Expert answer:American Cinema Midterm
Solved by verified expert:I have a midterm exam its about old American movies , its a13 questions and you need to answer 6 questions only and the question number 13 is required so answer 5 questions and the 6th one will be question number 13 , so for the answer write an essay 2 pages long for each question so u will write a 12 pages total.and make sure to deliver it on a perfect way, if u have any question please let me know thank you.
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MIDTERM EXAM – 260-F, FALL 2017
Including #13, which is the one required question on this exam, select FIVE (5) other
questions of your choice to answer, for a total of SIX (6) answers. The more complete
and detailed your answer, the greater number of points you will earn. In other words,
the total of 100 points available is not divided by 6. For example, an excellent #1 can
earn you 20-25 points or even more for an outstanding “dissertation.” You may email
me or speak to me in person as you’re working on the exam for further explanations and
a “playback” of your ideas. You may also turn in your exam earlier than the deadline of
Friday, November 4. I will also accept your exams in class on Thursday, November 3.
For anyone who must miss time during this period for athletic or organizational events,
you may turn it in later by letting me know of your circumstances.
1. The Silent Era. For this question, you do not have to respond to all three
parts, just one of them or you can combine a couple of the parts to form
your complete answer. Creativity is always rewarded.
a. What was the most important subject matter during the first 20 years of the
20th century and the films, including shorts, that
b. What made Chaplin a universal symbol of American culture? Why did he
resist the sound era until his first all-talking film The Great Dictator in 1940?
Read about Chaplin’s earlier life in Great Britain before coming to America
and how his intense struggles with his family and apart from them influenced
his American films. What drove his ambition, then, to become the most
important cinemactor (a Time Magazine conflation), cinemadirector, and one
of Hollywood’s wealthiest individuals?
c. Chaplin’s comrades-in-comedy, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and
Hardy, were the leaders of Comedy’s Greatest Era (Agee). Compare these
artists with each other to define their performance characteristics and types of
silent comedies they employed.
2. The Pre-Code Era. Describe the films of this era and how they took advantage
of lax censorship. Who were the key actresses who created these “women’s
pictures” and helped to save the industry from the Great Depression? What
factors led to Hollywood’s self-censorship and a critical shift to a 30-year period
of much stricter censorship? Was this period of film sustainable? What role did
The Divorcee (1930) play in this movement—and I think it really was? How did
Mae West (I’m No Angel, She Done Him Wrong) and her sexual innuendo finally
bring down the Pre-Code Era?
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3. How did IT and Clara Bow personify the newfound era of women’s rights in the
1920s? Was the “woman’s picture” of the early 1930s an extension of women’s
prolonged campaign to secure rights beyond the suffrage movement?
4. Black Fury (1935) and Modern Times (1936) were closely related in terms of the
labor/social problems of The Great Depression. Although essentially different
genres, compare how the two resonated with their audiences in that time period.
You may also bring into your discussion the required film for this week, The
Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford) or another recommended Depression film.
5. Cinema Exiles from Hitler infused Hollywood with important new talent from
Europe who changed the nature of American Cinema forever. Explain how from
their influence in the early 1930s all the way through the 1950s at least. A list of
the emigres is included with this exam.
6. The Hollywood Propaganda Campaign of WWII to inform the military and
others on Why We Fight was a key component of winning the war while keeping
the Homefront united in the common battle to protect freedom and democracy.
Discuss a few of the documentary films that Hollywood directors and artists like
Frank Capra, Anatole Litvak, John Ford, John Huston, William Wyler, and
George Stevens contributed to the war effort.
7. Your texts emphasize how censorship throughout film history has determined
what we ultimately see on the screen. Utilizing several articles from your texts,
and especially the Gregory Black article in Ross, “Hollywood Censored: The
Production Code Administration and the Hollywood Film Industry, 1930-1940,” in
the chapter Censorship and the Attack on Hollywood “Immorality,” starting on p.
101. The Discussion Points and the Documents sections are also important
congregators that will deepen your understanding of the subject.
8. The emigres contributed immensely to the making of Casablanca, as you
witnessed in class from Cinema Exiles and the entire film. Describe the roles of
the various participants in the film, including the actors and others behind the
camera. What was the impact of Casablanca on American audiences in 1943
(although it premiered briefly near the end of 1942)?
9. Write an extended textual analysis of one film we have seen in class or that is on
the Outside Screening list, which also included films I have placed on BB Content
in various folders and separately.
10. Film Noir is one of the several most exciting and interesting film genres. From
the Luhr text especially and the descriptions on BB Content, how do we define
Murder, My Sweet (1943), Crossfire (1947) and Out of the Past (1947) as
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definitive noirs? Include one other film on the required or recommended list for
outside screening to illustrate further the influence of noir.
11. Crossfire is also considered a social problem film from that rich period of the
late 1940s. Discuss the topic of antisemitism in America in the 1940s and how
this film provides one of the two textbook cases of the subject. Now see
Gentleman’s Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947) and illustrate how in other ways the
bigotry of antisemitism made its way through the genteel society, both Jewish
and gentile). See Mintz, Ch. 16.
12. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler) is considered the best film
about returning WWII veterans. Why and how did the film’s characters resonate
with American society in 1946 and 1947, and many years after?
13. This is a required question for everyone. In Post WWII America, The House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began its pursuit (also read
prosecution and persecution) of Hollywood for its alleged Communist
connections. It wasn’t enough that witnesses admit their involvement in the
party; they also were required to “Name Names” to fulfill their roles as “friendly
witnesses.” Some refused to do either and the most famous group was known
as The Hollywood Ten, 10 producers, writers, and directors who went to prison
for defying HUAC. The question we must pursue until the end of time is “How
did HUAC and its supporters within the Federal Government and
Hollywood itself defy the United States Constitution and change the face of
the motion picture industry for several decades?“ Be sure to include the
Blacklist that was initiated in November 1947 as The Waldorf Agreement and its
lasting influence. See Ross, Chapter 7, and Mintz, Chapters 15-17, as well as
the articles on BB Content. Be sure to include at least a brief discussion of Elia
Kazan’s role in HUAC testimony and how he was vilified by some until his death.
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