Time Periods Represented in "The Kid" and "Iron Jawed Angels"

New and exciting technologies have always played a huge role in the culture of American people. When the motion picture came out it was no surprise that both consumers and producers were more than happy to get in on the action. Back in the 1920’s film was still pretty new and was only in black and white with no sound, but the films were always accompanied by orchestral pieces to help set the mood. The art of movie-making has come a long way since then with the addition of not only color and audio, but new techniques and new ideas. Both The Kid and Iron Jawed Angels are very popular films about the early 1900’s. Although they share some common thoughts, but because they were made in two completely different time periods their focuses are far off from one another and their ideas contrast for the most part.

Iron Jawed Angels is an HBO film that was released in 2004 about the American women’s suffrage movement. The movie is set in America during the 1910’s and features Hilary Swank as political activist Alice Paul. The movie opens with Alice Paul and her fellow activist Lucy Burns returning from England to start their attempt at getting women’s suffrage in America. They originally decided to become members of the National American Women’s Suffrage Association, but soon realized that they did not fit in with the organization so they started their own group known as the National Women’s Party. Led by Alice Paul, the women of the group would picket the White House in an attempt to get their wish until eventually they were thrown in prison for picketing a war-time president. After enduring a grueling and unfair experience in jail, they finally were able to attain woman’s suffrage, also known as the 19th amendment.

The Kid is a film by...

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...ues have progressed along with technology, which is clearly visible when looking at The Kid and Iron Jawed Angels. In The Kid there was no sound or color so the actors and actresses really had to be over dramatic with their movements in order to get their point across which in some ways too away from the seriousness of the film. In Iron Jawed Angels on the other hand, the way the actors and actresses spoke and conveyed their emotions with much more subtle movements really added to the emotion in the story. Although these movies weren’t able to touch every detail of what was going on at the time that they took place, they were definitely able to bring up some. Even though they were so different they are each important because they represent the perspectives of unrelated individuals of the same time, which just goes to show how much America truly is a big melting pot.