Famous choreographer George Balanchine once said, “He is the most interesting, the most inventive, the most elegant dancer of our times” and noted dancer Rudolph Nureyev also said, “He was not just the best ballroom dancer, or tap dancer, he was simply the greatest, most imaginative, dancer of our time.” These famous dancers were referring to Fred Astaire, who has been known as one of the greatest dancers of all time. His light, artistic joyful style of dancing has impacted dance in an extremely unique way. Astaire used techniques in films as well as in dance that have shaped society. Astaire was mostly prominent throughout the 1930s during the Great Depression. Everywhere, Americans were looking for some joy in their lives, and Astaire was able to give them hope in a period of history that lacked optimism. Fred Astaire’s carefree dance movement style and techniques, specifically in the films Swing Time and The Gay Divorcee, help America through the Great Depression and signifies the importance of art in this time period.
The arts played a significant role in the Great Depression- not only as a means of escapism for some people, but also a psychological and ideological role that provided inspiration and optimism in a time of severe doubt and fear. For example, film provided an escape for a couple of hours, but also portrayed success during this time period. Many films focused on social realities of the time period, so that people could relate to these films. Films gave images of hope and success because they portrayed ordinary people, such as a girl winning a role in a play, or a man and a woman randomly meeting and falling in love. Andrew Bergman explains the effect of these films in his article Hollywood and the Great Depressi...
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The symptoms of the Great Depression began during the World War I and the economic boom of the 1920s, which was built on a shaky foundation. As a result, the Great Depression remained inevitable due to poor economic diversification, uneven distribution of wealth and poor international debt structure. However, although the Depression shook much of American society and culture, the capitalist system survived, the American people remained receptive and the belief in the "American way of life" didn't falter throughout the long years of economic despair.
The Great Depression is one of the worst time for America. Books, cartoons, and articles have been written about the people during the Depression and how they survived in that miserable period. For example, the book Bud not Buddy takes place in the time of the Great Depression. Bud is a ten year old orphan, who was on the run trying to find his dad. There are many feelings throughout the book like sadness and scarceness. There are many diverse tones in the book about what people were feeling at the time.
The Great Depression is a sad era in United States History. The Great Depression was a massive economic depression. It affected many people’s lives across the United States. People’s lifestyles changed dramatically going into the Great Depression. There were many factors that caused the Great Depression.
Cinderella Man came out in the year 2005, it is a non fiction movie directed by Ron Howard. It is based on the story of a boxer during the Depression, James J. Braddock. Braddock had to over come many adversities such as the economical and societal conditions. Another adversity he had to overcome was living in the Depression and all the things that go along with that. Braddock’s character traits shown in the movie are all important and appropriate due to the harshness of those times.
They left people without jobs, homes, and money. In the story “Digging In” by Robert J. Hastings it explains how people did anything to make money for their families even if it was only for 5 dollars. Even with these hard times some people still had hope like it showed in “Depts” by Karen Hesse. In this poem a farmer had hope that rain would come to grow his dying wheat while his wife didn’t think so. This was a very stressful time right until president Roosevelt made some changes. In the article “The New Deal” it explains how Roosevelt helped end the great depression with programs that gave millions of people jobs. The great depression was a very hard, stressful, and sad time for the american people that had many
When the United States were showing signs of economical growth, the unimaginable happen. When the 1929 stock market crash marked the day that the United States slowly crept into the Great Depression. The Great Depression caused nationwide panic. There was a decrease of production and the sale of goods. Many businesses started to collapse and close. Banks closed down since they took people’s money and invest in stocks. When the stocks crashed, banks went bankrupt and people lost their money and savings. Then there was a rise in unemployment and thousands of workers lost their jobs. Countless amount of people were homeless and they were trying their best to save their money. People were trying to figure out how to deal with their economic difficulties. During that time, people wanted to escape from their problems. They would watch movies and listen to music. At the time Jazz music was very popular. Jazz music had musical freedom and the songs show the way many people felt. It had the power to lift the gloomy spirits of the people affected. Jazz music has a style that appeal to many people, both young and old. One of the earlier Jazz
Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire are two of many breakthrough dancers, actors, performers, of their time. They are considered to be a couple of the many pioneers of dance in Hollywood. While Astaire received most of the recognition for dance in this era, both Rodgers and Astaire contributed equally a great amount to dance and the dance world especially when they came together in partnership. The book, Fred & Ginger -The Astaire Rodgers Partnership, written by Hannah Hyam, provides background information on both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers leading up to their iconic partnership that would forever influence partner dance. This book also describes each film the pare appeared on screen together as well as their individual successes and the mark they left on dance. Author Hannah Hyam is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader focusing on academic and educational views of texts. Her book Fred & Ginger was her
This period of time, people had to go through a lot. It left people with mental issues. It left people working day and night for their families. It also had families using many things for various purposes, and businesses were losing large amounts of money. The Great Depression left emotional scars on all the people that went through it.
The Cinderella Man In the movie the Cinderella man who is called James jay Braddock and he is a fighter and in his first fight he broke his hand and had a cast on for 6-8 weeks when he broke his hand the second time he got deregisted from the boxing industry until his hand was healed he could get back into the boxing industry so he could fight again and he fights to keep his family out of poverty. At the start of the movie he was fighting a boxer and he won a lot of money and then in a week or two he had no money left to feed his wife and children and he suffered in the great depression badly cause it was hard to get a job to earn money to get food for his family and one of his kids got sick so he went down to the docks to get work to earn Money
During this time, the Bee Gees were gaining popularity, and a lot of their music is featured in Saturday Night Fever. Their music, combined with the dancing, influenced the way that dance began to change. There was the emergence of more disco style dance being incorporated into jazz dance. “The 1970s also saw the huge impact of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, which boosted the image of the male dancer…” (Nalett). Seeing a male actor starring in a dancing role in a feature film was a great encouragement for men to dance. They had a sense of security that it was “cool” and
The Great Depression strongly affected people all over the United States for a period of time. People were losing their jobs everyday. Unemployment was the highest it had ever been. Although the government was trying to make jobs for people, the arts, like theater, were still struggling immensely. In New York alone, there were only six theaters open between January until June. The Federal Theater Project (FTP) was the biggest controversial issue of all. There was not much being done to help save the FTP. Everything being tried, failed. They were using important money for wasteful projects. For instance a radio show helped the community, however it wasted money that could be used for more important problems.
The Great Depression is a time in the history of the United States that people have learned and gained knowledge from. Its harsh times and conflicts have been written about in books, seen in movies, talked about on radios, and told to families throughout the generations. Seeing how life was during the 1930s in the movie, The Cinderella Man, was a great eye opener to how the people of this time truly survived and kept their true humanity in times of havoc. The time of the 1930s should be an inspiration to the nation and cause many to do well and live life smart and prosperous.
Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth,and depth than this one.(The Great Depression1). This quote stated how hard the Great Depression hit Americans at this time. Spending money on entertainment such as movies, books,comics,or magazines was out of the question for most people. That helped Americans escape from troubles for a while. This is called escapism or a mental diversion by means of entertainment or as an" escape" from the unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life.
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United Sates. No event has yet to rival The Great Depression to the present day today although we have had recessions in the past, and some economic panics, fears. Thankfully the United States of America has had its shares of experiences from the foundation of this country and throughout its growth many economic crises have occurred. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors ("The Great Depression."). In turn from this single tragic event, numerous amounts of chain reactions occurred.
When F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby in 1925, it was impossible for him to predict that only four years later his story would be enacted in real-life during the Great Depression. There are many prophetic symbols in the novel that tie The Great Gatsby and the Great Depression together.