EXPOSING THE SOCIETY IN WHICH WE LIVE The Depression had just struck the United States in the early 1930s, leaving many families to cut back on costs and save every penny. However, there was one thing that people could not cut back on and that was going to the movies. With sound just being introduced, people were flocking to their local theater to see the spectacle at hand. Consequently, Hollywood had hit a bump in the road trying to make the transition to sound and adjusting to the American people’s changing taste. Experimentation concluded that films that depicted the lives of the Americans became very popular. “It was during this period that the social-problem film emerged as an important genre” (Roffman 28-1). In this genre, realistic issues could be bought into light for the world to see. Social-problem films followed a certain outline and contained a specific set of characters and specific scenery. The characters that were often gangsters, convicts, fallen women, or someone who acts in an unethical manner often called a shyster. These movies are often shot in alleyways, slums, and parts of a big city. In addition, the hero must be a strong, unprincipled individual “in order to endure in a society crumbling under the weight of its own corruption and ineffectuality”(28-1). Warner Brothers were one of the first to start filming the social- problems genre. They achieved huge financial success when they took the risk in filming I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), which depicts a real social problem of the injustices and cruelties in a chain gang prison in Georgia. To exemplify the brutalities that occurred on the chain gang, one can further analyze a crucial scene that occurred within the film. In one of the scenes, James Allen is out on his first day of “work” smashing boulders. Allen is not familiar with the chain gang’s rules and regulations and is stunned when he witnesses such cruelties. The scene begins with a shot capturing the image of all the prisoners in a seated position. The shot makes it seem as if there aren’t a lot of prisoners because of the way they blend in with the rocks. As the whistle blows, all the prisoners get up, creating an image that there are a lot more of them than expected. They are all packed in a dense area of square footage to show the physical labor they were doing. If they were spread out, the message would not be as powerful. In addition, the prisoners were all purposely given the same striped costumes symbolizing that, it did not matter who you were or how little a crime you committed, you were still a prisoner. The guards, on the other hand, were perceived quite differently. During the shot of all the prisoners working, all the guards were put on high posts and were screaming out orders, which symbolize a sense of power. All the guards had weaponry as well as loose fit clothing. The gun was another symbolization of power while the clothing distinguished the prisoner from the guards. The striped jumpsuits were often heavy and used multiple times while the guards clothing were loose fitting and easier to breathe in. One of the prisoners was hard at work needed to ask permission to go to the bathroom. By the orders of the guard, the prisoner must go in a bush, which in turn is humiliating and inhumane. In addition, when James Allen (Paul Muni) wipes the sweat off his face, a guard runs up to him and punches him in the face knocking him to ground. Paul Muni does a great acting job in this scene. When he falls to the ground, he shows a look of surprise, as well as anger. When he replies “I was wiping the sweat off my face”, his tone suggests that he might cry. With great anger, he gets up and grabs the sledgehammer in an attempt to swing at the guard’s head. The sledgehammer prop was the only source of power James Allen had. Luckily another inmate reminded Allen about the hierarchy of power. Hitting the guard would not solve anything as the guards were still superior and the inmates would still remain in jail. Nevertheless, the prisoners are not even treated like humans; they are treated like animals. The end of the scene brings the most crucial point to the thesis. An inmate has come to his breaking point and can no longer work. The actor’s body language demonstrates that he has grown weak, he has reached his limit, and his arms have come to the point where they can barely function. A reaction shot of the inmates shows the raw emotion of his fatigue and emotion. As the guard comes along, they exchange a quick but important dialogue.
Guard: Come on come on get to work there
Inmate: I gotta quit, my stomach is…
Guard: You get to work or I’ll kick that bellyache up around your ears! Come on move along there! No sympathy for the frail and ailing inmate is shown. The script intends to show the heartless and insensitive behavior that is directed at the inmates. The man is in desperate need of medical attention but the tone in the guard’s voice suggests that he is the least of his worries. In fear of getting struck by one of the guards, the inmate continues to work. Consequently he is not able to work much more and falls to the ground. This would ultimately be the inmate’s last day to live. I Am a Fugitive Of a Chain Gang was one of the most influential films of the early twentieth century. The film reflected the terrible effects of the Great Depression on the common man in its story. Its gritty, uncompromising, critical, and combative look at the unjust and barbaric treatment of criminals in a southern state's prison system presented the American audience the truth of what happened to these men. Many social-problem films such as this one exposes Americans to things that they had never seen. Moreover, It is extraordinary that one scene can demonstrate so much and get across a lot of main points that are depicted in the movie. Through the scripts, the camera angles, costumes, and the acting styles, the movie exposes the inhumanity and injustice of the chain gang system.