On The Waterfront Historical Analysis Essay

Historical/ Biographical analysis is the most effective method that may be employed to examine Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg’s play, On the Waterfront, in order to reveal what influenced the authors to create their art. The application of this method reveals several connections between reality and the play. The play’s plot follows the real-life story of the corruption on the New York Harbor, famously reported on by Malcolm Johnson. Characters in the play were also inspired by real people. The authors were also clearly influenced by the atmosphere of fear and accusation created during the McCarthy investigations and their own involvement in facing the House Un-American Activities Committee. To begin, On the Waterfront was based on the series …show more content…
These characters and their stories were based upon the real events that unfolded during the mob’s hold on the New York Harbour. Filmsites Movie review states that the protagonist was modeled after the real-life whistleblower, Anthony De Vincenzo. The main antagonist was reflective of the mobster Albert Anastasia, and Pat Henning’s character, Kayo Dugan, mirrored Father John’s disciple, Arthur Brown. These characters were certainly based upon real people, but perhaps the real person who was most involved in creating his character in the film was Father Corridan. An analysis by James Martin reveals how the leader of the resistance, Father Barry, was influenced by and inspired from the true story of Father Corridan, “Schulberg was soon treated to a tour of the waterfront by one of Corridan's longshoreman disciples, Arthur ‘Brownie’ Brown. One lengthy pub crawl turned into an obsession for Schulberg, who became a tireless advocate of waterfront reform and a great admirer of Corridan, whom he considers the greatest individual he has ever known.” Schulberg was greatly inspired not only by Corridan’s work, but also by the man himself. He based the moral driver of the story on Corridan, and later even published a novel on his activism on the New York Harbour. Schulberg and Kazan based their characters on the real people who were involved in the …show more content…
The atmosphere to the era was ridden with fear and distrust, where no one knew who to trust as friends often accused friends in order to avoid imprisonment themselves, and where “enemies” may be hiding as the friendly neighbor, or the helpful friend. Schulberg and Kazan used this as the basic feel for their play; except here, threatening to accuse others often lead to injury or even death, which likely reflects the side Kazan was on during the investigations as the accuser. Kazan was accused of communist sympathies and confessed, naming others as communist sympathisers, which caused the break between him and his best friend, Arthur Miller. He undoubtedly wanted to use the play to justify his accusations against those he knew “for the good of the people” and so made the heroic action that saved everyone in the play the accusation and testimony by the protagonist against a corrupt group. According to an analysis by Filmsite Movie Review, “Terry Malloy’s testimony against his own corrupt group paralleled director Elia Kazan’s self-justifying admissions before the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC)… regarding his one-time membership in the Communist party and the naming of others who were sympathizers. Kazan attempted to vindicate himself politically with this semi-autobiographical film- the justification of naming names (‘squealing’) to