Many movies made about
important historical events are not entirely accurate. Movie directors “Hollywoodize”
stories to make them more dramatic. Sometimes they do this by changing or exaggerating
the personalities of characters to make conflicts more intense or make the heroes
seem more heroic. Sometimes though, the
entire story line of an event is changed the true historical event is
diminished. This may leave audiences satisfied but it also leaves them completely
ill-informed. It is important for writers and directors not to stray too far
from the original story line so they do not dampen the importance of a real
event. One movie that did a good job of not sacrificing the accuracy of the
story too much while still making the story engaging was “Cinderella Man”. This
movie, while not perfectly accurate, did a great job of portraying the
hardships of the Great Depression through the setting and scenery, and the
fears and desperation of the characters.
The setting
and scenery in “Cinderella Man” helped to represent just how bad the poverty in
America was during the Great Depression. The dramatic switch in the beginning of the
movie from Jimmy Braddock and his wife wearing nice clothing and living in a
beautiful big house to living in a one room apartment with no color with their three
children and hardly any belongings represented just how quickly people were
losing their money, their homes, and their freedom. Even families that were doing
fine financially like Braddock’s, were affected by the Depression. The bare
necessities were the only thing that people had and they sometimes even had
less than that. Families were ripped apart because parent could not bear to
keep their children in their terrible living conditions. Another scene in “Cinderella
Man” that really shows the struggles of people living in urban areas in when
Braddock visits a huge “Hooverville” in Central Park, New York City, to find a
friend of his. People are shown living in lean-tos made out of cardboard or
whatever trash could be found and fighting over possessions and stealing from
and beating each other. The will to live
is the only thing that keeps these people human. Desperation caused by poverty
turned people into barbarians and animals. This scene in the movie accurately
depicted the madness that was unleashed when people on America hit rock bottom
and lost all hope.
The culture
of the Great Depression is also shown through the fears and desperation of the
characters. Braddock’s wife was particularly concerned about her husband
leaving her and their three children because men all over the country were running
away from their families because they just gave up. This was such a big fear
for women because if their husbands left them, there was no way for them to
feed themselves or their kids other than standing in soup lines, no way to keep
their power and heat on, and no way to keep their homes. There were already no
jobs for men so it was virtually impossible for women to get jobs. Every day, Braddock
went to the docks to try to pick up shift for the day. He was afraid of not
getting picked for a job that day or not being able to work because of his
broken hand. This showed how in the real depression, men were extremely scared
of not being able to feed their families and failing as people. This was also
shown in the scene in “Cinderella Man “ when Braddock’s children have been sent
away because he could not get enough shifts to get enough money to pay his
family’s bills and keep the power on. He is forced to go to his old boxing
agency and beg for money so that he can get his children back. He makes sure
that the men know that this is his absolute last option or else he would not be
there. His desperation and shame represents the shame that other men in the
Depression felt. The Great Depression was a massive blow to men’s masculinity
because they believed that failure was entirely their fault. Men all over the
country were feeling the same sense of responsibility for the state of the
country. Other men though, felt as though the tragedy was completely the fault
of the government, as was shown by the former broker, Mike, in the movie but
for the most part, men looked as the crash of the country’s economy to be a
sign of personal failure.
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