Babylon: understand the film’s historical context

Babylon: understand the film’s historical context

Babylon: understand the film’s historical context

Damien Chazelle’s new film about diving into the Roaring Twenties!

Playing in cinemas Babylon the newest movie Damien Chazelledirector, acclaimed La La Land: Singing Seasons, Whiplash: In Pursuit of Perfection and OUR First man. The film takes us through the extravagance and excesses of 1920s Hollywood as we follow the lives of various artists trying to make a career in the film and art market.

The film will generate a lot of debate and discussion, but one thing that gets a lot of attention is your setting. Here we plunged headlong into the 1920s, a period of great cultural and social upheaval in the United States and around the world. In the cinema, we started watching the first sound films, and all this made several changes in the way people perceived the seventh art.

Thinking about it, here you will discover a little more historical context behind Babylon!

Roaring 20s

The 1920s were marked by a deep cultural euphoria due to the economic prosperity that followed World War I. While some countries in Europe were trying to recover from the conflict, the rest of the world was celebrating a series of improvements in the political, artistic and technological fields, creating a feeling that “the world is getting better.” Thus the decade became known as Roaring 20s.

From an economic point of view, the world has undergone major changes in status quo, and all from the US, which has become one of the world’s great powers. arrival from electricity and its use in different places dramatically changed life in factories, while mass production has become a more profitable and rapidly developing industrial model.

It was at this time, for example, cars and cars became a public good that even the middle class could buy, since before that it was a commodity reserved only for the elite. Socially, it was a period cultural splash in major urban centers such as New York, Chicago, London, Paris and even Berlin – even though the city has not yet recovered from the effects of the First World War.

There was also news in the political field. OUR suffragette movement made a lot of noise around the world, fighting for women’s right to vote. This would be cemented in the 1920s in the US with laws allowing women over the age of 21 to vote. However, not everything was so rosy: many still felt traumatized and pessimistic about the world, especially war veterans…

radio and music

In the 1920s radio conquered the world and became first media stories. This distribution proved to be very important for the emergence of what we know as Mass culturesince people from different places in the same country could follow news, serialized programs and, of course, music in a relatively short and close period of time.

This period brought great changes to the way people perceived music as operettas, orchestras and classical music were gradually replaced melodic and dance songs. This made dance a very prominent artistic expression during this period when competitions were held in the United States and the rest of the world.

In terms of musical genres, the 1920s were a time when Jazz took care of everything. This is partly due to a very inconvenient factor in the United States, as music considered “black” that appeared in black-populated areas was gradually appropriated and spread among white people. However, the big music stars at the time were black as Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and James P. Johnson.

During this period, other genres began to appear, such as Country musicrepresented by names such as Jimmy Rogers and Carter familyas well as bluesvariant of jazz that had such great performers as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. The 1920s also brought great news with the first electrical recordswhich led to the creation gramophone.

art and architecture

Europe and America had very different views on art in the early 20th century, while the “Old World” explored movements such as surrealism this is expressionismthrough names like Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Joan MiroThe “new world” soon began to express itself through Art Decoa movement that began in Europe in the previous decade but soon spread to the Americas.

OUR Art Deco it was an architectural and plastic phenomenon, based on pure and geometric forms, bearing a more decorative character. One of the most famous works of motion is the top chrysler buildingwhich was opened only in 1930, but was under construction since September 1928. decohowever, not only the marked structures and buildings, but art in general.

Town New York, for example, became a playground for various artists to create their sculptures and artworks, often displayed outdoors. Initially Art Deco was based on curved and smoother lines, but these were soon replaced by straight lines, which, when traced in harmony, formed very beautiful and complex figures.

It’s curious that there are great jobs in Brazil Art Deco in the heart of one of the most popular cities. OUR Christ the Redeemeropened in 1930, began construction in 1922 in Paris with the joint efforts of Brazilian artists. Carlos Oswald and Heitor da Silva Costaas well as the French Paul Landowski and Albert Kako.

Fashion and Style

The fashion of the 1920s came to break the rigid and prim model of society. victorian age. Most of the influences came from Paris, but they soon conquered the world with the beauty and modernity of the clothes they used. Throughout the period, women began to wear looser and lighter dresses, getting rid of corsets and other accessories that made the body more rigid.

Day dresses were adorned with a sash at the low waist, and this was the time of the popularization of the “strapless” dress, which had no sleeves. However, the women’s hands were covered with gloves up to the middle of the biceps, which caused refined air for compositions. Jewelry was necessary and irreplaceableespecially pearl necklaces.

The men had a certain tone of sobriety, especially those who worked in the financial and economic sphere – the so-called “white collar”, as they are called today. Suits were the rule, but they could be of different styles and prints, from chess to striped. Shirts under suits were supposed to be white, and the accessory became part of the men’s wardrobe even more often: ties.

Hair was also an important point, especially for women. Soon short shots full of movement, ripples and, in some cases, shots became popular. Those who wanted to stand out also used a special type of gel to keep the hair tightly glued to the head. Another highlight was tiaras and hatswhich were of different shapes, styles and colors.

Cinema and Hollywood

Created in December 1895 cinema has become one of the fastest growing arts in the world, thanks in large part to technological advances, which made it possible to discover a new language and stylistic form. However, anyone who thinks that the films were homogeneous is mistaken, because in every place in the world they experimented with very different things.

AT Weimar Republic – the country that preceded Germany – german expressionism took over through films that played with fantasy and horror, in addition to science fiction. AT Brazilappeared first stupid melodramaswhile Soviet Union advanced in his experimentation with montage and propaganda discourse.

In the United States Hollywood became the center of film production. Most studios and artists moved to Los Angeles, where they started the market as we know it today around the 1910s. In the 1920s, Hollywood was already a cultural hub for any aspiring actor, screenwriter, director, or any other person. . in the film industry.

Curiosity: in 1923, a plaque was erected with the name of the city, which is now known throughout the world. However, at the time one could read “HOLLYWOODLANDinstead of Hollywood. “Earth” has only been removed since the 1940s.

However, soon a big shake-up is coming, which will turn the life of artists upside down. In 1927 Warner launched jazz singer, the first ever film with synchronized sound. Since then, silent films have declined, and sound films have become a vibrant and sought-after novelty – so much so that in 1929, just two years after the release of the first sound film, about 51% of Hollywood’s production was already produced. , sound.

Don’t miss Babylon!

And if you want to know a little more about 1920s Hollywood, you shouldn’t miss this. Babylonwhich is now shown exclusively in cinemas. The film follows a group of artists during this period as they struggle to cope with all the social and cultural changes in the film industry amidst a whirlwind of excesses.

The film will be a strong contender for the season’s awards and could fall into some rather curious categories at the 2023 Oscars, and you definitely don’t want to miss out on this experience. If you are interested, you can buy tickets right here!

Babylon now shown exclusively in theaters!

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