human nature on show within the film. The style in which Mamoulian shoots this fascinating film is riddled with innovation. The shots get gradually more intrusive and off putting, as is the directors desire to cause unease within the audience, challenging their preconceptions of vaudeville plays etc. Perhaps audiences and critics of the time just weren’t ready for that kind of interrogation from a director and why reviews deemed it “a curious one” or strange. Mamoulian’s opinion on ‘the gaze’ in general is revolutionary, and considering modernity his negative perspective on the gaze has been reproduced and investigated more and more through the years and still today. An interesting depiction of these sleezy producers and Show-Bizz executives that I’ve always been a fan of is in the King Kong film in 2005, Jack Black and his associates I feel perfectly encapsulate the detest of males that Mamoulian envisaged.

Gabriel over the Whitehouse places as an extremely important film within the Hollywood studio system… W.R Hearst who played a huge role In the running of the media Warner Bros pictures… the relationship with politics and Hollywood (although many studio heads being Jewish, studios employed an almost Xenophobic (some) interpretation of contemporary society including fascist and Nazism inclined tones and said to be on communication with and appeased to Far Right politics. Giving way to the notion of how the balance between media and film production is so important, and still extremely relevant in today’s modernity. The link between the film made in 1933! And it’s similarities with films made about former president Donald Trump speaks for itself.

The 1930’s saw censorship in America grow excessively as there was also regarding the fears and feelings that it represented. The emergence of the Rogue/rebel or lost boy/man as films protagonist, yes it speaks and represents the tough times (unemployment) and great depression, but it can also be said that the rogue has always been the cool guy (bad guy) throughout filmic history and still today… The Good, Bad, and Ugly… Goodfellas … Pulp Fiction… Even Star Wars (Mandalorian 2023*) This can be linked to the theory of stardom, and ‘star’ culture within Hollywood and still relevant today.

Grapes of Wrath, the great depression in America depicted within the films produced, how those affected in this chaotic time were seen and thought of by their own countrymen. Seen as less than human, undeserving of any aid or sympathy.

Contrast to Casablanca, made only 2 years later that Grapes of Wrath, but with a plethora of differences both sociologically and through its meaning. A difference of evolution which has carried on throughout the decades and still evolving in today’s modernity.

Stardom is a conception developed and capitalized on within the 1920’ and 30’s, it remains totally relevant in today’s filmic world of modernity. in relation to modernity, (Joan Crawford, Possession ) the view of women and their expectations… has it changed? Perhaps, however the expectations may have changed but the want for those expectations to be met by the public has not changed in the slightest. I see similarities with the way the studios of the pre-code era cast Joan Crawford in suggestive roles (sexual innuendos) rather than explicit roles in order not to alienate the censors/purer fans who don’t want to see that kind of thing. But most definitely keep the illusive suggestibility of her worth, sexuality, possession, etc. Although we have come a long way from the Hollywood system of the early to mid-1900’s we still have long way to go to achieve equality.

This can be linked with the women in cinema today and the last 20 years, as censorship as evolved and disbanded there then became a pressure on actresses to perform more explicit scenes involving nudity as this was now acceptable to the public, and undoubtedly encouraged by a large concession. Especially those likes of slimy producers, directors, executives. Both Scarlett Johansson and Margot Robbie have spoken of the pressures they were put under early in their careers in the starlight to perform scenes of nudity/explicit content if they wanted to keep the roles. Which they regret in hindsight, however it was these roles which catapulted them to the top. MGM saw Crawford as an investment (which paid off) that through Possessed, she had an instant appeal to both men and women.

The sexy scene in Possession as to why they were late, a very tasteful way of getting round the censors… is somewhat lost in modernity as we’re allowed to see and reveal about as much explicitly content as we like within reason.

Censorship laws and its ineffectiveness (Hays code) from 1922–1930 that was threatened with dismantling had a huge effect on the conveyor belt mode of production as each state and country would judge differently. And everyone would just blame studios for making and forcing a bad film upon them (audience)… 1930 Hays code rewritten and became ‘the production code in the late 1930’s.

The idea of ‘the fallen women’ storyline and her punishment in relation today, has most evolved.

The entire idea of ‘good taste’ and the reluctance to show themes of passion, and then themes of seduction and rape is a very different ideology than the one we see in modernity, Public opinion on such delicate issues has evolved leaps and bounds through to modernity. The classification of Film now as ‘art’ allows for such themes to be depicted and talked about far more freely.

… confessions of a nazi spy among other films of the late 1930’s being part of a most radical decade of films (politically) and relay to today’s world where there are countless movies every year which are politically inclined and critically acclaimed. See slides after on censorship and political content in Hollywood.

The studios, politicians, and public view of the early 1930’s toward Hitler in general as quite stand offish, very similar to instances in modernity such as when Putin was waging his war… nobody wanted to get involved, less dangerous that way.

References

Vidor, K. The Crowd. 1928. MGM

Mamoulian, R. Applause. 1930. Paramount

La Cava, G. Gabriel over the Whitehouse. 1933. MGM

Litvak, K. Confessions of a Nazi Spy. 1939. Warner bros

Ford, J. Grapes of Wrath. 1940. 20th Century Fox

Yogerst, Chris. “When Hollywood Was Punished for Its Anti-Nazism.” The Hollywood Press. Sept 2022.

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