US HISTORY- FILM AND HISTORY IN-CLASS WRITE
1. While watching, The Founder, it is easy to get caught up in the story of Ray and the brothers, and forget about the historical aspect that the story is about. While watching the film, the viewer can learn about the growth of consumerism and the youth culture growth. At the beginning of the movie, Ray complains about the teenagers who sit and loiter around restaurants as a "local hangout". In the textbook, America's History, "Youth Culture" (789) , it says that American Youth's would go around in peer groups, and are interested in food, spending money, and consumer tastes. It was easy to tell by the movie that teens led most of the population of carhop restaurants, because the director chose to make every place Ray stopped at full of teenagers. In the book it says teenagers bought the amount of one-hundred and ninety million candy bars, one-hundred and thirty million soft drinks, and two-hundred and thirty million sticks of gum. Both the way the director showed teens at the carhops, and the reading can show the growth of teenage consumerism. This is important because teenagers began to spend their money, going out, watching movies, and buying cheap food with friends. This began a new era of food and outlets.
Because of the growth of teens, the growth of convenient consumerism grew as well. In America's History, "Fast Food and Shopping Mall" (803), it says that suburban shopping centers were growing large, and it "Brought the market to the people instead of the people to the market". This begins the topic of convenience for the consumer. Instead of shopping in many different places, all of the things they needed were in one location, a mall. This then proceeded with McDonalds, and other fast food locations. The whole concept for the McDonald brothers was the "speedy system". This was system they produced that would get food out fast, and efficiently, so that the buyer would have little time to wait. In the book, it says Kroc and the brothers, "Transformed ways Americans ate food". With the growth of efficient business, The Founder presents this with Ray Kroc's struggle to get food fast and warm. Ray Kroc goes to two restaurants and can not get his food out fast, or correct, but when he goes to McDonalds he gets his food in fifteen seconds and reacts astonished. This shows the slow moving businesses of the 1950's and the importance of convenient consumerism. This is important because it shows why the need for a restaurant like McDonalds was so important, and how fast food places grew so quickly.
2. There are three main topics of the McDonalds history that are left out by the movie. None of them are U.S. wide or nation wide, but apply more directly to the story because that was what the movie was most directly aimed towards. The first is that Ray Kroc was not the first person to franchise McDonalds. In the movie, Ray asks the men to be their franchiser, telling them how big this place can become. However, in actuality the McDonald brothers had already franchised and had six locations before 1954 (The Bustle: How Accurate is 'The Founder'? The True Facts About McDonald's Will Surprise You). This choice made it seem like Ray was the only reason for success for the brother's business. Also, the only reason that Ray became franchiser was not because he was the first one to bring up the idea, but because the previous franchiser, Bill Tansy, passed away shortly before. This completely changes the way that people view Ray and the brothers. The brothers were not as clueless as they seem to be in the movie, and Ray was not as rich with ideas as he was in the movie either.
The next main topic I would bring up is the fact that the movie acts as though Ethel did not know about the mortgage on the house. According to (The Bustle: How Accurate is 'The Founder'? The True Facts About McDonald's Will Surprise You), Ethel did know about this. The way the movie portrays Ray is very evil and manipulative. Although he may have done some evil things, he did not do anything and everything to make the business succeed.
The final topic I will bring up is that the director puts Ray into much higher power-positions than he actually obtained. In the movie it says Ray is the head of "Franchise Reality Corp" (which Harry Sonneborn was actually the head of). He also did not come up with the "American Church" concept, his wife Ethel did (The Bustle: How Accurate is 'The Founder'? The True Facts About McDonald's Will Surprise You). As listed before, he also did not come up with the idea of franchising McDonalds. This is important for the viewer to know/ see because it can give them the wrong interpretation of what all Ray did, and his overall power in the whole process.
3. The first scene I would add to the movie is the unity of Ray and Joan. Their relationship is made obvious through the phone call, but it immediately switches from that moment to the moment with her talking to him in the mirror. Between those two scenes I think it would be good to create a scene where Joan and Ray come together as single individuals for the first time. I envision them meeting at the front of the McDonalds once again, and have Joan say she and Rollie split. He shares his emotions to her and they kiss. The whole movie is from the side of Kroc, and it seems to make Ray look like the bad guy. I believe the relationship between Ray and Joan will show a sensitive, caring side to Kroc. Instead, it switches straight to them together acting as though Ray just stole Rollie's wife away.
The next scene I would put into the movie would be the creation of the look of McDonalds. In the movie, the blueprint is shown to Ray, and he adores the look of the building. However, according to McDonald's, The McDonald's Story, the creation of the building was very intricate and thought out. It was created by Stanley Mason and called the "Red and White". Dick then proceeded to dislike the shape of the roof, and changed it to the arches to the top. The sign maker then said they should be a neon yellow color to grab attention, and that is where the "Golden Arches" came into play. Instead of adding this into the movie, they had Ray look at the drawing on the wall. I think that during the explanation of the growth of their restaurant at dinner, they should go over how this was created. It is interesting, and I am sure all of the viewers are interested in how they came to be. It would be cool to hear their ideas being portrayed to Ray at dinner, and Ray hearing their idea of the golden arches, and then later seeing them.
1. While watching, The Founder, it is easy to get caught up in the story of Ray and the brothers, and forget about the historical aspect that the story is about. While watching the film, the viewer can learn about the growth of consumerism and the youth culture growth. At the beginning of the movie, Ray complains about the teenagers who sit and loiter around restaurants as a "local hangout". In the textbook, America's History, "Youth Culture" (789) , it says that American Youth's would go around in peer groups, and are interested in food, spending money, and consumer tastes. It was easy to tell by the movie that teens led most of the population of carhop restaurants, because the director chose to make every place Ray stopped at full of teenagers. In the book it says teenagers bought the amount of one-hundred and ninety million candy bars, one-hundred and thirty million soft drinks, and two-hundred and thirty million sticks of gum. Both the way the director showed teens at the carhops, and the reading can show the growth of teenage consumerism. This is important because teenagers began to spend their money, going out, watching movies, and buying cheap food with friends. This began a new era of food and outlets.
Because of the growth of teens, the growth of convenient consumerism grew as well. In America's History, "Fast Food and Shopping Mall" (803), it says that suburban shopping centers were growing large, and it "Brought the market to the people instead of the people to the market". This begins the topic of convenience for the consumer. Instead of shopping in many different places, all of the things they needed were in one location, a mall. This then proceeded with McDonalds, and other fast food locations. The whole concept for the McDonald brothers was the "speedy system". This was system they produced that would get food out fast, and efficiently, so that the buyer would have little time to wait. In the book, it says Kroc and the brothers, "Transformed ways Americans ate food". With the growth of efficient business, The Founder presents this with Ray Kroc's struggle to get food fast and warm. Ray Kroc goes to two restaurants and can not get his food out fast, or correct, but when he goes to McDonalds he gets his food in fifteen seconds and reacts astonished. This shows the slow moving businesses of the 1950's and the importance of convenient consumerism. This is important because it shows why the need for a restaurant like McDonalds was so important, and how fast food places grew so quickly.
2. There are three main topics of the McDonalds history that are left out by the movie. None of them are U.S. wide or nation wide, but apply more directly to the story because that was what the movie was most directly aimed towards. The first is that Ray Kroc was not the first person to franchise McDonalds. In the movie, Ray asks the men to be their franchiser, telling them how big this place can become. However, in actuality the McDonald brothers had already franchised and had six locations before 1954 (The Bustle: How Accurate is 'The Founder'? The True Facts About McDonald's Will Surprise You). This choice made it seem like Ray was the only reason for success for the brother's business. Also, the only reason that Ray became franchiser was not because he was the first one to bring up the idea, but because the previous franchiser, Bill Tansy, passed away shortly before. This completely changes the way that people view Ray and the brothers. The brothers were not as clueless as they seem to be in the movie, and Ray was not as rich with ideas as he was in the movie either.
The next main topic I would bring up is the fact that the movie acts as though Ethel did not know about the mortgage on the house. According to (The Bustle: How Accurate is 'The Founder'? The True Facts About McDonald's Will Surprise You), Ethel did know about this. The way the movie portrays Ray is very evil and manipulative. Although he may have done some evil things, he did not do anything and everything to make the business succeed.
The final topic I will bring up is that the director puts Ray into much higher power-positions than he actually obtained. In the movie it says Ray is the head of "Franchise Reality Corp" (which Harry Sonneborn was actually the head of). He also did not come up with the "American Church" concept, his wife Ethel did (The Bustle: How Accurate is 'The Founder'? The True Facts About McDonald's Will Surprise You). As listed before, he also did not come up with the idea of franchising McDonalds. This is important for the viewer to know/ see because it can give them the wrong interpretation of what all Ray did, and his overall power in the whole process.
3. The first scene I would add to the movie is the unity of Ray and Joan. Their relationship is made obvious through the phone call, but it immediately switches from that moment to the moment with her talking to him in the mirror. Between those two scenes I think it would be good to create a scene where Joan and Ray come together as single individuals for the first time. I envision them meeting at the front of the McDonalds once again, and have Joan say she and Rollie split. He shares his emotions to her and they kiss. The whole movie is from the side of Kroc, and it seems to make Ray look like the bad guy. I believe the relationship between Ray and Joan will show a sensitive, caring side to Kroc. Instead, it switches straight to them together acting as though Ray just stole Rollie's wife away.
The next scene I would put into the movie would be the creation of the look of McDonalds. In the movie, the blueprint is shown to Ray, and he adores the look of the building. However, according to McDonald's, The McDonald's Story, the creation of the building was very intricate and thought out. It was created by Stanley Mason and called the "Red and White". Dick then proceeded to dislike the shape of the roof, and changed it to the arches to the top. The sign maker then said they should be a neon yellow color to grab attention, and that is where the "Golden Arches" came into play. Instead of adding this into the movie, they had Ray look at the drawing on the wall. I think that during the explanation of the growth of their restaurant at dinner, they should go over how this was created. It is interesting, and I am sure all of the viewers are interested in how they came to be. It would be cool to hear their ideas being portrayed to Ray at dinner, and Ray hearing their idea of the golden arches, and then later seeing them.
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