The Great Depression: Use It Up, Wear It Out, and Make Do or Do Without - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Great Depression is a period in the history of America and other countries associated with low business activities and economic crisis. It started with the stock market crash, which occurred in 1929 and persisted through most of the 1930s. During this period, most American families lived with what is referred to as this period motto “Use it up, wear it out, and make do or do without.” Most people were staffing of hunger while some attempted to maintain appearance and progress with life normally as they could by trying to adapt to the current economic circumstances. Though there is little evidence on the exact number of people who died during the great depression, some historians argue that about seven million people starved to death during this period. The countries which were indebted to the United States, such as Britain and German, were hit hardest. In Germany, the situation of unemployment was pathetic, where 25% of its workforce, approximately 6 million people lost their jobs. In the United States, the media, such as women's magazines, provided home economists a platform to educate women on how to stretch their food budgets with meals like waffles and casseroles. In such a period, it would be easy to conclude that people never attended any entertainment events such as cinemas. On the contrary, people going to movies was a common phenomenon for most Americans during the great depression. Film industry played a fundamental role in the great depression era, but the event also shaped the film industry during this time.

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Background Information

According to Morgan (2016), 60 to 80 million citizens in America attended movies every week, even in the deepest depths of depression. Hollywood is said to have played a vital psychological role during the period. It rekindled hope and reassurance to the decolorized nations. During this period, films reflected or expressed the public mood during this period as sleazy backroom lawyers and politicians, haggard prostitutes, and Tommy-gun toting gangsters were presented in cinemas. The comedies released during this time reflected an almost nihilistic contempt for values and traditional institutions. The Marx brothers made fun of anything from universities to patriotism; Mae West applied the concept of sexual innuendo to make a fan of propriety sexual code among the middle class, and W.C. Field ridiculed families. Films also played a role in bringing some optimism in the American population. People enjoyed dramas such as Frank Capra comedies, where a little man stood up and helped to fight corruption helping America to stand to itself once again.

Nevertheless, the events and the circumstances of great depression to some extent shaped the movies that were produced during the time. Industry self-concencership combined with the New Deal, which was viewed as a renewed optimism, impacted the development of new types of movies in the second half of depression, such as order replaced gangsters, defenders of the law, western heroes, detectives, and G-men among others. Some movies were produced with a genre aimed to show that it is possible for there to be equality in America. An example is a screwball comedy that show a community where heiresses from rich background wed poor young men. Such comic genre helped to keep America's vision alive that it can become a society with no class. It is clear that, even in this tough period, the fantasy world maintained hope and faith in government and upheld the concept of surpassing social class, which is a common American identity.

The movie industry triumph by providing people with what they wanted to see. During this time, most of the Americans was hopeless due to hardship caused by the low economy. They needed something to console them. The movie industry filled this gap and provided a product that was a therapeutical diversion for most Americans to move away from the challenges. Through enabling this vital relief, films attained a substantial of influence during the time when many industries were mightily struggling. In 1929 when the great depression started, Hollywood was in transition. The sound was being developed but at the early stage. Considerable investment had been made to convert theatres and shooting sets to voice. Movie job had reached an end, but they were resumed overnight. Hollywood is instantly required to peak their conversion investment and marketing the newly found form even during the economic hardship at the time. They needed to advance to the latest technology and create a cinema of words, images, sound, and sight (FARR, 2015).

Apart from providing the people with what they wanted to see during this time, the film industry also triumphs due to some key advantages. To start with, the film industry was facing no significant competition. The only major competitor during the time was the radio, and people preferred cinemas because they were visual and more realistic. Theatre, too, was a competitor to the film industry, but it was more expensive, and hence people opted film to theatre, given the economic condition during the time. The other advantage is that by the time America was going to depression, the studio system was readily available and in place, and hence all the major participants had stars, producers, writers, and directors already contracted. They also owned theatres, which ensured that production was reasonably timely. The other advantage was that since the industry-owned most of its production factors, they were able to keep the cost of seeing a movie relatively low ten 10-25 cents (Whitington, 2008).

Some historians attempt to explain the phenomenon by first analyzing the film industry status before the depression. Kaufman (2010) asserted that the 1920s was a period of significant advancement in the film industry. Producers had started aiming at delivering talking pictures and grand luxury movie houses. Nevertheless, the great depression left all the businesses, including the film firms operating with half capital compared to the time before the crash. Some theatre was forced to close such as Paramount Theatre, which in 1931 was challenged by financial problems until it closed only to reopen a year later in 1932. The attendance in cinemas had dropped significantly after economic downturn. As such, the cost declined by 10 cents, which made movie industries experience approximately $56 in losses. However, the film industry managed to maneuver and earned by attracting as many cinema consumers as possible at a low cost.

In Washington State, despite the increasing unemployment, movie house in the University District and the heart of settle hosted significant large crowds. The most prominent downtown Cinemas were The Capital, The Liberty, The Paramount, and Music Box. Each of them runs advertisements in the Settle Times. The section of adverts in the Settle Times illustrates that the movie industry survived despite the turf economy since it was full by the announcement and movie reviews from the Hollywood and of advertisement purchased by theaters. Developing new marketing techniques, coming up with new advertisement language, and cutting ticket costs kept the movie industry going as it appeared as a vital part of life yet cheap. Most of the articles published throughout the year clearly illustrate that movies had adopted a new storyline and genre that provided diversion or escape from the reality of the economic and the Great Depression, which further attracted viewers who were fed up with hardship resulting from the depression (Kaufman, 2010).

Settle theatres noticed that it was hard to survive unless the sale of ticket increase given the hard economic times. As such, they had to find ways to bring people in. An excellent example is Paramount, which opted to announce a "double bill," a strategy that involved giving the audience two shows only at 35 cent admission fee. It also used the storyline and the genre to encourage as much audience as possible. For example, on January 6, the Paramount put an article in the Settle Times carrying announcement that the first aspect to appear in the screen regarding to new bargain policy from the Paramount will be 'Working Girl,' and 'The Rainbow Trail' by George Obrien. This form of marketing strategy managed to encourage the Americans into patronizing this theatre. The Paramount strategically used the phrase "bargain" to make Americans feel as if they were spending for a thing worthwhile as opposed to frivolous. This concept worked, and other theatres adopted the strategy. Some theatres such as the Embassy even went as far as creating triple bills where the audience could view movies for only 35 cents (Kaufman, 2010). The great depression has changed America to a country of bargain hunters as most individuals were enticed by snatching any deal that appeared advantageous due to turf economy and cinemas used this strategy to fill its auditoriums.

Role of American Cinema during the Great Depression

The film was able to survive in the middle of tough economic times during the Great Depression. The 1920s was an excellent period for the growth of movies by producing talking pictures and giving public with luxurious and grand movie houses. However, the film industry developed significantly in 1930 by providing people with the content they wanted to see (Kyvig, 2004). Its content was framed to excite millions of American people to forget their troubles. The American movie industry was making some advancement at a time when most industries were closing down. However, movie attendance declined from ninety million to sixty million per week, and prices reduced by 10 cents, causing a loss of $56 million (Dickstein, 2009). Despite the high unemployment rate and presence of Hoovervilles, the film houses in the University District and Seattle still catered for big crowds. Some of the best cinemas included The Paramount, The Capital, The Music Box, and The Liberty (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). Each of these cinemas made daily advertisements in The Seattle Times. Moreover, the 'Amusement' section of the newspaper was home to theaters advertisements, movie reviews, and Hollywood announcements. The 1932 Amusement sections shown how Seattle film was able to survive the challenging economic times (Longmore & Goldberger, 2000). It achieved this by introducing new advertising language, cutting ticket costs, and creating marketing techniques that made films seem a necessity in everyday life. They formulated storylines and new genres that helped to evade the reality of great economic crisis and Depression.

However, theaters in Seattle realized that they needed to increase the sales of tickets to survive the economic climate. Hence, they were forced to introduce creative strategies to attract people. For instance, The Paramount offered a 'double bill,' enabling the audience two full-length shows for 35 cents (Sides, 2006). This move of marketing enticed the public in watching The Paramount. The introduction of bargain policy would allow individuals to feel like they were using money on something worth the value. This method worked effectively as several other theaters introduced multiple show bills. For example, The Embassy went a higher note by producing a triple bill (Sides, 2006). The hard economic time had created a country that was a bargain hunter as people took advantage of good deals. When the multiple show bills started to wear off, theaters also began to experience the pinch. However, The Capitol announced a reduced price for summer, allowing people to pay less for more (Rogler, 2002). They were required to pay 10 cents up to 7 pm and just 15 cents for the remaining part of the night. This reduction in prices relieved the public that was...