You Must Remember This 71: The Blacklist Part 1: The Prehistory of the Blacklist
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Feb 2, 2016 The podcast dives into the origins of communism and anti-communism in Hollywood. It highlights the Hollywood Ten, featuring notable figures like Dalton Trumbo and Ginger Rogers. The discussion investigates how wartime films transformed in perception post-WWII. It also details the struggles for writers' rights and the rise of labor unions, amid corruption and internal strife. Personal stories and broader cultural ramifications during the blacklist era set the stage for deeper historical insights.
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Blacklist As Postwar Paranoia
- The blacklist emerged from a postwar paranoia that conflated past anti-fascism with present communist loyalty.
- Karina Longworth connects Cold War fear and industry crisis as joint causes of cultural purge.
Industry Vulnerability Amplified Politics
- Hollywood faced simultaneous economic threats and technological disruption in the late 1940s.
- Longworth shows how box-office decline, television, and antitrust rulings made the industry vulnerable to political pressure.
Writers: The Left's Hollywood Foothold
- Hollywood's Communist Party members were few but often influential in guilds and donations.
- Longworth highlights writers as the primary locus of leftist influence rather than studio executives.
