The Great Depression was a period of great struggle for many people throughout the entire United States. Many men had trouble simply being able to put bread on the table for their large families. The 1930’s was especially a tough time for the man of the household because any kind of work was very hard to find. Cinderella Man, a movie that details the life of James J. Braddock, a rich man turned poor turned pro boxer, seems to accurately portray the events and struggles of the Great Depression.
The movie begins with the Braddock family living a comfortable life; a beautiful, spacious house and a picture perfect family. After reading chapter 25, which details the events of the Great Depression, many events in this film seem to be very true. To begin with, the family, after the Stock Market crash has lost everything and immediately has to down size to something they now can afford. They move to a below ground level apartment, where they can barely keep the electricity and gas on. In many cases this is how life began to shape families. Since James was out of work he begins to go down to the docks, along with many other husbands and fathers who were also looking for work, to be randomly picked for a job that barely paid anything. Many men in large cities such as New York, Chicago or Boston would also be faced with the same battle for a job; since there were so many people living in such a small radius of each other. Another historical accuracy was the millions of people going to the relief centers to accept aid. I feel that the most accurate portrayal was when he went to the relief center so reluctantly, because he was too self-proud. Nearly every man had that same feeling of not wanting to rely on someone else to provide for their families. Back then, and still in today’s times men think that they are the bread winners and women are supposed to be domesticated and stay in the house. The final accuracy was the use of radio to bring people together. In every scene of the film where Mr. Braddock is fighting, all kinds of people—men at bars, families at church and his kids in a basement—were listening to a single radio waiting to hear the outcome. Radio brought many people together in ways that we today think of as not technologically advanced and old.
Cinderella Man was a very much historically accurate film depicting the Great Depression. It details the use of many events and items specific to this time period. Radio, relief centers and going to the docks to look for jobs were all accurately portrayed. The Stock Market Crash had a large impact on this period, but in the end allowed our country to evolve into what we are today.
