Hoovervilles In The 1930's

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Cinderella Man “Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the basic strength of business in the United States is foolish,” Herbert Hoover stated when addressing the economy in the 1930’s. Sadly, the statement turned out to be false once the economy plummeted. The Great Depression took many americans by surprise, causing havoc wherever it reached. Many citizens of the United States invested everything to the stock market, and in turn were left on the streets with nothing after the economic crash of the 1920’s. Many years after the Great Depression Hollywood had been inspired to showcase snippets of how life was like in the Great Depression. One of those inspirations was James Braddock’s life as a boxer in the midst of chaos that was …show more content…

Certainly, the movie showed how Hoovervilles were a sad place to be. In the movie, Hoovervilles are portrayed as a dangerous place because a scene showed many police officers on horses arguing with civilians, and citizens looking out the windows with a look of trepidation, which gave a picture of disarray, and disfunction inside the Hooverville. In real life, Hoovervilles had a small governing system and were able to function like an actual city, as long as they held unto the sanitary laws. Only men were allowed to live in these small towns, but occasionally women, and children would come in and out of the Hoovervilles. The movie showed the disfunction of the police and the male society, the shacks of the homeless males, and how indigent was the life of a Hooverville citizen. Even though facts were left out in the movie, Cinderella Man portrayed the lives of many middle class families across America in a beautiful picture of hope during the Great Depression. Cinderella Man gave examples of how James Braddock and his children survived on small provisions everyday, exposed Hoovervilles as dark slums, and portrayed how difficult getting a job was. Overall Cinderella Man did an amazing job on portraying the Great Depression during the