Film During The 1950's: Film Analysis

America Televising the Holocaust During the 1950’s

The events that took place during the Holocaust began to make its way to film during post-World War II America. In the 1950’s, the film The Diary of Anne Frank, and the Judgment at Nuremberg and the TV show This is Your Life gave the American audience an understanding of the disturbing events. The objective, of most TV and film writers that chose to portray the Holocaust, was to get the American audience to connect with the Jewish people. Through watching universalized versions of the Holocaust American audiences were easily able to identify with the subject and characters on film because they were able to relate it to themselves as well as current events in America. Nice introduction
In the Diary of Anne Frank, Anne barely touches on the subject of the holiday. During this time period, Hanukkah was not a noted holiday compared to Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. But, film writers of the The Diary of Anne Frank made the holiday the climax of the film which ultimately leads Americans to believe that Hanukkah had great meaning in the Jewish religion. Both Hanukkah and Christmas share similarities: they both take place around the same time of year, gifts are being received as well as given and there are decorations relating to both holidays. I believe the writers purposely did this to show that Jews aren’t so different from Americans and can relate to Americans from a religious stand. In these films they began to broaden the views from Jews alone, to all minorities that could relate to having been forced to assimilate and
In the film The Diary of Anne Frank, such changes were made often to secure audience identification. “In the beginning of the film, Anne explains the anti-Jewish laws using the term “we”-we had to wear yellow stars- instead of ‘Jews had to wear yellow stars,’ as is written in the diary.”(Doneson pg.73) The simple change in word may seem insignificant but it does overall change the meaning of her statement. The word “we” generalizes the statement. This makes it relatable to anyone who has undergone similar suffering and racial oppression. At this time especially, African Americans had been undergoing similar situations. In 1960’s America, the black man had taken place of the Jew man As Elie Wiesel has affirmed “…It’s vocabulary takes one back a quarter of a century… The Blacks rise up in the “ghettos”… The police use “gas” to disperse demonstrations… The Watts and Harlem riots are compared to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising… Political analysts talk of nuclear “holocausts.”” (Dodsen pg.1) It is obvious that the Holocaust has left an impression on the American culture. The language and knowledge of the Holocaust has spread within the country and the minds of the Americans, and brings an understanding of the problem and what