[75 years ago, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), usually referred to instead as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), built on its new status as a standing committee in the US House of Representatives and held its first trials. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of layers to that controversial committee and its influences and legacies, leading up to a weekend post on pop culture representations!]
On two
novels and four films that represent different sides to these fraught
histories.
1)
The
Book of Daniel (1971) and The
Public Burning (1977): I wrote at length about E.L. Doctorow and Robert
Coover’s Rosenberg-inspired historical novels, and a little bit about Tony
Kushner’s Angels in America, in
this post—here I’ll just add that historical fiction is a particularly apt
genre to explore these themes, as of course questions of truth and fiction,
history and story, narratives and audiences could not be more central to any
events and issues.
2)
The Front (1976): The Front is probably best remembered as
the last time Woody Allen acted in someone else’s film, before the mega-success
of Annie Hall (1977) made him a
full-time filmmaker (and actor in many of his own films). He does give a
compelling tragicomic performance as the titular front, a small-time 1950s bookie
enlisted by a blacklisted friend to pretend that the friend’s TV scripts are
his own. But the film is far more noteworthy as a collaboration between a
number of formerly blacklisted artists, including screenwriter Walter
Bernstein, director Martin
Ritt, and actor Zero
Mostel among others.
3)
The Majestic (2001): Director
Frank Darabont clearly set out to make a deliberately Capra-esque film with
this historical melodrama about McCarthyism and the movies, and Jim Carrey,
while demonstrating (for one of the first times) that he had acting chops
beyond his silly comedies to that point, was no Jimmy Stewart. But I do really
like the way the film’s mistaken identity plot creates a clear parallel between
a World War II hero and a blacklisted artist, helping us think about active
and critical patriotism in direct conversation.
4)
Good Night, and Good Luck (2005): Speaking
of critical patriotism, few 20th century figures demonstrated that
concept more potently than did Edward
R. Murrow, never more so than in his vocal opposition to
Senator Joseph McCarthy. George Clooney made that moment and man the focus of
his directorial debut, with the great David Straithairn giving one of his
countless stellar
performances as Murrow. This is quite simply one of the best American films
of the 21st century, and a vital cultural representation of the
McCarthy era to boot.
5)
Trumbo (2015): I
haven’t had a chance to see Jay Roach’s 2015 film, based on Bruce
Alexander Cook’s biography Trumbo
(1976) and starring Bryan
Cranston as the blacklisted screenwriter, and I welcome reviews in
comments! I’ll just say that I hope the week’s series has made clear how many
compelling stories, both individual and collective, are linked to this fraught
and telling historical period. I look forward to more pop culture storytelling,
and yes more public scholarly blogging, about it!
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Other pop culture representations, and/or other histories or
contexts, you’d highlight?
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