Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Blue Group
Part B
The movie is based on the historical landmark of the Newspaper boy strikes of 1899 and portrays many
historical facts and relevance. The Newspapers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were the two papers
involved in the strike as they were the two main papers that refused to lower the price news boys paid for papers
when other papers did. Although the movie only centers on the paper of Pulitzer the New York World Hearst is
mentioned as a large competitor of Pulitzer. The movie didnt seem to capture the harsh lives the Newsies lived and
instead focused on the happier aspects of their lives and portrayed them as tough city kids instead of soft orphans
living in awful conditions. Life was very difficult for these boys, they would work over 10 hours a day, often risk
their lives, and then go home to poor conditions and little food ( The News Boys Strike ,http://ows.edb.utexas.edu).
Many of the Strikes were led by courageous figures like Jack Kelly who united the Newsies with their leadership.
An interesting thing to note is that a very historical leader of the Newsies was named Kid Blink just like a
character in the movie although the movie character was just a news boy under the command of Jack and certainly
not a leader. The strikes were highly publicized by the other newspapers since any bad publicity against Pulitzer and
Hearst was good news for them. In the movie no other papers treated the rallies as worthy news and choose not to
publicize the rallies. Pulitzer and Hearst actually choose to buy back unsold papers instead of dropping the price of
papers which in the end created a bigger profit for the Newsies anyways. The movie captures the chaos of the labor
movements and the violence between the Newsies and Scabs and the frequency of the brawls. A couple of Newsies
sold out to the Newspapers and became Scabs working in the replacement of their former Newsies. But these kids
were considered traitors to the Newsies and were in danger of getting beaten by the rough New York Newsies. It is
a well-known fact that Jack Kelly turned scab for two days in Disney's version. He quickly rejoined the ranks of his
Newsie friends just as David, and maybe Blink, did back in 1899. (Similarities and Differences between Disney's
Newsboy Strike and the Actual Strike of 1899,angelfire.com). Blink refers to the actual leader of the Newsies in
1899 along with a kid named Boots. It is historically unclear if kid Blink actually returned to the Newsies like
Jack Kelly. Kid Blink shows up in the movie as a minor supporting character but has no bigger role. The Movie
represents a very important part of the labor movements and although there are some differences between Disneys
version and History the story captured many details and relevant historical facts.
Part C
1.
Analyze the use of metaphor and imagery in the film, citing several examples.
In the movie Newsies the main character wishes to move to Santa Fe and start a new life under the
impression that Santa Fe holds all kind of wonders. Santa Fe represents an escape for Jack from all of his
troubles and a new start. Jack wishes to be free of his own will without anyone telling him what to do. At
the same time Jack also longs for a family even though he tries to convince himself he doesnt need one. In
the end of the movie he decides to stay in New York with his Newsies who have symbolically become his
family instead of leaving to Santa Fe. In his song Santa Fe he sings So that's what they call a family
Aint ya glad you aint that way, with a saddened and wistful tone. The dreaded refuge that Jack escaped
from is always surrounded by dark lighting and the hopeless expressions of the kids there. The director did
this so that the audience would associate the refuge with hopelessness and dark emotions. When Jack visits
the refuge to rescue his friend Crutchy, the audience glimpses these things for a few minutes. The owner
and warden of the refuge named Snyder represents Jacks dark past which he must first escape before he can
fulfill his wish to move to Santa Fe. But his dark past keeps catching up to him although he managed to
elude it many times. Jacks clever well-spoken friend David represents the glue holding the Newsies
together throughout their strike along with Jack as their leader. David was the Newsie that created the
structure for their strike and temporarily when Jack became a scab David became the leader of the Newsies.
Works Cited
1.
"Similarities and Differences between Disney's Newsboy Strike and the Actual
Strike of 1899." Angel Fire. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.angelfire.com/nj4/annimh/realdiffsim.html>.
2.