"Howl" brought many minds together that were experiencing the same thing, yet lacked the conduit to channel their experiences into one succinct public declaration. Acting as a catalyst for change, "Howl" frightened many people and led to a landmark trial in which the said "degenerates" prevailed over the ruling class which dictated the moral standards of their time. It was written after a time when free speech was being questioned aggressively in the wake of McCarthyism. At this time, McCarthyism had already reached its height. Joseph McCarthy was an elected official in the Senate who gained his reputation from investigating people in the government and other places to see if they had any ties the communist party. He centered his investigations on actors, writers and artists and had many plays, movies and literary works put on a "blacklist", which kept them from lawful distribution - a clear mechanism of censorship. The Senate later condemned him in 1952 but not before he created a panic among Americans fueling contempt for their fellow citizens and communist governments at large( Schrecker 1994). .
The punishments were primarily economic. People lost their jobs. The F.B.I. cleverly targeted those that had high profile jobs, which afforded them high visibility in order to be made examples out of. Taped footage from these trials resemble that of a circus with McCarthy as a grandstand ring leader and the defendants looking and sounding like frightened animals being put on parade against their will. Yale Law School professor Ralph Brown roughly estimated that over ten thousand people lost their jobs due to McCarthy's scurrilous allegations (Schrecker 1994). This estimation is probably low, not taking into account how may others resigned under duress and those who were dismissed indirectly relating to such sanctions. This movement threatened any and all progressive movements in America. The counter culture was seriously feeling the restraints of this neo-conservative era and something had to give.
Both film versions fail, I think, but for different reasons. ... Chabrol fails to show the audience Emma's intensely romantic dream world. ... Both Minnelli and Chabrol fail to depict this scene. ... But both versions fail to capture the savage irony adequately. ... And both directors fail to expl...