Film Analysis: The Great Shake Up

One contrast that seemed to jump out at me when comparing the movie of Seabiscuit to class lectures and videos, was the portrayal of hoboes during the Great Depression. There is a short clip in the movie showing several hoboes in a box car on a train (Ross, 25). In this scene, there is melancholy music in the background, and the men’s facial expressions seem to be filled with a look of hopelessness. We have also discussed in class lectures the sad predicaments that men left their families in when they felt like they had to desert them in order to join the several other thousands of hoboes. This portrayal heavily contrasts with a video we watched in class titled “The Great Shake Up.” In this video there are several references that seem to glorify
the life of the hobo, focusing on what some consider to be perks, instead of talking about the devastating scenarios of men leaving their families to fend for themselves in such hard times. The narrator of the video refers to the large number of hoboes, as the “golden age of the American hobo (Great Shake Up, 23.) They interviewed men who were, or are, hoboes, and they placed an upbeat, uplifting music in the background while the men were talking about their experiences. The men referenced that they were better than beggars, because they worked. It was if they were trying to get people to see them in a way that did not make them looked down upon. In fact, they referred to being a part of the brotherhood of boes, like it was a privilege to be a part of. One gentleman was bragging about how the women would refer to him as one of the “gentlemen of the road (Great Shake Up, 24), as if it was something to be proud of. The narrator goes on to finish by including the men had numerous epiphanies to experience while on the road, with the open skies and stars as their inspiration. All of these examples greatly differ from the scene in the movie, along with what has been discussed in class.