Jordan Loftin
Prompt 1- Agree
Prompt 1- Agree
Throughout
the movie Cinderella Man, I was able to feel empathy towards men and women
during the Great Depression. Not only was this movie historically accurate, but hearing and seeing actions happen made it much easier for me to understand what
occurred. For example, this movie conveyed reasons women and men experienced
stress differently, and strategies available for survival.
One of the
many accuracies of this movie had to do with the unemployment of 1.5 million
Americans during this time. Knowing how many people we have in this world, it
does not seem like too many people to say 1.5 million. Shock hit me when I saw
men waking up every day and begging to be able to work on the dock. Only about
ten men were chosen each day, can you imagine? Men were not able to support
their families. A quote from the movie I remember directly was, “Women have to
wait for men to fix every thing and men feeling like they have failed them
every day.” This statement was very true for this time, women had to sit at
home with the children and try and make every thing seem okay, when it was far
from being okay.
Some people
depended on others during this time, but some hated the thought of getting
help. The movie showed this by placing Jim Braddock in line at the government relief
office asking for money with a sad look on his face, showing the viewers the
struggles people had with being poor. I saw starving kids asking their parent if they could have more food, and drunken
men stumbling down the street who did not know what to do with their lives.
Religion is big during any time of struggle. For example, Jim and his wife prayed every
day hoping they would be okay. When they lost electricity and heat, they
prayed. But not only did some people rely on religion, they denied it. People
wondered to themselves why they are stuck here in this miserable life if they
have the almighty God. And that made some people give up.
In
conclusion, I agree Cinderella Man showed historical accuracy and helped me
learn more about the Great Depression. They were dramatic about Max Baer’s
character, making him seem like a mean man, and less dramatic about the fact
that Braddock’s family in real life had five boys and two girls. In the movie they only had two boys and one girl. But does
that not help you realize how much harder it was for them? Taking care of nine
people? Sometimes you have to be more dramatic or less dramatic to convey what
the true meaning of a time like this was. Women were hopeless, and men were hopeless, the Great Depression was heart breaking.
