Media Ending the Great Depression
HIS 203
4/26/13

The U.S. experienced a Depression in 1929. The American economy collapsed and millions of people were out of jobs. The government's role during this time of economic crisis was to assist the citizens of this country in any way possible. This sometimes led to the development of experimental programs and projects. Some of the programs involved morale boosting murals that depicted an idealistic agricultural American society. The government was not the only producer of confidence boosting propaganda during the Depression, Hollywood also capitalized on the need for empowerment. Hollywood lost money and felt the same loss as people all over the United States. But Hollywood used this Depression for their gain. They altered their course of action to please the American people during this time. Hollywood then produced the Golden Age of Hollywood to boost American morale. Directors such William Wellman and King Vidor were at the forefront of Golden Age movie production. These directors aimed to capture the roles of womanhood and manhood in efforts to fortify American’s thoughts of the ideal American society. The New deal also created the implementation of the Works Project Administration (WPA), more specifically the Federal Project Number One, which aimed to assist people of the arts out of Depression and simultaneously using their works to get into the minds of Americans and regain their confidence. The Great Depression came at a time when America was at the forefront against the push of communism and even fascism. Americans were losing confidence in the government as well as having feelings of anger towards the seemingly over-abuse of power. Americans were feeling like their government was tightening in on their freedom. To combat these widespread feeling the WPA organized the creation of murals in areas such as post offices and government buildings. Many of these painters employed by the government had strict guidelines of what to depict making many of themes and motifs of the paintings the same. The similarities in the ideas behind the murals and films are evident while both still have their own redeeming qualities.
The government funded murals have a wide array of settings that target specific groups across the country. Orange Picking a painting by Paul Julian was located in California, one of the few areas where orange trees grow in the United States. Tobacco Industry by Lee Gatch was depicted in Mullins, South Carolina where the tobacco industry has been predominant cash crop since its settlement. These artists aimed to invoke a gung-ho mentality in the people of these areas to keep people farming instead of leaving for cities. The depiction of these cash crops is to display the importance of the work these people do in hopes of inspiring them through the tough times. It is also interesting to analyze the role of the woman compared to the man in these pictures, primarily focusing on the togetherness of their labor efforts. This cohesiveness was displayed to show that men and women needed to work as one to have a flourishing society, which was contrary to the way men acted during the Depression. The Depression caused high rates in divorce and marital desertion which caused the breakdown of families, societies and agricultural and industrial businesses. These agricultural societies were the backbone of America but were also the hardest hit. The government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to help create jobs and incentives to these people work in an agricultural society. A mural by Xavier Gonzalez created for the TVA depicts an array of the ideas the government wanted to covey to farmers. This mural depicts strong muscular men as farmers, blacksmiths or stone masons. Women are portrayed as care-givers, harvesters or working on household chores. The background also illustrates the combination of a picturesque agrarian society along with a factory in the distance. This depiction of women and men in these roles with a quaint utopian landscape in the background shows that to get the utopia man and women need to partake in these roles. Many historians have also weighed in on the significance of these murals. One in particular Barbara Melosh wrote Engendering Culture Manhood and Womanhood in New Deal Public Art and Theater where she analyzed Depression Era media. In one chapter she focuses on the role of the farm family labeling the comradely ideal as idyll and expose, (Melosh, 53). The numerous murals from the Melosh article have identical motifs to the Gonzalez, Gatch and Julian murals. The additional number of murals allows one to better understand the widespread use of these murals to promote the agricultural dependence for a society and the necessity of collective action between groups of people as well as men and women. Pastoral by Ted Gilien is in Lee’s Summit, MO and depicts father, wife and son all working together on a seemingly successful farm. A similar picture by Arthur Getz titled Harvest illustrates a similar setting with a differing crop. These two pictures both display agricultural accomplishment with differing cash crops inferring that the principles the government wanted to promote for a flourishing agricultural economy were nationwide, (Melosh, 59). These murals were not just limited to paintings; many murals were sculptures depicting scenarios and poses similar to religious renaissance art, (Melosh, 61). This religious motif created an unspoken correlation between religion and agriculture. The correlation was aimed to provide the same feeling of duty in religion to farming and work, (Melosh, 61-62). At the time of the Depression entertainment and arts were evolving with new forms such as theater movies.
The movie industry was hit hard during the Depression as entertainment was a luxury not a necessity. The decline in people going to movies called for a change in what themes the films had to portray. The use of themes similar to the ones in popular public murals drew more crowds of people. The feel good endings after economic struggle made these films a significant tool in keeping morale for society. Films such as Blondie Johnson, Night Nurse and Wild Boys on The Road all focused on the struggles of Americans during the Depression. One particular film Our Daily Bread touches upon the three big focal points in economic resurrection. The three focal points collective action, an agrarian economy and cohesive efforts between men and women are seen in this film and predominantly throughout the murals. The film aims to promote collective action with the use of settlement of people relying on a capitalist style of economy to make a living. The settlers each have individual talents which they use to help one another to have a flourishing society. This draws parallels to the Tennessee Valley Authority mural showing that reliance and others skills is the way to a utopian society. The collective action is not just between members of society but also between men and woman. The depiction of the jobs that men and women do is a theme within both forms of media. The number of men and women is also significant in the murals and film. Men show up much more frequently in the film, the depiction of them doing hard work is a main point the writers want to portray. Promotion of hard work is to combat the idea of men disserting their families. The last similarity between the murals and movie involves the focus on a resilient agrarian society. The main characters leave the city to begin their lives as farmers. This change signifies the importance of agriculture in society and promotes the idea of a need for more farmers. The similarities between the films and the murals show how the government, artists and entertainment industry all had similar belief in how to fix the Depression.