Grapes Of Wrath Overview

The Ghost Of Tom Joad 1995

Bruce
Springsteen

Parallels of the song and ﬁlm
Saturday, February 6, 2010

For Next Time 1/15 :

----View American Beauty
---Ch. 2 CDRom Quiz (email
results to me) or p. 36 “What is the
primary focus of The Grapes of
Wrath?” Based on your choice address
# 1,2,3,4 or 5. Email me your answer
(ascurato@gmail.com
----Read Chapter 3 of Text

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) is an American drama
ﬁlm directed by John Ford. It was based on the Pulitzer
Prize winning 1939 novel, of the same name, written by
John Steinbeck. The screenplay was written by
Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was
Darryl F. Zanuck.
The ﬁlm is about the Joad family, an Oklahoma family
who after losing their farm during the Great Depression
in the 1930s become migrant workers and end up in
California. The motion picture details their journey
across the United States as they travel to California in
search for work and opportunities for the family
members.


Prelude provided historical backdrop for
the story


Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming
of the Lord:
He is trampling out the vintage where the
grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His
terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.

......the Battle Hymn of the Republic, by Julia Ward Howe:

Steinbeck had unusual difﬁculty devising a title for his novel. "The Grapes of Wrath",
suggested by his wife, Carol Steinbeck, was deemed more suitable than anything the
author could come up with. The title is a reference to the biblical passage Revelation
14:19-20, an apocalyptic appeal to divine justice and deliverance from oppression in
the ﬁnal judgment.


Major Players:
John Steinbeck (February 27,
1902 – December 20, 1968) was
one of the best-known and most
widely read American writers of
the 20th century. He wrote both
the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel
The Grapes of Wrath, published in
1939 and the novella Of Mice and
Men, published in 1937. In all, he
wrote twenty-ﬁve books, including
sixteen novels, six non-ﬁction
books and several collections of
short stories. In 1962 Steinbeck
received the Nobel Prize for
Literature.

Major Players:
John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31,
1973)[1] was an American film director of
Irish heritage famous for both his westerns
such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and
adaptations of such classic 20th-century
American novels as The Grapes of Wrath.
His four Best Director Academy Awards
(1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record still
unmatched, although only one of those films,
How Green Was My Valley, won Best
Picture.
His style of film-making has been Best Director Oscars
tremendously influential, leading colleagues The Informer (1935)
such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles The Grapes of Wrath
to name him as one of the greatest directors (1940)
of all time. In particular, Ford is a pioneer of How Green Was My
location shooting and the extreme long shot Valley (1941)
which frames his characters against a vast,
harsh and rugged natural terrain. The Quiet Man (1952)

Major Players:

Nunnally Hunter Johnson
(December 5, 1897 - March
25, 1977) was an American
ﬁlmmaker who wrote,
produced, and directed ﬁlms.
Johnson was nominated for
the Academy Award for Best
Screenplay in 1940 for The
Grapes of Wrath and the
Directors Guild of America
Best Directors Award in 1956
for The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit.

Major Players:

Darryl Francis Zanuck (September
5, 1902–December 22, 1979) was a
producer, writer, actor and director
who played a major part in the
Hollywood studio system as one of
its longest survivors. Produced The
Grapes of Wrath for his studio,
Twentieth Century Fox


Major Players:

Gregg Toland
(May 29, 1904 - September 26, 1948)

..........a highly inﬂuential American cinematographer
noted for his innovative use of lighting and techniques
such as deep focus.

Effective use of shadows and light in The Grapes of
Wrath


Major Players:

Henry Fonda (May 16,
1905 – August 12, 1982)
was a highly acclaimed
Academy Award-winning
American ﬁlm and stage
actor, best known for his
roles as plain-speaking
idealists. Fonda's subtle,
naturalistic acting style
preceded by many years the
popularization of Method
acting.
Fonda made his mark early
as a Broadway actor, and
made his Hollywood debut
in 1935.


Major Characters:

Tom Joad

---Film’s main character....

---totally flawed.

--shows the most development.

--- exemplifies the moral journey from self to
community, from “I” to “we.”

---Moves from caring only for himself to a familial
loyalty and finally, to seeing the entire world as his
family.

---Kind and often merciful, yet quick to anger and
fiercely independent.
------Pragmatic
---standing in contrast to the idealistic and talkative
Jim Casy.


John Carradine

Jim Casy

----A former preacher .

----Wanders about trying to come
to terms with his own ideas about God,
holiness, and sin.

--- Believes: all souls are
just a small portion of a larger soul.

----Serves the film as an observer a speaker and teacher.

---He shares his theories with Tom, who is an impatient, but
not unwilling listener.

--- Jim Casy is the moral spokesman of the film and is often
considered a Christ-figure.

Ma Joad
---The emotional and physical backbone
of the family.
--- Primary obligation: is to take care of
her family, to provide them with
nourishment, comfort, healing, and
support.
----Her unflappable strength binds
everyone together. Ma finds this strength
in love.
----She is the embodiment of Casy’s idea
of love, possessing the same intuitive
sense of morality that Tom has. Although
her primary focus is to take care of her
own family, she is the first to nurture
others. As Casy observes, “She don’t Jane Darwell
forget nobody.”


Some things to look for in the ﬁlm

Evolution of “I”


Purity of language
Characters introduced through
stories..........Jim Casey
Why isn’t he a preacher anymore?


Cinematography ---Gregg Toland

Effective use of
shadow and
light.

How do these visual images impact these characters
and their story?

Flashback used to tell history-- Muley

Also, signiﬁcants of the land..... Darwinian aspects

Machines represent power.

Caterpillars, Bulldozers, late model cars

Character elements framed in a
heightened backdrop of nature.

Suggests heroic quality

Grandpa’s 1st appearance: signiﬁcants: hand bills, grapes

Charley
Grapewin

Handbill-promise of hope Grapes symbol of new beginning

As a group, consider your assigned scene.
Discuss the sceneʼs focus, characters and
themes, When itʼs your groupʼs turn---

1)Present an analysis of your chosen scene
from the ﬁlm based on your discussion.


Non-verbal story telling

Jane Darwell

How others perceived the
displaced migrants


Joad’s perspective in entering Hooverville

Recalling the hope of
the handbills


The philosophical
argument.....

Casey’s Sacriﬁce

Strong relationship of mother and son.
Indefatigable strength of Ma’, while men have become weakened.

Jane Darwell & Henry Fonda

Economic & effective use of closeups
Not a lot of camera movement
Evolution of the “I” complete

Jane Darwell & Henry Fonda

Grapes Of Wrath Overview

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