Both Sullivan's Travels and Grapes of Wrath portrayed basically the same time period. While watching, I was interested in the portrayals of people of differing status at the time between the two. The two movies took different approaches in the portrayal of certain people throughout, though there were some commonalities.
Grapes of Wrath first off had the poor, the people most affected by the Depression and lack of employment, displayed a tragic figures. Through the intersection of between characters of this type we see how the poor were merely trying to survive, with what seemed at times like the whole world against them. Sullivan's Travels portrayed a similar view of the poor but with a few differences. The poor are at times shown to be out for themselves, not the loosely joined groups in Grapes of Wrath. This is best illustrated by how the two train hoppers react to Sullivan when he and the girl hitch onto a freight train. Additionally it was interesting to see how Sullivan's Travels showed how some of the poor were out for themselves, such as when Sullivan was mugged and dumped on a train. The two films painted similar overall pictures of the unemployed, though Sullivan's Travels showed them in more of a darker light at times.
Another portrayal I found interesting was how both films showed the law as cruel in most cases. From Grapes of Wrath we have the police at the plantation beating and brutalizing workers and later we see how the police at another camp tried to incite a riot in order to dissolve the camp. In Sullivan's Travels we get a similar display when a train yard guard assaults Sullivan and when Sullivan stirkes back he is arrested and sent to a labor camp where he is mistreated by the guards. It is an interesting portrayal that both films seemed to share and demonstrates a view of the cops not actually being righteous characters.
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This is interesting - I was considering doing the same topic but I couldn't get my comparisons concrete enough. I didn't catch the bit about the law being portrayed almost the same, though.
ReplyDeleteThese are interesting ideas, Jameson, especially about the treatment of the poor by the law. Note that Sullivan just knows he can be freed if only he can be identified for who he really is--not just because that proves he's alive, but perhaps because the law listens to rich people where it ignores the poor, or so it seems in these films.
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