Pickup on South Street (1953)

1. How does the film relate to Chapter 23 in Foner? A solid answer should cover at least two themes from Foner connected to at least two scenes from the film.

After World War II, the United States had the most powerful military and sole possession of the atomic bomb. In the film, Candy has information that she is ordered to deliver it. The information that she is to deliver is a filmstrip containing the blueprints on how to make a bomb. After the war the United States began to try to stop any other countries in case they were to begin another World War. Many other countries were beginning to take in Communistic ideals and the United States began what was called containment. This meant that the United States would stop the expanding of communism and try to expand democracy and the higher standard of living. This then lead to the creation of the CIA (central intelligence agency). In the film there is a ‘secret agent’/ CIA type group of people determined to stop the bad guys from getting the information. These people kind of serve as the image of the CIA and secret missions carried out in order to stop people from sharing classified information. There is a scene where the cops take Skip to the office for an interrogation and discuss to him that the film is classified information and has the power to blow up. He means that the filmstrip contains bomb information, which has to do with post WWII, and the atom bombs and other countries trying to obtain information. In the film Candy is accused of being a “commie”, which meant that she was a communist. Many people were afraid that communism was going to be instilled in the United States and many were afraid of being called a communist fearing that it would ruin their reputation. Candy was in a cutthroat business and they weren’t criminals but did what they were assigned to do. She never meant to be seen as a communist but rather was just doing her job.

2. What does the character of Moe reveal about how issues of criminality and the underworld are portrayed against a backdrop of anti-communist cultural sensibilities? Use at least two scenes from the film to make your argument.

   

Moe in the film is seen as a criminal that gets by life selling ties and also giving information for the right amount of money. In the film when she is introduced she is remarked as a ‘stoolie’. She just serves as a person that gives information and nothing more. Many people come to her no matter who they are working for and she gives the info no questions asked. Then throughout the film when she befriends Candy she begins to get involved in the plot to retrieve the filmstrip, she begins to take part in the anti-communist. There is a scene in which we are able to see this when she arrives to her house and she isn’t alone. Joey, who is Candy’s boyfriend, visits her and requests information on the whereabouts of Skip. Joey is working for the people that want to get their hands on the filmstrip and Moe knows who has it but doesn’t want to tell Joey where he is. She refuses because she believes in her country and she makes a decision to die for her country although she was seen as criminal. She refers to herself as a ‘solid citizen’. She gives information to the right people because she believes it is right and whatever will help her get money to live another day. Some call her a rat but when she decides to not share the information to Joey she calls him a communist and would rather die for her beliefs than to help someone she doesn’t trust or is working to betray her country.

3. What does Skip McCoy represent in the film? (Is he a patriotic American? A critic of Cold War culture? A traitor?) Use at least two scenes from the film in your response.

Skip McCoy represents the everyday hero. He is a patriotic American, a critic of the Cold War culture and a traitor. He is a patriotic American in the sense that although he is a criminal in the end he does what is right and retrieves the information and hands it over to the authorities. There is a scene towards the end of the film in which he uses his skills to rob Joey in the train to help out Candy and clear his name. He steals back the information and does what any anti-communist person would do and fights for his country. He is an everyday hero because he was dragged into it without his intention but still did the deed in helping out his country. He is a critic of Cold War culture because he is seen as a shady criminal who is only looking out for himself and doesn’t want to help others. Candy visits him for the first time and he assaults her while she is seducing him. This lets us know that he doesn’t trust anyone like many citizens did during this time, fearing communism and all. Some see him as a traitor after he steals the wallet containing the filmstrip and then sees it as sale and demands cash for the information. He is a sort of traitor because he doesn’t care much about helping his country but rather whoever is the highest bidder. When he begins to help out the cops at the end of the film he sort of betrays all his beliefs and helps out his country in the fight to stop communism.

4. Would the portrayal of the police and various "secret" agents instill confidence that Americans could combat communist spying? Use at least two scenes in your answer.

The portrayals of the police in the show let us know that the police don’t have all the power. The police in the film are reflected with very little power. They just interrogate but they don’t really do much to help stop the perpetrators responsible for the crimes. This gives the audience a sense that they should be like Skip and take matters into their own hands. Candy is someone that doesn’t go to the cops and begins to investigate for herself. She goes and pays a man to tell her where Moe is to track the man who stole her wallet. Candy is someone that takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t need the cops to help her because she knows that they wont help her out. The secret agents that we see in the film help us see the rebel side of the law. They are trying to uncover the whereabouts of the classified information. We see them in the beginning of the film when they are following Candy in the subway and inside the building. They are used to show that the law has their own secrets, and anyone can help fight the cause against communism or anything against the country. Skip gives people hope that just about anyone can help stop communism and give them the sense of patriotism. 

Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

Gabriel Bahena

Q1. How does the film relate to Chapter 21 in Foner?

Two main themes from the film are on jobs and freedom. Jobs were very scarce during the Great Depression and in the film it explores how the main characters all struggled for a job. Barney Hopkins, who was the producer in the film, was looking to restart his shows and make money so that he could be well off during these times. He himself had an idea that he wanted to make a show about the Great Depression and was looking for people that were willing to be in it. Brad Roberts, who was a songwriter and singer in the film, made music and was trying to start a new career during this time. Him along many people in the film is trying to get a job. One specific scene in the film is when the three main actresses are introduced in the film and they are all seen lying down and talking about getting up and trying to get a job. One of the main characters makes a comment about how she’s rather get up than sleep and starve. This is an example of the difficulty that Foner talks about in the book, in the sense that many people struggle really hard just so that they could find a way to get their daily bread and also to help us understand the harshness that many Americans at that time faced. Freedom was another theme in the film and Foner. Americans throughout the whole cultured believed that they had the right to economic security. In the film the comedienne Trixie Lorraine tries to explain to the producer how the show wont go on since the money isn’t coming in and they need it in order to pay all the actors. Charity, Faith and Hope is brought up when Trixie explains how the actresses have hopes as the producer has faith in the songwriter for his charity. This makes us think of the freedom that these people had. They all were looking for a stable income and wanting to make enough where they didn’t just have to barely get by, but enough to where they could live off well and have some luxuries. The songwriter has his freedom when he decided to leave and confront his brother in the middle of the film. He is trying throughout the film to help the people that are unemployed reach that level of freedom and income stability by helping produce the show.

Q2. How are gender roles and sexuality represented in the film?

Sexuality is clearly represented in this film with the three main actresses Polly, Carol, and Trixie. A great example of this is throughout the film in which Trixie begins to seduce Fanuel H. Peabody into buying her all of these fancy luxurious gifts. This is done throughout the second half of the film. Peabody along with Lawrence Bradford, are put to the extent of their money when they have to keep buying things in order to convince, who they think is Polly, to leave the songwriter alone since she comes from a low class life. One great example of the sexuality is when Peabody is explaining to Bradford how all showgirls are all “Parasites”, “gold diggers”, and “chiselers”. This type of person is brought in through the character of Eunice, who used to be a former lover of Peabody. These two men do not believe that the showgirls are worth their time and money. In the film they try to avoid them but keep easily being seduced and falling in love with them. It shows how women are just seen as objects and a body that one can use for entertainment, which is why they work in the show business. Gender roles in the film are seen as the women entertaining while the men are in control and are being entertained. When the three main actresses are looking for a job they have to pick one of them to dress provocatively in order to get jobs. The men are the ones with the money and need to be entertained. During their final show we see their silhouettes and them getting naked and changing are able to see a child trying to sneak a peek a the women. To me this represents men acting as children trying to get women and to entertain them by their dancing and dressing.

Q3.

The song from the film that I chose was the final number; “My Forgotten Man”. In the whole musical number we are able to see a woman walking up and down the street. The story tells of a woman weeping about her husband not having a job and being a bum on the streets peddling for money. We are able to see some women in the window singing the same chorus: “Once he loved me, I was happy, took care of me…Bring him back.” Then we see a shot of a man about to get arrested by a cop for peddling and the man shows what appears to be a soldier badge and is let go. This lets us know that it is a veteran of the war that is left with nothing. The message that this song brings is a social critique of the great depression and the government not taking care of World War I veterans and the Bonus marchers during the great depression. We are able to see soldiers marching and walking all proud and then standing to the flashy truth of them bleeding and being traumatized and carrying dead bodies with them. This is to show the truth of what really happened to them when they came home. They show in the number soup kitchens and many of them without homes as the women are looking through the window weeping and wailing with their children for their husbands and sons to come home. The main singer in the number mentions how if you (referring to the government), forgot about the soldiers than you also forgot about the women and families they left behind and depended on them. The song ends on a sad note with the idea that many people were not taken car of by the government and this last song helped solidify that idea that people had in their minds.  

Q4. What does this film reveal about American society during the height of the Great Depression?

           

            Ideals were a big theme in the film. American society was battling through the Great Depression and many people had ideals of what they wanted to do and have. In the film we are able to see how Trixie wants to have limos, fur, and luxuries. In the film she is seducing Peabody and wants him to buy her things as a way for her to escape the depression, hence why she was called a gold digger. Many people wanted to become gold diggers in order to explain how the times were tough and that many people were looking to get out of the suffrage. Another thing that the film reveals is false ideals about how money can come at any moment and that people should bask in what they have. The beginning musical number “We’re in the money”, to give people hopes that the depression will not last and that hopefully there will be more money coming in. The false ideals was in the beginning with the ideals that money was everywhere and the women were putting on this show to entertain and get people to thing positively about the great depression and then throughout the film we see that everyone is actually struggling and at the end of the film we see the real ideals of people and what they really think about the government and society.