Based on our viewing of the film “Reds”, choose one of the following elements to explore and analyze. Minimum 300 words.

DUE: Monday, March 30

Exposition of plot:
The first half of the film, though it takes an inordinate amount of time and detail to do it, does an intelligent job of setting both the political and emotional scene.

Characterization:
''Reds'' has at its center two remarkable characters -Reed, the perpetual undergraduate who used wars and revolutions as his personal raw material, but whose commitment to social and political change led him to risk everything on behalf of the world Communist movement, and Louise Bryant, an incurable romantic who, in the course of her association with Reed, became her own tragic heroine.

Setting:
''Reds'' is not about Communism, but about a particular era, and a particularly moving kind of American optimism that had its roots in the 19th century.

Tone:
The Witnesses - there are more than two dozen of them - who make up a kind of Greek chorus, the members of which appear from time to time throughout ''Reds'' to set the film in historical perspective, as much by what they remember accurately as by their gossip and by what they no longer recall. One by one the faces that belong to these voices appear on the screen, seen in close-up against a luminously black void….explain the effectiveness of this device.

Theme:
The film is an effort to humanize a political movement that has previously been depicted on screen in a series of obvious and prejudicial broad strokes, from romantic to revolution. Identify a theme to analyze, or explore from the below suggestions:
Freedom
Equality
Idealism
Passion

The Crucible / The McCarthy Hearings

Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy's influence on the Congress of the United States and on the American people is perhaps one of the more dark periods in our recent history. The term "McCarthyism" has become synonymous with the word "witch hunt."

In a 1950 speech, McCarthy entered the public spotlight by claiming that communists had "infested" the State Department, dramatically waving a sheet of paper which purportedly contained the traitors' names. A special Senate committee investigated the charges and found them groundless. Unfazed, McCarthy used his position to wage a relentless anti-communist crusade, denouncing numerous public figures and holding a series of highly confrontational hearings. With little if any proof of his charges, McCarthy relied on accusation, slander and innuendo to tarnish his opponents' reputations (a practice now known as "McCarthyism"). In 1954, televised hearings allowed millions to view McCarthy's methods for the first time, sparking a public backlash and official censure.