Somewhere in Dreamland: Examining the Impact of the Great Depression on Hollywood Movies Industry through The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Make a Way for Tomorrow (1937)
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Date
2020
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UNIVERSITY OF ABBES LAGHROUR-KHENCHELA
Abstract
Abstract
This study aims at investigating the role of the Great Depression on Hollywood industry; the motive of this study was to know how Hollywood acted during the period of the Depression while the other economic industries were suffering and if it was a turning point in Hollywood’s history. It involves an exploration of Hollywood from the very beginning until the years of glamour; also, it examines the period of the Great Depression, the main reasons that made it happen and how government acted towards it. This research also contains the impact of the Great Depression on culture and Hollywood industry; the changes that happened to the American culture and its influence on Hollywood movie industry that made it flourish and prosper through the darkness of the Great Depression. Finally, this study includes the analysis of two of the best movies in the period of the Depression The Grapes of Wrath (1940) by John Ford based on John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939). In addition, Make a Way for Tomorrow (1937), by Leo McCarey, based on a 1934 novel called Years Are So Long by Josephine Lawrence, is also examined.