How the "Red Scare" Influenced Hollywood

Paper Summary:

This paper considers how Hollywood and the entire movie industry were affected by the "Red Scare" i.e. communist paranoia from 1947-1954. It looks at how screenwriters, directors and actors were blacklisted for no reason and how some of these people did not work in Hollywood for over a decade as a result. It examines how fear swept through tinsel town and how many jobs, as well as friendships were lost. It also looks at how the film industry grew as many Hollywood studio executives defended themselves by producing a slew of anti-Communist movies.

From the Paper:

"The House of Un-American Activities Committee, HUAC, had existed in the 1920's and 1930's during the first Red Scare in American history, but had faded away during World War II. It had not been held in very high regard and really had not had much affect (Red pg). However, in 1947, under the leadership of Representative Parnell Thomas, R-NJ, the HUAC was brought back to life with three definite goals. First, the HUAC was determined to prove that the Screen Writers' Guild had been heavily infiltrated by Communists. Second, it intended to prove that the writers could and would insert subversive Communist propaganda into movies. And third, it aimed to show that during World War II, Hollywood had purposely produced pro-Soviet films (Red pg)."

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