Directed By: Mervyn LeRoy

1.            How does the film relate to Chapter 21 in Foner? A solid answer should cover at least two themes from Foner.

Mervyn LeRoy’s The Gold Diggers of 1933 focuses of the hardships that four girls go through during the Great Depression, this film relates to chapter 21 in the film because Foner discusses how the depression effected the lives of many Americans. Overall I don’t think that chapter 21 in the book closely related to the film because the film focused more on the effects of the Great Depression. Chapter 21 in the book focused more upon how President Roosevelt fights to end the depression. Foner states, “During the 1930s, artists and writers who strove to create socially meaningful works eagerly took up the task of depicting daily lives of ordinary farmers and city dwellers” (828). Even though this is not greatly related to the big picture or plot of the film, this describes what Barney, the producer, depicted. He wanted to entertain his audience with want was going on during that time not only as a social commentary but also greatly what life was portrayed as with entertainment and comedy tied within.

I think that the greatest significance between the movie and the book was Foner discussion of how The Neal Deal affected American women. The First lady helps women and encourages them to stand up for themselves and get involved with societies decisions allowing women to speak up about their opinions and rights. In the film, the four ladies do the same. They stand up for their own rights and are so independent that they deal with the negative effects of the depression on their own without a man on money on their side. In the film the women use the method that works for them the most to get a paying job. The three women, Trixie, Carol, and Polly live together in a small apartment to help each other pay for a proper place to live dividing the costs among the three of them.

However, as mentioned earlier this film was not the best resemblance to the chapter 21 by Foner. The film focuses more on the aspect of what life was like during the depression and mentions very little to nothing about how President Roosevelt attempted to help the United States from this economic decay.

1.            How are gender roles and sexuality represented in the film? You might wish to select one or two characters to use as examples to answer this question but you can address everyone in the cast as well.

In this film, gender roles and sexuality are definitely performed to be noticeable by the audience.  The ladies in this film, specifically the main characters, Carol, Trixie, and Polly, all use their female gender as well as sexuality in order be able to be employed during the time of the Great Depression. A good example of this was in the scene where one of the ladies is going to go meet with Barney, the producer of a new musical. Only one of them can go because they don’t have proper clothing that they can wear in front of him. The girls want to use sexuality as a tool in order to get hired and star in his play. Also one of the big parts of this film was when Carol pretends to be Polly to Brad’s brother, Lawrence, who uses sexual appeal and shows off as a gold digger, which is what Lawrence expected from a girl like Polly and the social class that she comes from. Trixie also uses sexual appeal to seduce Peabody, the banker. Carol mainly uses her gender and sexuality in order to receive money that Lawrence would pay her for saying no to marry Brad, as Polly. Women, known as gold diggers, use their gender and sexual appeal to help benefit themselves from wealthy men. By doing this she proves to Lawrence that Polly is actually a gold digger and is willing to do anything to get some money, even let go of the man that she loves. She musical numbers performed in this film also portray sexual appeal. This film shows that women were becoming more independent, even during the rough times in history. They would make important choices in their lives on there own such as a career path and marriage. Women started speaking up about issues related to society that influenced them, there voice was reached to the rest of the public.

2.            Can the idea of a story of a musical within an actual Hollywood musical film been seen as a form of social commentary about the Great Depression? In other words, is The Gold Diggers of 1933 simply a form of entertainment or would we as historians interpret the film, thinking of it as a primary document, as a form of social critique?  

Watching the film, The Gold Diggers of 1933, historians of this time would definitely think of this as a form of social critique. However, I think this was a film about what was going on at this time in history with an entertaining twist. This film portrays what was really going on during the great depression as many Americans were struggling financially and were unemployed. The real conditions that most families faced during the Great Depression were reflected during the film, however there was also comedy and cheerfulness apart of the plot which allowed the audience to have some sort of attraction to the film and be able to enjoy the film and escape from there troubles for a short while. Looking at this film in a historical perspective, President Roosevelt recently elected allows the residents of the United States to have a new vision in hope of being able to get through the Great Depression as new policies were going to be set into place. I think the parts of the film that attracted the audiences’ attention the most were the musical number performed such as, “we’re in the Money”, “Pettin in the Park”, and “My Forgotten Man”. This film does not only lay out the situation during that Great Depression and just leave it to that, but instead it also take into account the entertainment aspect and a societal review of what these times were like. Apart from the Great Depression this film outlines the relationship between the rich and the poor. In the beginning of the film Lawrence and Peabody were both viewed as villains during the film as they attempt to separate Polly and Brad. They both viewed Carol and Trixie as just showgirls, however, during the film they change their feeling about the girls presenting to the audience that the rich are not as bad as most middle class and the poor think, they too have a heart. The film showed the relationship between the rich and the poor with a new twist.

3.            Pick one of the musical numbers—“We’re in the Money,” “Pettin’ in the Park, or “My Forgotten Man”—and first analyze what is happening in the scene and then explain what you think the “message” is to the audience.

The musical numbers that were performed in this film not only give the audience a sort of appealing enjoyment/entertainment but they also provide a cultural understanding of what life was like. The opening musical number, “We’re in the Money” the scene introduces the singing chorus, which shows the sexual appeal that these show girls present to the audience. This send out a message to the audience stating how women might use their sex appeal as a way to earn an income, which was reinforced with their costumes which were made with large coins covering very little of their body. The scene soon came to an end as Barney realized the show was coming to an end due to unpaid bills. One of the lines of this song in the beginning clearly states the meaning of this song, “The long lost dollar has come back to the fold with silver you can turn your dreams to gold”. This message gives the audience an insight, that things are soon about to change and once the economy comes back to normal people will be happy and live their lives, as they should. This song sends a message out to the audience saying what life is going to be like when money comes back into their lives, sadness and tears are gone. “We’re in the money. The skies are sunny. Old man Depression, you are through. You’ve done us wrong”. One of the verses also mentions looking the landlord right in the eye because now they would actually have money to pay him back and not keep running from him trying to stall. The songs main point was give the audience a vision about having money to spend and live life as planned. This song allowed the audience to have an optimist look towards the depression helping them get over it even if it was for a little while. 

Review

I think I would give this film a 4 out of 5. It had a nice plot and I really enjoyed the film, because it really gave me a good idea of what life was like during the Great Depression. I liked how the film was about a serious matter but it still contained some humor allowing the audience to enjoy a film about a time that was very upsetting. I also liked how this film probably allowed the public of that time to look at things with an optimistic view.