Theatrical Adaptation

Meditation #9 -- Katie Marchant

One thing that really interested me about Cradle Will Rock is how there are multiple stories that are intertwined to where we can possibly see characters from one of the other story lines in the current scene. The major story lines are: Olive Stanton, whom we meet in the very beginning of the film; Hazel Huffman and Tommy Crickshaw; Rockefeller and Diego Rivera; Welles and Houseman, their actors and patron; then there is the story line that crosses almost all of the others, the Margherita Sarfatti story. This film crosses all the barriers of social class and economic background at a breakneck speed that shows how the people of the time were feeling because of the politic situations.

It is kind of confusing to me to try to recreate the story in my mind. I know what happens in the end but it is the order of events that mess me up. This story is a very powerful one and having all of these different stories shows the audience how many people were affected but the Federal Theatre Project and by the Red Scare. Something that really affected me was how Joan Cusack’s character, Hazel Huffman, was so scared by the fact that there were communists within the FTP that she testified against them but she continued to work at the Federal Aid office because she was more scared of not having a job and becoming one of the people on the other side of the desk.

I am not by any means a history buff but from what I know and have read about this period of time, Cradle Will Rock does an excellent job of portraying the chasm between the economic classes and the general feeling of the time. Even if all the events are not exactly factual this film gives its audience something to think about and makes them want to learn more.

posted by Katie Marchant @ 9:57 AM