COMM 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Lightning, World War I, The Trammps
Document Summary
Wheat king"s monopoly on and manipulation of the price of wheat causes an increase in the cost of our, which then makes it impossible for the wheat farmers to buy bread. While one side celebrates its triumph, the other side suffers. Grif th uses a static tableau vivant (with actors standing motionless) to represent the breadline and emphasize the extent to which the world of the poor is frozen by the actions of the rich. While the death of the king would seem to be a kind of poetic justice served up for his callous hubris, the rioting poor are also suppressed and the poor farmers suffer nonetheless. While the wheat kind may get what he deserves, it doesn"t right the wrongs of the system. The social order remains unimproved as is represented by the return to the same shot that was used at the beginning, but now with the farmer alone.
