Silent film - Assignment Example

Silent Film Silent film refers to the earliest films from around 1891 until 1927, which had no synchronized recorded sound and were particularly characterized by non verbal dialogue. The dialogue is transferred through mime, muted gestures, and title cards with the intent of using both the recorded sound and motion pictures. Some of these films were comedies, dramas, epics and, romances (Usai and British Film Institute 12). According to historians Jacob L. and Robinson D, silent films were about the struggle among the poor, rich, and powerful.

Most of them were made available during the silent period and only a few exist to date. The main idea of silent movies was the moral and social issues of the developing era. These included poverty, women’s suffrage, child labor, contraception, prostitution, immigration, political corruption, prisons, and divorce (Usai and British Film Institute 22).Today, Americans think that silent films are subject of interest for the innocent age. However, they are filled with significant social and political constituents.

These were people preoccupied with issues such as political corruption, sources of crime, abandoning sexual norms, and changing women role. Many early films also included themes against authority, making fun of bumbling police officers, dishonest politicians, and meddlesome upper-class reformers (Usai and British Film Institute 22). Gender relations were also a component of early silent film. Before 1905, Kathy Peiss noted that movie screens were full of indecent sexual images, shocking humor, and many glimpses of women undressing or scenes of passionate kissing.

The effect of the films on the younger generation was to make them be independent and dissociate themselves from divisions in the society. Work CitedUsai, Paolo C, and British Film Institute. Silent cinema: An introduction. Michigan: BFI Publishers