In 1936, the United States Department of Agriculture released a documentary entitled The Plow that Broke the Plains. The film, a poignant attempt to explain the tragedy of the Dust Bowl, was written and directed by Pare Lorentz, marking his first foray into filmmaking. With the narrative style of a jeremiad, lamenting the ills befalling America's Great Plains. The film also serves as a cautionary tale, warning of potential environmental disasters (Campbell) if farming practices remain unchanged. The film's controversial nature won international acclaim and criticism of being 'libelous' to America's farmers. Why do you need to be a member? To begin with, the film paints an idealistic portrait of the Native American population living in harmony …show more content…
We see close-up shots of the land being broken by plows and other pieces of equipment. No wonder the film is controversial! Much like demonizing a gun when it is people who shoot people in a highly simplistic way to view a serious issue, Lorentz blames inanimate objects. It is also insulting to its audience. Second, how did governmental policies add to this disaster? Farmers, from 1914 to 1929, were encouraged to grow wheat and other grain crops on the Great Plains. The film shows that the Great War needed America's farmers to produce food to feed America and Europe. After America entered the war, it became even more critical and patriotic. to grow food to feed our troops and the troops of our allies. In one scene of the film, Americans are promised that "one crop" will be enough to pay off a farm. Rising agricultural prices due to the Great War are a financial windfall for Great Plains and would-be farmers. When the war ended, returning troops were encouraged to become farmers by governmental policies, enabling them to get cheap land for farming on the Plains. Finally, over-farming and irresponsible land management practices lead to the disaster shown in the …show more content…
The symbolism is that agricultural machinery can be as destructive as war machinery. What are the facts about this? In 1900, the average American farmer represented 41% of America's population. He fed just three to five people. It was a family farm. In 2000, America's farmers represented just 1.9% of our population, but each farmer feeds approximately 166 people at home and abroad (Fast Facts About Agriculture & Food). The mechanization of America's farms came after the start of the Industrial Revolution. Still, it needed to happen for America to compete in the world markets and become one of the world's greatest economies. In short, farmers need to produce more. To allow this to happen, the American farmers needed government support, including New Deal programs. The government was morally responsible for educating American farmers on environmentally sound land management and conservation techniques. The fact that neither occurred for the most part led to the results we see in the film. It is patently unfair and simplistic to blame Great Plains farmers and their machinery for the Dust
Henceforth, the natural grasses of the plains no longer held the earth itself together, leaving it free to blow away with the wind across the country. As Donald Worster puts it, “An old and unique ecological complex had been destroyed by man, leaving him with no buffer against the elements, leaving the land free to blow away.” (Worster 66) The natural grasses of the plains had evolved as the perfect fit for the region. Notably, the long roots of these grasses formed a web, holding the earth together
The Dust Bowl was a devastating storm that affected the Midwestern people. Carloads and caravans of people streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless. The kids were hungry the adults were broken. The early thirties opened with prosperity and growth. At the time the Midwest was full of agricultural growth. The Panhandle of the Oklahoma and Texas region was the holy grail of agriculture. Farming was the major production in the United States in the 1930 's. The best crop that was prospering around
The Dust Bowl was a treacherous storm, which occurred in the 1930's, that affected the midwestern people, for example the farmers, and which taught us new technologies and methods of farming. As John Steinbeck wrote in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath: "And then the dispossessed were drawn west- from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas, families, tribes, dusted out. Carloads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two
In Bloom’s How to Write about John Steinbeck, Catherine Kordich wrote, “Steinbeck made understandable the misunderstood. His books depict the experience of the common person, the powerless, and the underdog with conviction, empathy and poignancy” (48). John Steinbeck used the mass movements and events of the age in which he wrote to create characters understand the grand scheme of their time (Kordich 49). He connected with the people of America on a personal level by writing about their social and
Criminal Acts in Sport; Getting Away With Murder Introduction The amount of crimes that occur in and around sports has been a growing topic of conversation over the last decade in our society. Sports participants and spectators alike have been committing crimes on far more frequent basis over the last few years and in the minds of some, this is an issue that is getting or has gotten out of hand. There is a question that is asked by many, “Where does part of the game become a crime?” as well as;
The Worst Week Of My Life - Original Writing Help! I whimpered as the wailing siren pierced my ears. "Come on! Hurry up!" My Sister, Anna whispered to me desperately, while scampering into our small, cramped AndersonShelter. What was I going to do… or even worse, what was Granny Elma going to do? She was deaf! I reluctantly tiptoed through our long, wet garden with bare feet and finally managed to feel my way through and step in just in time. My teddy Rupert! Mum, did you bring Rupert