The Best Years of Our Lives Film Analysis Essay
Humanities
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and is ranked as one of the best American films ever made according to the American Film Institute as well as the Internet Movie Database. Write an analysis of the film’s depiction of the anxieties of returning veterans and difficulties of post-war demobilization. In your analysis consider the following questions to guide you: What are the problems the three leads face in adjusting to peacetime American society? Consider how one is married with children and relatively wealthy, the other is married to a wartime bride he hardly knew and works a lower-class job, and one is physically disabled from the war. What are things that have changed since they have been away and what are some of their barriers to doing what they want after serving their country? Does this film give a hopeful impression of the future for returning veterans and the United States?
Being able to interpret history goes beyond just reading books and articles. Many today look at cultural outlets like films, music, magazines, and other forms of entertainment to get a better understand of how societies presented and understood issues of the day. These could be salutary portrayals or subversive criticisms. For this assignment you will choose of the films listed below and write a paper analyzing the film based on the questions provided for each one. Essays should be no shorter than 500 words and preferably no longer than 1000. You may use all kinds of sources to bolster your arguments including but not limited to class readings, film reviews, academic articles (check JSTOR), or websites Your papers will be in MLA format with 1 inch margins, double-spaced, in 12 pt Times New Roman font and include citations for your sources. Please use Chicago Style citation with footnotes and a works cited page, including citations for lines taken from the movie. Remember to consider the time period in which each film was made and how each comments upon their respective time period.
