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During the Great Depression, the United States was plunged into an economic crisis, marked by widespread unemployment and poverty across the nation. Despite these circumstances, people still spent money on movies, as they saw cinema as a means of escaping reality. As Susan Ware noted: "For many families, the 10¢ for a weekly movie was as important an item in their budget as bread and milk"(Human, 406). This illustrates how cinema became the "bread and milk" of people's spirits, helping them find a comfort zone amid hardship.

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Moreover, the 1932 gangster film Scarface, a product of the Depression era, presented audiences with a protagonist who pursued wealth and power as ultimate goals. This reflected society's ambivalent attitude toward the "American Dream" at the time: it embodied opportunity while also showcasing ambition, violence, and ultimate destruction.

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In the 1930s, the Great Depression shifted the conversation around gender and work. Many Americans believed that a woman's place was in the home, even as more women were forced to work outside the home to support their families.

As Julie Human noted in her article

"Over 75 percent of Americans believed a woman's place was in the home. Many women considered working

outside the home a necessity to be endured but certainly not

welcomed." (Human, 406)

This reflects the tension between economic necessity and traditional values. Just as films of this era superficially presented audiences with the possibilities of the "New Woman," they simultaneously reinforced traditional gender roles. They demonstrated how the cinema of this period solidified the notion that women belonged at home as appendages to men, while men were the pillars of the household and rightfully held the authority in the workplace.

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Regarding the plot of Scarface, Julie Human comments: “Although women often did dominate, by the end of the films, they were caught up in the arms of men” (Human 405). This indicates that in Hollywood’s portrayal of female characters at the time, even when women demonstrated independence and strength in the plot, they ultimately reverted to marriage or dependence on men. In gangster films such as Little Caesar and Public Enemy, women were typically depicted as “sexual ornaments” or “nagging, intellectually inept nuisances” (Human 408), revealing the limitations placed on women’s status in contemporary society.

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Frederick Lewis Allen criticized Hollywood: “The capital invested in the movies preferred to steer clear of awkward issues, not to run the risk of offending theatre-goers abroad or at home” (Allen 222). Instead, Hollywood chose to present the kind of life society wanted to see, creating an idealized version of American life to please audiences while avoiding deeper reflection on real social contradictions. As Allen noted, it was “like the America of popular magazine fiction and especially of the magazine advertisements—was devoid of real poverty or discontent” (Allen 223).

At the same time, movie stars had a far-reaching influence. Susan Ware pointed out that “the real stars of the 1930s were movie actresses… [they] had replaced figures in politics, business, and the arts as the most popular role models for American youth” (Human 408). This shows that Hollywood not only shaped entertainment but also had a profound impact on social culture and the way people thought at the time.

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The 1927 MPPDA charter said that movies had to “establish and maintain the highest possible moral and artistic standards in motion picture production” (MPPDA 1). By 1934, the Production Code banned things like “sex perversion” and “ridicule of the clergy” (MPPDA 5). Basically, this shows how people are turning Hollywood into a reflection of society’s values at the time.

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Finally, I find it quite interesting that films back then often portrayed female characters as initially independent. For instance, in Scarface, women might seem strong and self-reliant at first, but as Human points out in the article, they inevitably end up being "tamed" and revert to a state of dependence on men. It's like in fairy tales, where the princess always ends up marrying the prince instead of forging her own path to create a new world.Hollywood of that era offered women an illusion of independence, yet ultimately reinforced traditional gender roles.

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Allen, Frederick Lewis. Since Yesterday: The 1930s in America, September 3, 1929–September 3, 1939. New York: Perennial, 1999, pp. 222–224.

Human, Julie. “A Woman Rebels? Gender Roles in 1930s Motion Pictures.” Journal of American Culture, 2001, pp. 1–7.

MPPDA. Excerpts from Minute Book, 1924–1927. MPPDA Digital Archive, pp. 1–5.

Scarface. Directed by Howard Hawks, performances by Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, and George Raft, United Artists, 1932.