I just watched last night the film that beat out Natalie's signature film, "Miracle on 34th Street" in 1948 for the Best Picture Oscar. It was "Gentleman's Agreement," starring Gregory Peck, and directed by Elia Kazan, who less than a decade later, would be directing Natalie in "Rebel without a Cause."
Kazan won Best Director Oscar for "Gentleman's Agreement." His fine directing cost Natalie Wood's great film the Oscar! (LOL) Actually, after seeing both films and knowing that "Gentleman's Agreement" pales in comparison to "Miracle on 34th Street," I concluded that "Gentleman's Agreement" only won because of political reasons. Hollywood (and America, in general) felt guilty for being predjudice all the time prior to the film.
That astonished me, seeing that just a few years before this film was released, millions of people - soldiers and civilians, alike - from all over the world were killed because of this same prejudice! How could any person from one of the Allied countries hold anything but sympathy towards the Jews after knowing what went on during the war (the Holocaust)?
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Kazan didn't direct "Rebel Without a Cause", Nick Ray did. Kazan directed Natalie in "Splendor in the Grass".
Hollywood has a long history of using the Oscars to validate their social beliefs, whether the public agrees with them or not. In some ways, Hollywood has been on the cutting edge of some social causes (AIDS, civil rights, women's rights, etc). But in other cases, it lagged far behind (the stereotypical way blacks were portrayed on film well into the 1950s, for instance).
As for anti-semitism, unfortunately it was deeply rooted in the American culture well before WWII, the same way discrimination against blacks was. However, with each generation, it seems to lessen (IMO). My hope is that eventually it will be history. Sure there will still be isolated incidents, but the systemic discrimination that once occurred in this country will be a thing of the past.
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