Force of Evil.
The Working Class Studies Association 2021 Conference started on monday, the 7th, with the theme “Re-Placing Class”. This virtual conference is organized by the Working-Class Studies Association and the Center for Working Class Studies at Youngstown State University. Join us! More information here.
I present a paper today in a panel on class conflict in TV and film. It is called “The Economy of Fratricide: Class Relations and Political Filmmaking in Force of Evil (1948)”. Here is the abstract:
Force of Evil (1948), directed by later blacklisted filmmaker and screenwriter Abraham Polonsky and starring John Garfield and Thomas Gomez, remains of the most celebrated instances of American film noir. It tells the story of a lawyer, Joe Morse (Garfield), who works for a powerful gangster. The crime boss wants to control the lucrative numbers game in New York City. This means taking over the many small numbers rackets, one of which is run by Morse’s older brother Leo Morse (Gomez). The brothers have been corrupted by crime, they both live in the unlawful world, but only one of them will be indirectly responsible for the death of the other. Force of Evil has been acknowledged as a major influence on the crime films of directors such as Martin Scorsese. Yet surprisingly it has not been studied in detailed. This paper aims at doing just that. It puts the film in the context of the anti-Communist persecution in Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s. At the same time, it also examines Force of Evil as a key example of political filmmaking. I argue that this work visually dissects the power dynamics of capitalism in the metropolis and offers a complex representation of class relations within a family. The plot alludes to the Biblical story of Cain and Abel, demonstrating a keen interest in religious narratives that are part of the collective imagination. The numbers game is a form of illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working-class neighbourhoods in the USA. These areas are contrasted with the rich, grand business district of the city.
