Visual Arts and Film Studies

Cultural Tensions in 1950s Hollywood Film
Project description
One of the premises of this course is that Hollywood films of the 1950s were made on the cusp of historical changes that continue to shape US culture today. Choose a film among those we have studied that you find particularly relevant today and write an essay in which you argue:

[INSERT FILM] resolves certain cultural tensions [INSERT SPECIFIC TENSIONS] in ways that are similar to how we continue to resolve similar tensions today.

Be specific! What cultural issues or tensions does the film address? How does the film resolve those tensions? How are our attitudes about related issues similar or identical today? How do we continue to resolve specific cultural tensions in ways that are similar to those adopted by the film?

EXAMPLE

Rebel Without a Cause (Ray, 1955) resolves the tension between the traditional concept of masculinity as defined through public action and an emerging concept of masculinity as centered in the family in ways that are similar to how we continue to resolve the tension between an active and a more passive masculinity today.

NOTE: THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, be sure to support all of your claims with SPECIFIC DETAILS from the film, much like you did in your writing exercises.

List of films:
02: On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)
03: Marty (Mann, 1955)
04: The Bigamist (Lupino, 1953)
05: Rebel Without a Cause (Ray, 1955)
06: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956)
07: All That Heaven Allows (Sirk, 1956)
08: The Girl Can’t Help It (Tashlin, 1956)
09: Some Like it Hot (Wilder, 1959)
10: Eyes on the Prize, Episodes 1&2 (Hampton, 1987)
11: 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
12: High Noon (Zinnemann, 1952)
13: Rio Bravo (Hawks, 1959)
14: Paths of Glory (Kubrick, 1957)