People and Groups:
- Thomas A. Edison - invented the original movie projector in the late 1800s
- D.W. Griffith - directed first full length movie, The Birth of a Nation (1915)
- Al Jolson - first "talkie" flim star in The Jazz Singer
- Rudolph Valentino, Lillian Gish, Clara Bow, Charlie Chaplin - some of the major film stars of the silent era/ early talkie period of filmmaking
What Happened:
- Hollywood became a factory for the American dream
- Movie making and film production was dominated by immigrants, who created a fantasy world to attract the American people
- Films started out as silent, without any dialogue, but the imagery was so exciting that American viewers were hooked. In the late twenties, sound was introduced and the audience could actually hear their favorite actors/actresses speak on screen. The "talkies" gave rise to a whole new level of story telling
- All kinds of action films were made, like westerns and gangster films, but with sound, romance and dramas began as well
- Critics thought movies were too vulgar, but the public loved them and had a unifying effect of culture.
- Movies also served as useful governemnt propaganda. They sold American values
primary sources:
Short clip of a silent film of the 20s starring Charlie Chaplin
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Short clip of another slient film from 1927, featuring Clara Bow
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