Monday, July 20, 2009

How Movies Changed Our Way of Life

By Garrison Henry

Americans and people around the world find a deep passion in watching their favorite movies. It is a past time that we seem to enjoy as we are entertained by our favorite movie genres.

Each year we spend over 100 million dollars renting and buying movies, DVD's and films that match our particular taste in cinema enjoyment. One look at all the theaters and movies houses that grew in America over the past 20 years, one would be inclined to think that our obsession with movies is entirely new to this generation. It is not.

When you look back during the Great Depression and throughout the times when we were engaged in world wars, movie entertainment was scarce. Even worse, people did now have money to pay for movie tickets or go to theaters.

During the 1920's sound was first introduced to movies. It was then that you could watch a movie and actually hear the characters for the first time. Movies that cam out with sound technology were instant hits as people fell in love with actors such as Shirley Temple.

The 1920's saw the release of some of the greatest movie hits during that time. Producers saw how sound affected the movie watching experience and started releasing movies that paralleled real world social experiences such as gangster movies, love and romance and musicals.

During The Great Depression, many people did not have a lot of extra money to spend on entertainment. A movie ticket was equivalent to a meal ticket. So people started turning to entertaining radio shows. Here they could listen to their favorite radio personalities as stories of adventures, mysteries and romance were play out in great detail.

Some of the greatest box office hits during that time included movies by Gloria Swanson, Colleen Moore, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Norma Talmadge, Harold Lloyd and others, all idolized stars.

Musical performances put on by Big Bands were another great hit during the Great Depression. People would listen to these musical shows and stage performances over the radio as an alternative to spending money for movie tickets. It was very popular.

This went over extremely well. People across the country loved it. It was a way for them to briefly escape the hardships they had to endure and enter a fantasy world where they could live out their fantasies through the roles of their favorite movie stars. It kept them entertained and took their minds of the difficulties of life.

Today, even though the country is going through an economic recession, at large we are not encountering the plight they had to endure. With a mouse click or a short drive to a DVD rental store, we have access to tens of thousands of movies and high quality DVD's such as western movies, science fiction, comedy or scary movies. It is amazing how far we have come. - 2361

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