The Influence Of Hollywood In The 1950's

The major influencers of the 1940’s and 1950’s American film scene were the landmark anti-trust case with Paramount and the initiation of the Hollywood blacklist. Beginning in the run-up to World War II and lasting until the 1960’s these two elements shaped the persona of film in the United States. These two events caused the direction of Hollywood to favor independent filmmakers, reduce Hollywood’s influence on the motion picture distribution and presentation chain and removed qualified actors, actresses, producers and directors from directly working with American motion pictures. The Paramount decision was a Supreme Court decision which took many years to conclude with many of the benefits still existing today. The case of United States …show more content…
Many accused personalities ended up flipping on their comrades and to a sadder extent it seems like many innocent people were not allowed to work in Hollywood anymore. Many actors such as Charlie Chaplin were not allowed access to Hollywood and in Chaplin’s experience he was not allowed back into the country for a period of time. Writers who were blacklisted had the opportunity to write for films but were not allowed to take credit. This pseudonym style of writing allowed people to continue in the industry under a friend or even fictitious person’s name. The blacklist itself was a tool which extricated many outspoken people in Hollywood whether or not they were even communists. Dissenters, activists and problematic individuals were removed to make way for a more patriotic if placid workforce. These two issues provided to shape Hollywood for the future. The studio system was eventually crushed and the Hollywood red scare drove its workers to become less outspoken and more in line with perceived ideas of the time. Many people were hurt and studios were affected negatively by these