Investigation Blog Post 15
Introduction: This week's blog post is about McCarthyism and its influence on the films that came out of Hollywood during that time. McCarthyism is a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most didn’t belong to the Communist Party. This campaign is what brought us the play The Crucible, comparing the Salem Witch Trials to these events. This campaign had a big impact on films at the time since filmmakers were under a lot of pressure from this group to make sure that the movies didn’t hold any communist view or anything like that. A lot of people, in general, were impacted by this campaign especially those involved in art and film since they were in charge of America’s entertainment.
Inspiration: I decided to look up films impacted by McCarthyism and films based on the campaign.
The way we were
Julie and Julia
Chaplin
Trumbo
Marathon man
Good night, and good luck
The majestic
Sweet smell of success
The Contender
Guilty by suspicion
It was a bit hard to find these films because I found mixed sites which told me films that were based on McCarthyism or they were about it. This is the site I used to find the top ten films based on the campaign. The House on Carroll Street is the film I find the most consistent in the films. The plot is: During a time of anti-Communist paranoia, editor Emily Crane (Kelly McGillis) balks at turning over the identities of colleagues being sought by the House Un-American Activities Committee and is blacklisted as a result. After taking a job as an elderly woman's companion, her life falls into a normal rhythm -- until she checks out an argument in the house next door. Soon Emily is on the run and trying to unravel a Nazi plot. Meanwhile, Cochran (Jeff Daniels), an FBI man, tries to protect her. So it feels pretty accurate to the time of McCarthyism.
Brainstorming/Experimentation: The genre for this time is called ‘The Red Scare’ which means the promotion of widespread fear of a potential rise of communism or anarchism. I don’t think Id want to be a filmmaker during this time due to how every film would be looked at closely for any spot of communism. It would be difficult for filmmakers to have any creative freedom. I also found these two sites: site siteif you want to look more into McCarthyism in film. A lot of filmmakers were looked into and the most notable are The Hollywood Ten. I don’t know what kind of films I would have made for this time since films were watched like hawks to see if the filmmakers had any bit of communist ideas. It defiantly was a stressful time for filmmakers. I also don’t know I’d I would make a film based on this campaign, I feel like people have already looked into that idea enough where people understand it.
Reflection: Looking over these films and looking into how McCarthyism really impacted the film industry, I’m glad it’s not around anymore. I do think it’s creative that people are taking what happened and putting it into their films. I think it is important that people learn about events like these through films. The red scare and everything and everyone being looked into from anything communist would be exhausting and scary. You didn’t have many options with creating films and living your life without precautions. I remember us talking about this in English while talking about The Crucible and then in History class. It’s crazy how events like these change the world and how film works. Looking at my History notes, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was also a popular film about communists in America during The Cold war.
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