My Man Godfrey

Discussion Questions
July 30, 2013

While I do expect (hope) that you will enjoy the movie, the overall purpose of the movie is to integrate its content into the course materials.  It is therefore imperative that you take careful note of content, dialogue (extremely important - you need to be writing down the dialogue throughout the movie!!), imagery, etc. as you watch the movie.  After watching the movie you should be able to answer (with specifics) the following:

  1. What are the values (ie views of work, etc.) evident in the movie?
  2. Class is an important element in the movie.  How is class portrayed in MMG? 
  3. Film historian Levine argues that for Gone With the Wind that its real significance was not escapism but "reaffirmation".  How could the same be argued for MMG?
  4. "The screwball comedy genre had, as its point of departure, the terrible realities of the period."  How does this apply to MMG?
  5. How is MMG a critique of the government and the New Deal?    (I want specifics here...!!)
  6. How does MMG reinforce attitudes, perceptions, and interpretations about the Great Depression we have seen elsewhere?  In what manner does it diverge from those?  What specific readings and/or other evidence could you cite?
  7. As Andrew Bergman has shown, “…the fantasy world of the movies played a critical social and psychological function for Depression era Americans:  In the face of economic disaster, it kept alive a belief in the possibility of individual success, portrayed by a government capable of protecting its citizens from external threats, and sustained a vision of  America as a classless society.”  Evaluate this contention with a critical analysis of My Man Godfrey and The G-Men, based on specifics from each movie.

For further thought.... (ie hmm... might make a good exam question....)