Friday, May 13, 2011

Movies killed the original hobo.

In class, we were trying to figure out when the hobo became such a fantastical lifestyle. Well, I have reached the conclusion it was mainly influenced by the 1930s films that were produced after the Great Depression. During the downtimes of America people have always escaped to the picture shows to see worlds that were greater than the outside one. Therefore, directors and producers created images of a false reality that the people could relat
e to but also enjoy and be happy in the situations they were in. This is more than likely the reason the lifestyle of the hobo life became romanticized and seemed so appealing, rather than a dirty dangerous life.

I found this one clip on youtube how they took the famous "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum again" and made it into a fun and happy song and an old picture show. Hope you like it!




2 comments:

  1. Wow - Al Jolson in a light little comedy, 1933 -- I think you're on to something. Here's the IMDB listing.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024083/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh great! Thanks! I added in the movie poster from that site!

    ReplyDelete