Message picture

A message picture (or "message movie")^[1] is a motion picture that, in addition to or instead of being for entertainment, intends to communicate a certain message or ideal about society.

Characteristics[]

Message pictures usually present the message they want to deliver in the form of a morality play, and are usually serious (often somber) works. However, not all message pictures are entirely serious, and there are also films spoofing the genre (Sullivan's Travels, for example).^[2]

History[]

Dore Schary was famous for his message pictures at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the late 1940s and early to mid-1950s. Among these were Tea and Sympathy, Bad Day at Black Rock, and Blackboard Jungle.^[3] Other famous message pictures by other parties include Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night^[4] (the former directed by Stanley Kramer, who was also well known for numerous message films).^[5]

In Indian cinema, B.R. Chopra was known for message pictures. Examples include Kanoon (against capital punishment), Naya Daur (importance of labour), Waqt (importance of time and destiny), Nikaah (against triple talaq (divorce) among Muslims), etc.^[6]

Examples[]

Pre-1970[]

• Paths of Glory (1957)
• On the Waterfront (1954)
• It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
• Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
• On the Beach (1959)
• I Want to Live! (1958)
• Salt of the Earth (1954)
• The Intruder (1962)
• A Child Is Waiting (1963)
• Heroes for Sale (1933)
• The Connection (1961)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Post-1970[]

• Do the Right Thing (1989)
• Blood Diamond (2006)
• American Gun (2006)
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
• The Sea Inside (2004)
• Courageous (2011)
• White Dog (1982)
• Stand and Deliver (1988)
• I Am Sam (2001)
• Coach Carter (2006)
• American History X (1998)
• Crash (2005)
• Music of the Heart (1999)
• Where to Invade Next (2015)
• Amistad (1997)
• Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004)
• Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Gandhi (1982)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• The Color Purple (1985)
• Schindler's List (1993)
• The Cider House Rules (1999)
• Remember the Titans (2000)
• House of Sand and Fog (2003)
• Wall-E (2008)
• Babel (2006)
• Pay It Forward (2000)
• American Beauty (1999)
• Avatar (2009)

Sources:^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34][35]}

Notable directors[]

• Spike Lee^[36]
• Stanley Kramer^[37]
• Tom Laughlin^[38]
• Elia Kazan^[39]
• Oliver Stone^[40]
• Abel Gance^[41]
• Norman Jewison^[42]
• Frank Capra^[43]
• Richard Attenborough^[44]
• Edward Dmytryk^[45]

See also[]

• Oscar bait
• Social issues
• Social problem film
• Very Special Episode
• Virtue signaling
• After-school special
• Television film
• Christian film
• Melodrama
• Social thriller
• Public service announcement
• New Hollywood

References[]