Grapes of Wrath Billboard

Grapes of Wrath Billboard

Dust Bowl Migration: Representations of Labor

This billboard advertising the cinematic version of Grapes of Wrath is ironically placed at a migrant labor camp. Families struggling to survive park in the shade of the ad: face-to-face with a humongous testament to their narrative becoming part of the public discourse. One wonders what these farmers thought of literary and cinematic representations of their lives. Were they hopeful that such entities could inspire change, or aid? Were they able to afford a trip to the cinema? Were they even aware of the film/book and what it entailed? Were they bitter that outsiders could monetarily capitalize on their plight?

Dorothea Lange

http://faculty.washington.edu/gregoryj/exodus/photos.htm

The Oakland Museum

1940