MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

For many years in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was believed that the environment in which someone grows up in caused crime. This spawned many movements to clean up urban areas and beautify cities. A budding industry in the early 20th century, Hollywood picked up the idea that crime had environmental causes and included it in many of the crime films released. Coupled with rampant crime in large cities caused by Prohibition and the Great Depression, the theories of the Chicago School of Sociology provided an excellent basis for many of the gangster films released in the 1930s. The classic cycle of the gangster genre, from 1930-1932, ran into many issues of censorship. Using the film as an avenue of exposing social ills within the city was one of the ways that early filmmakers could circumvent censorship concerns. While the gangster genre went through many transformations during the decade, one constant remained the same—urban spaces bred crime. The gangster was a product of the city and the gangster film represented the forces of urban development and its potentially destructive impact on society. The city was also given agency in these films by aiding in bringing about the end of the gangster. This presentation will explore the ideals set forth by the Chicago School of Sociology with regard to criminal behavior and the built environment with an analysis of the films The Public Enemy (1931), Dead End (1937), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and Boys Town (1938).