From Dawn To Sunset Film Analysis

The short documentary film From Dawn to Sunset by GM Folks “recounted the daily lives of Chevrolet assembly-line and office workers.” (Marchand). However, the film contains multiple major flaws. Under the time of the filming, which is towards the end of the Great Depression, this film has created a false image of the workers. By aligning the film’s central theme to “the American Dream”, GM have successfully used propaganda on all of the film’s potential viewers.

The documentary ironically contrasts the situation of the 1930’s era, as one can expect a film by one of the most significant companies during the time should somehow tell him about that era. The time of the film was 1937, when the Great Depression is approaching to an end. The entire

Through aligning with the idea of “the American Dream” that is specific to the 1930’s, the documentary is trying to set a path for the workers in the company. The dream itself has been ever constant, where a man would reach success through his own hard work. However, unlike the gilded age, where the barons exemplify the American Dream by becoming successful through their own hands, this era features less dream-chasers that are as successful as Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, or Carnegie. The typical dream-chasers during the 1930’s era are the workers in the documentary, where “the American Way” would be working hard in a factory every day, enjoying time when work is off. Workers think more about enjoying personal life than climbing the ladder of power in this era. This shift of goals is mainly because of lack of new vacant baron position. During the gilded age, there were no barons until the dream chasers. During the workers’ era, the companies had already been present when they started their career. It is impossible to try to become another baron when there are already so many big companies. The documentary is trying to set the tone for “the American Way” by showing the workers in case some workers threaten the higher ranked’s jobs. The documentary wants the workers to “[obtain] their tickets to the good life as consumers” (Marchand) instead of as managers. There can be potential workers that have their goals of managers changed by watching this