Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
hollywood, studio system, America, Germany, propaganda, media, Jewish, exile, European Film Fund
Department
Creative Writing
Major
Creative Writing
Abstract
I am currently writing a feature-length screenplay entitled Klara based on true events and people surrounding the rise of Nazi Germany and the exile of Jewish-German intellectuals to America during 1933-1945. The narrative is grounded in the work of the European Film Fund (1938-1948), the Paul Kohner Talent Agency, and the various agents of propaganda at work both in Nazi Germany and America during this time period. Through my research I hope to explicate how Jewish-German exile in America influenced not only those exiled, but also the burgeoning American film industry and how the cross-cultural intersection of media propaganda, both through Goebbels in Germany and the Studio System in America, affected the world at large. My oral presentation will focus on how those with ties to the American media of the 1940s used it to influence public opinion about individuals (actors, producers, etc) as well as the war effort as a whole. I believe this topic is more important than ever in today’s media-controlled world, and that learning and expounding upon the past is the surest way of preventing similar atrocities from occurring in the present.
Faculty Mentor
John Struloeff
Funding Source or Research Program
Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative
Presentation Session
Session B
Location
Plaza Classroom 190
Start Date
24-3-2017 3:30 PM
End Date
24-3-2017 3:45 PM
Included in
Jewish Studies Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Screenwriting Commons
Hollywood, the Media, and the Alteration of Image in the 1940s
Plaza Classroom 190
I am currently writing a feature-length screenplay entitled Klara based on true events and people surrounding the rise of Nazi Germany and the exile of Jewish-German intellectuals to America during 1933-1945. The narrative is grounded in the work of the European Film Fund (1938-1948), the Paul Kohner Talent Agency, and the various agents of propaganda at work both in Nazi Germany and America during this time period. Through my research I hope to explicate how Jewish-German exile in America influenced not only those exiled, but also the burgeoning American film industry and how the cross-cultural intersection of media propaganda, both through Goebbels in Germany and the Studio System in America, affected the world at large. My oral presentation will focus on how those with ties to the American media of the 1940s used it to influence public opinion about individuals (actors, producers, etc) as well as the war effort as a whole. I believe this topic is more important than ever in today’s media-controlled world, and that learning and expounding upon the past is the surest way of preventing similar atrocities from occurring in the present.