In many ways the Great Depression can be considered as a turning point in American history. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 shed light on the weaknesses of the American economic system and revealed to the population the vulnerability of their lifestyles. The New Deal policies that followed had a consequent impact themselves, since they reshaped and strengthened the idea of a national identity, and in a way, the reality of the American Dream.
The two movies that will be discussed in this paper, Safety Last! from 1923 and The Grapes of Wrath from 1940 are an interesting way to analyze and understand the shift in the American society that was entailed by the Great Depression.
First and foremost, I would like to say that, although comparable, those two movies are different. Safety Last! is a silent comedy from the 1920’s whereas The Grapes of Wrath is a drama based off a novel by John Steinbeck, depicting a period previous to the making of the movie. Their goals and their audiences were undeniably different, the first one being light and funny as opposed to the latter being dark and trying to have a serious reflection on the American society. However, both films can be studied as artifacts from a certain time. They provide insightful information on how success, social mobility and the American dream were perceived when they were made.
My goal in this paper is to try to show how those two movies illustrate the shift entailed by the Great Depression, from a reckless, selfish and based on wealth vision of the American dream in Safety Last! to a more down to earth and meaningful idea of social mobility and opportunity in America in The Grapes of Wrath.
I will start by showing the different social dynamics depicted in the movies. Then, I will initiate a dialogue between them to explain how they resonate together and how they convey two different messages regarding the American dream.
Class and Social Mobility
Safety Last! and The Grapes of Wrath both deal with the topic of class. However, they are not treating this topic in the same context which explains why they depict two different social landscapes and two different dynamics of social mobility.
Safety Last!, portrays the growing middle class of the 1920’s, a portion of the population that was not wealthy but who was able to make a living in a city and spend money without really having to worry. This willingness to spend can be seen at [25:17] when Lloyd spends all of his paycheck on a necklace, that he does not really need. He is aware that he is not going to eat on that night but he also knows that he will get another paycheck soon after. This scene and the hysterical battle between customers at the store at [27:23], are symbols of the consumer society that was peaking in the mid 1920’s (Ross, 1998).
The movie tackles the idea of social mobility in a really graphic and symbolic way. Lloyd came to New York City to be successful and to become wealthy, in other words to climb the social ladder. At [54:00], in a now iconic scene, he literally climbs on a building all the way to the top. Up there is his fiancée and the thought of the reward he is going to get for his climb. Metaphorically, he climbed the social ladder to achieve marital life and economic prosperity. This idea of “upward mobility” (Sklar, 1975) is characteristic of the vertical mobility dreamed about by many middle-class Americans in the 1920’s. The risk that Lloyd is taking is also a way of conveying the blind optimism that was fueling these dreams of success.
Safety Last! is a testimony of the lifestyle of the roaring 20’s, one that believed that happiness was contained in material possessions and in personal achievement (Lloyd is alone on his quest to wealth).
In contrast, The Grapes of Wrath, pictures a poor Oklahoman family, ruined by the Great Depression. Families like this one had nothing left and they were subject to great misery. At [18:00], they are told that they do not even possess their land anymore, something they thought was to be theirs forever. Then, the camera moves to only let their shadows in the frame, a way of symbolizing the end of a certain rural lifestyle. The Joads and the movie as a whole, have a very different behavior towards money compared to Lloyd. At [50:28], in the gas station the different prices announced by the cashier seem to emphasize the uncertain and changing value of money.
The idea of social mobility depicted in The Grapes of Wrath is also in contrast with Safety Last!. This contrast is very graphic. As opposed to the vertical climb of Lloyd, The Grapes of Wrath opens on the plains of Oklahoma which are flat and the horizontal lines of the roads convey a very different message. The Joads cannot climb the social ladder, they have to leave, to move horizontally. This choice is painful and well thought-out as opposed to the frenzy of the middle class of the 1920’s.
The Grapes of Wrath is a tribute to the poor and rural families of the Great Depression that had nothing left but their uncertainties, their nuclear family and their hope for a better future.
The American Dream
As seen above, those two movies are artifacts of two different historical periods. They give us insight on the daily life and the notion of social mobility in the roaring twenties and during the Great Depression. But those very material and visual differences are symptoms of a greater phenomenon. When compared, those films convey the idea that the Great Depression, which happened in between the making of the two movies, changed or altered the very idea of the American Dream. Both films have a different message and address the question of class mobility with two different tones, an artistic choice that reveals, yet again, the changing nature of the American dream.
Safety Last! shows that in the 1920’s the American dream was seen as personal success. A success defined by wealth and the creation of a family. It also depicts the quest to this success as reckless and optimistic. However, if the movie conveys this reality, it does not seem to embrace it. The climb to the top of the building seems to criticize Lloyds irresponsible behavior. The viewer keeps wondering when he will fall, there is a notion of constant danger, the idea that he is living on the edge. Ironically, six years after the movie was released, the economy crashed. This vertical climb can then also be seen as a graphic symbol of an economic curve, prone to speculation and capable of falling at any moment. Safety Last!, as a comedy, is a satire of the middle-class and of the American dream which seems alienating and dangerous. In a way, it asks the question: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but at what cost?
In many ways The Grapes of Wrath can be considered as an answer to Safety Last!. The Grapes of Wrath indirectly says that Lloyd fell. His American dream did not work, the Great Depression showed that all of those promised opportunities were fragile and that the economic and political system was rotten. The incomprehension of the farmers and their anger at the corporations at the beginning of the movie is a good example of that. As opposed to Safety Last!, The Grapes of Wrath is not a comedy but a drama. It is not a satire of a society but a realistic observation that tries to put forward solutions. The Grapes of Wrath is an example of “social realism” (Sklar, 1975), a wave of post Great Depression movies that wanted to describe the society as it was. The American dream advocated in the movie is one that is also based on opportunity but more importantly in a common opportunity, as a family and as a Nation. At [2:01:00] Tom Joad says that we all share a soul and at the very end Ma Joad says that, we the people are powerful and resourceful. The Grapes of Wrath believes in an American dream that is guaranteed by the government, as the Department of Agriculture Village shows. This support of government action has to be understood in the context of the New Deal policies implemented a few years earlier. In this movie, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not seen as a given but as a challenge that can only be achieved if the Nation has a soul and if the government has a nest to make sure that no one falls.
The Grapes of Wrath and Safety Last! are two movies about survival in America and the challenges to the promises of the founding fathers and the Constitution. They reveal the diversity of America and the violence of the economic cycles against which the citizens are vulnerable. From a broader perspective they show the fast-changing face of America in the early 20th century, the increasing importance of the stock market, the disappearance of a certain rural lifestyle, a growing middle class, the growing inequality between rural and urban areas and the problems that those changes posed to the social fabric of the country.
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