ia_2011_c_borja

=Evaluation of Sources (250-400 words) Tips]=

"The Public Enemy" directed by William A. Wellman. Values of this source can be seen in terms of its origins, the director was William A Welman, a very successful director at the time  [1 ] . The film has been praised as one of the greatest gangster films made until now, receiving a perfect percentage in the review website “rotten tomatoes”, and was even nominated for an Oscar the year of its release. Most importantly the film was produced in 1931, when prohibition ended two years later therefore it is very likely to depict accurately the way life was at the time. In terms of its purpose this source was meant to represent the criminal troubles that plagued the country at that time due to the prohibition act. The source does also have certain limitations. In terms of its origins, the director William A. Wellman, although he produced many films considered master pieces, he and his films were blatantly ignored by cineastes after his death, showing that he wasn’t as big role in the film industry as it might seem at first. William A. Wellman was considered to be a machist, and he even gave up acting considering it unmanly, and when the film came out several women’s group protested at the grapefruit scene. (View Appendix 8) In terms of the purpose of this source, there were conditions to representing crime in the films at the time; it was written in the production code that although that crime could be represented it could never go unpunished in any way. To emphasize this director even added a post-script which read “the end of Tom Powers is the end of every Hoodlum…” it has also been recriminated to try to cover a far too big ground in terms of telling the story of rise of gangsterism

"Prohibition: Thirteen years that changed America" by Edward Behr. The values of this source can be measured in terms of its origins; Edward Behr is a quite successful historian writing several award winning books about different periods of time.  [1 ]  In terms of the purpose of the book, it was written as a non-fiction study which has been described as a “a n excellent and honest book that does not flinch at unpalatable facts ”  [2 ]  However it does have several limitations, Behr, although a renowned war correspondent was not specialized in the subject of the prohibition in America and thus is likely to not analyze with as much detail as a historian specialized in the subject. He also seems to be very much against the idea of prohibition, clearly showing his bias by calling it naïve and ineffective, and thus is likely to portray more failures and dwell on them, all the while ignoring any successes of prohibition such as the reduction of alcohol consumption from 1.7 gallon per capita in 1914 to 0.6 gallon per capita in 1930 [3]

[1] Books by Edward Behr : ·   Edward Behr (1976). // The Algerian problem //. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press (ISBN: 0837187222). ·   Edward Behr, Illustrated (Illustrator) (1987). // The Last Emperor //. Futura (ISBN: 077368025X). · Edward Behr (1990). Hirohito. New York: Vintage Books (ISBN: 0679731717). · Edward Behr (1991). Kiss the hand you cannot bite. New York: Villard Books (ISBN: 0679401288).

[2] [] (28/8/2010)  [ 3] [] (21/8/2010)

[1] [] (30/8/2010)