A Taste of Living through the Great Depression...

An Interview
Questions to Ask the Man of the House...

1. If you lost your job, how have you managed to support your family?

2. If houseless, what is life like in a Hooverville?

3. Did the crash of the stockmarket effect you directly? If not, how so indirectly?

4. Did any of the money you earn vanish quickly from putting it in your bank?

5. How does it feel to not be able to support your family sufficiently?

6. Depending on where you live, did the Dust Bowl ruin your farm or farm products you and your family consumes?

7. Does your wife have a job? Are you jealous?

8. Do you participate in any odd jobs? For low wages?

9. If you are in search for a job, are you competeing with anyone from a minority?

10. What is the one thing you miss the most that the Depression has taken away?

Rewritten Scene for the Simpson's Version of Prohibtion

When the mayor/ city official of Springfield announced that Prohibition had been in place for many years, it had just been forgotten, this aspect of the episode should have been changed. To make it more historically accurate, the city should have been outraged because the government just decided to make Prohibition a law. In the Simpson's, the amendment was rediscovered. Therefore, the law would then have been repealed after some time, rather than it have been already repealed, like in the episode. These slight changes to this scene would have made the episode more historically accurate.

Accuracy of the Simpson's Portrayal of Prohibition

In the 1920s, Prohibition played a major role in society. To portray the occurrences in this time era, the Simpson’s made an episode based on Prohibition in the 20s. For the most part, the episode was accurate, but a few aspects were inaccurate for comedic value. Public drunkenness was displayed in the episode and it was a problem in the US. This caused the government to put Prohibition into place. In the episode, they said Springfield had always had this law, and they had just rediscovered it; this was put in for comedy. Other aspects such as the creation of speakeasies, was a negative component of Prohibition, occurred in the 20s and in the Simpson’s episode. This led to the smuggling of alcohol, but in the episode, alcohol was also created in the basement. Also, the punishment for someone susupplying alcohol to a speakeasy was probably not to be flung across the town by a catapult, but it was added for comedic value in the episode.