Paper Topic:

The Influence of Novels and Film upon American Politics-Good or Bad?

p Films and Novels of the 1930 's and 1940 's

Positive or Negative Influences on Political Thought and Action between 1930-1950

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 : The Film Industry and Politics 1930-1950

Chapter 2 : The Authors Who Influenced Political Thought 1930-1950

Chapter 3 : 1984

Chapter 4 : Animal Farm

Chapter 5 : The Sun Also Rises

Chapter 6 : For Whom the Bell Tolls

Chapter 7 : The Grapes of Wrath

Chapter 8 : The Communist Witch Hunts : Effects on the Film and Publishing Industry

Chapter 9 : Do Books

and Films Still Influence Political Thought

Conclusion

Introduction

The work of filmmakers and authors has had a powerful impact on political thought during the first 50 years of the Twentieth Century Politicians have both agreed and disagreed with the points that these filmmakers and authors are trying to get across . During the Communist Witch Hunts of the late 1940 's and early 1950 's many filmmakers and authors were blacklisted , and many nearly went to jail for creating films , essays , and novels about political issues that they felt to be important . Filmmakers and authors often cannot help but add some aspects of their own political and social attitudes into the works that they are creating . These political opinions and attitudes cannot help but to have an impact when millions of people are reading a book , or viewing a film These effects can be negative but more often than not the effects of films and books on politics are positive Books and films can influence people to take political actions on areas as diverse as social welfare or the environment . When people take political action than the political environment is changed , all because of the fact that a person watched a film , or read a book that made them think , and want to change things

There are three primary reasons that films and books can have a powerful impact on political thought . First , the major authors of the 1930 's and 1940 's such as John Steinbeck , or George Orwell wrote about issues that concerned them , and about social and political events that were occurring in their world on a daily basis . For instance John Steinbeck wrote about the plight of farmers who had been displaced by the Great Depression and the Great Dust Bowl . Second , filmmakers that read these books created films that not only expressed the political opinions and attitudes of the author but their own unique perspectives as well . For instance , director John Ford was strongly affected by reading the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath (1963 ) and he turned the novel into a film that made a powerful political statement about life in the Great Depression . Finally , people (including politicians ) develop their ideas about the world from what they read and what they see . One example of this can be seen in the many WPA programs that President Franklin D Roosevelt developed to assist those displaced by the Great Dust Bowl . One might assume from the development of these programs that...

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