Seabiscuit

Hollywood directors often make historical films but many use historical events in the background of their movies. The directors of Seabiscuit use the Great Depression in the background of their story. The movie is about a race horse and jockey and their special connection. Although that is the main focus of the movie the signs of the Great Depression can be seen throughout the movie.

In the beginning of the movie we see that Red's family is very well off and rich and they have a nice house and everything but when the Depression occurs they are left with nothing. They are forced to live in the streets. Red's parents even left him because he would have a better life with the other guy. During the Great Depression many families did what they had to in order to survive. Many parents did what was best for their children even if that meant giving them up.

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English: A shanty town in Soweto, South Africa.

Great Depression Food Line

During most of the movie we see that the rich people are the ones that go to the races and live life like there is nothing wrong. The Great Depression affected many people but the rich were barely affected. We see during the race between Seabiscuit and the Admiral that many poor people came to the race or listened to it on the radio. During the Great Depression the poor took advantage of anything that would allow them to escape reality for awhile and just have fun.

During the flashbacks we see shanty towns, soup kitchens and breadlines and we also see the effects of the alphabet programs such as the CCC. All of these things really characterized the Great Depression. Although we didn't see them throughout the movie we saw it in the beginning. It showed that even the people that were...