Heart of Humanity (1918)

(picture of the infamous rape scene)

#1 How does this film relate to chapter 20 in Foner?

The movie Heart of Humanity covered multiple class topics, the largest being propaganda, followed by women’s freedom and America’s involvement in World War I. This film is an example of evil, portrayed in the evil German Eric Von Eberhard, and liberty shown in Nanette. When the war is announced it’s assumed that all of age men will join and fight in the war. This is an example of propaganda because it’s forced upon the individuals (aka men of the time) that they would go to the war. This was talked about in Foner with the mandatory draft that was held (Foner 726). The media at this time was used for pro war propaganda from every outlet available to them (Foner 728). This manipulation was something that had never been seen before this time. In the movie, widow Patricia eventually sees all of her sons into the war, which kills all but John.  Eric Von Eberhard is wounded during the war and when Nanette comes by with water he forces himself upon her but the red cross dog attacks him, making this attack another example of propaganda. The biggest example would be the next rape scene in the film with Nanette, a child, and Eric Von Eberhard. In the Red Cross nursery she tries to stop the rape, he gets upset at the child wailing leaves her and throws the child out the window.

We also see women’s freedom becoming something bigger in the film. When Nanette reads about how the children are suffering she goes to the Red Cross and volunteers. She takes care of children while her own child grows up at home without herself or the father, because their both helping with the war. In the book it’s said that women didn’t usually get these rights to go off and fight. Women were allowed to join the Red Cross and travel to the war zone to help out as nurses which Nanette does successfully in the movie.

America in this film is shown first as the reason the milk is thrown in the streets instead of given to the children. Next America is shown when they decide to come into the war and help the allies win the war. While we didn't do much fighting the supplies and the men brought to the war did help make the difference. In the movie this is shown very easily but in Foner it's said that even though we wanted to remain neutral, when Germany tried to recruit Mexico we stepped in (Foner 725)

#2 Why are children so significant to this film?

Childen are huge in the film Hearts of Humanity. The biggest scene that sticks out is when the Belgium children are begging for milk from the German guards. A German guard looks at the milk and says that American’s have interfered with it, they should dump it, the milk is then spilled all throughout the streets while the children and mothers cry. While at the Red Cross Nanette is seen as a huge help, she keeps the kids happy and in line. She breaks up all the fights, gives toys, smiles, and helps the other nurses who don’t know what to do out. When John runs into her she even explains how one child saw their parents killed before their eyes. The next big scene involves Nanette going back to the Red Cross nursery for a child that was left behind. When she gets there it’s realized that the evil Eric Von Eberhard followed her in plans of raping her. She protects the child as much as she can but eventually when trying to take her clothes off he gets upset with the child crying. He silences the kid by throwing him out of the window of the building, which makes Nanette snap. Another child that plays an important role is that of Nanette and John’s, the child is left at home with the widow Patricia who is slowly losing all of her children to the war that’s going on. These are both great examples of children in the movie. When Nanette’s child is born and one of Patricia’s sons if taken she says that it’s “the exchanging of two” and she takes care of the child while both parents are gone. Widow Patricia also has a strong bond with her sons so she knows when each one is taken away from her and she moves on each time. At the end of the movie it turns out that Nanette and John live happily with more kids that I believe were adopted.

#3 How are female roles represented in the film? Does WWI require a "new" type of woman?

In the film I would say that two types of woman were portrayed. There was Nanette’s character, who is a woman willing to do anything she can to help. Then there’s widow Patricia who has all her sons in the war and is at home taking care of Nanette and John’s child while holding down the home fort. Nanette’s character is a new type of woman for the time of war. After reading the letter of how children were suffering she needed to do everything she could to help. At the time this was something still new and so she was a volunteer nurse because she couldn’t go into the war and help fight that way. She took care of sick and abandoned children. She was also a great help to other nurses. Her bravery for going back to get the child that was left in the building was rewarded in the end with the military. Widow Patricia’s character stayed at home and waited for any news from the family to tell her how everyone was, and she stayed strong even after losing all but one son. This was a more typical way for woman to react during the war., to stay at home and wait on word from her husbands or sons. I would say in the end that the type of woman that World War I looked for was a motherly, take charge figure. If you weren’t good with children or the war, you wouldn’t have been able to do anything to help. 

#4 What would an audience think of Germans after viewing this film?

After viewing Heart of Humanity  I think an audience at the time of the movie would be very upset with how the German's acted. Since this is a film it plays upon the emotions of the movie goer, so when they show the bad guy who is a German trying to rape an innocent woman not once but twice, and throwing a child out the window I think there would be a lot of anger. People wouldn't be happy with the way the German's acted during war, like they were better then the other side. That they could march into any town they want and take it over. At the time this was a huge propaganda film so people read more into the messages they were seeing and related to it. Emotions would be high because people would be happy they lost the war as well, and take pride in their country for winning (if that's the case). Whereas if German's viewed this film they would be upset because of how they're shown as villains and evil while American's are shown as war heroes.  

Works Cited:

Image:

http://www.silentera.com/video/heartOfHumanityHV.html

Book:

Foner Chapter 20

Film: 

Heart of Humanity

Film: Traffic In Souls, 1913

Q1:How does the film relate to Chapter 18 in Foner?


Traffic In Souls, relates to what we read in Chapter 18-The Progressive Era, in multiple ways. The first being that in this time women were able to be out in public more, hold their own jobs, and go to places of entertainment unlike before.As in the movie we saw both sisters Mary and Ethel holding jobs at a candy store. Above pictured is a women holding a job with the human trafficking ring making money as well. Another instance we see women in the workplace was with the ring leader himself, Mary was made the private secretary of William Trubus. Immigration numbers grew during this time,and this was also shown within the film. In the film two Swedish sisters and their brother come to the states looking for freedom. The sisters came at a different time then the brother, which gave the people who wanted to kidnap them time to devise a plan. In Foner he talks about how the immigration population was growing during the progressive era. "The new immigrants arrived imagining the United States as a land of freedom, where all persons enjoyed equality before the law,could worship as they pleased,enjoyed economic opportunity (679)". This was shown in the movie with the Swedish sisters being taken to the fake immigration area made for them where they thought they would be able to start over.This relates to the personal freedoms shown in the movie and in Foner (694), not only with immigrants but again with women and the rights they were able to get.The movie also showed a dirty side to politics which is something that is always relevant. The man that was in charge of the white trafficking was also in charge of a citizens league. 


Q2:How are gender roles--the traits exhibited by women and men--depicted in the film? Do these representations offer any insights into popular ideas about what were considered the proper or innate traits of men and women? Do any individuals trangress conventional gender roles? 

Gender roles are shown in the film in multiple ways. One that immediately came to mind was the way that each gender dressed.The above is a picture of how men of the time dressed, and how women of the time dressed, while working in the candy shop, and out to shop. Each gender is represented by certain articles of clothing. Women in dresses or skirts, a hairband, and a a lined top. Men wore hats with suits mostly. Men in the film usually dealt with money, or jobs of importance like the police. While women worked as secretaries, lived off their husbands, or did other miscellaneous jobs. In the film a african american man was shown cleaning windows, and while that's happening Mary and her fiance Officer Burke won't kiss while he's looking. This plays off into gender roles and into the fact that the african american man was still not considered of the same status as them.As well the women that were taken and sold into the prostitution ring they were held against their own will, and were forced to change. If they didn't change into the clothes brought for them then they were going to be whipped or hit. One person I thought that didn't fit the conventional gender role was the woman that would count the money with the men. She also was in charge of the women while they were at the house.  This is something that it hard to fathom as to why she would willingly make money off of the women she knew weren't there out of their own free will. Trubus' wife being left out of everything that involved the business he was in wasn't too surprising for back in that time.Also the fact that Mary went to her bosses office after hours to snoop around was something not many women would have been brave enough to do during that time.


Q3: How is technology represented in this film? What do the various ideas about technology reveal about the Progressive Era?


The film portrays technology in a unique way. One way is with the "secret pen" that allows the man downstairs to write so that the man upstairs could read the amount of money that was being made. The father of Mary and Ethel is also an inventor so when Mary needs to tape things she goes to him and he give her a bunch of tapes and machine to put in his office. This technology allows them to go to the police and show how he has been plotting and making money off of the traffic they have. They also had the lightbulb at this time which allows for street lights and other such things. Technology is also shown in the weapons or lack-thereof that the police carry with them in the final scenes. The progressive era was very imaginative with with the idea of the secret pen that could translate from one floor to the next. They also had hope that maybe people could be more secretive if things like the secret pen did exist. 


Q4:Select one "hero" or "heroine" and one "villain" from the film. Describe what their character symbolizes and what they reveal about the Progressive Era.


The person I pick to be the "heroine" would be Mary. As the head of her family she looks out for her sister in a way that is only natural to those that are close with a sibling. She has that bond with her sister where she would do anything for her, and in the film she eventually does. She starts a job with the man who helped kidnap her sister, and she works against him to get the evidence she needs to prove that he's guilty. While she does have some help from her Fiance, she does most of the work herself. She's the person that can identify the mans voice who took her sister and eventually does that with the man downstairs. To me her role symbolized the good that can come out of women being allowed the same opportunities as men, as well as symbolizing the changing of times.This shows how the role of women was expanding in the Progressive era to me.If she wasn't able to get the jobs that she had or needed she would have never have had the opportunity to meet these people or to able to help figure out who took her sister if women's rights weren't expanding. 
The person I would identify as the "villain" in the film would be William Trubus. Not only does he act the part of a family man, but he is the leader of the human trafficking ring. He goes home to be rich with his wife, and is about to marry his daughter off to one of societies catch of the season. He has friends everywhere with respect but only a handful of people know what he really does. He sells emigrants as well as women from the town in order to make dirty money to live off of. He doesn't show any remorse or feelings that would say that he thinks of these women as actual people, just strangers he and everyone else in the business can profit off of. I feel like he symbolizes the bad that was in the progressive era, and because of things like this we weren't able to progress. When you're selling people to make money you aren't helping us progress farther, you're holding us back. I think he shows the dark side that came with the progressive era and that while people like William did exist they were few and far between for the time. 






Works Cited:
Images:
1.http://dawnschickflicks.blogspot.com/2010/10/traffic-in-souls-1913-ethel-grandin_22.html
2.http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29453/29453-h/29453-h.htm
3. Foner Chapter 18
4. Film: Traffic in Souls