United States alcohol

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1 heure 08 minutes 40

In that extract, we can see Jack, the youngest brother of the family. He’s buying new clothes, drive a brand new car while vagrant are looking at him. In this film, Jack represents the new type of businessman. He’s skillful in deal, he wants to earn a lot of money in a minimum of time but most of all, he wants to show that is rich and got some power. We can see later an opposition with his big brothers Howard and Forrest. They don’t really matter the way they dress, their haircut. There is a gap between them. Howard and Forrest are quite stereotypes of the cow-boys, living simple life with for only pleasure alcohol and cigar. They’re strong, taciturn and proud, and they resolve trouble with their fists more than conversation and compromise.

1 h 09 m 03

In that extract, we can also see the economic climate of the period. The consequences of 1929 crash spread all over the country. The dust cloud can easily represent this wave of poverty which envelop the old American cities. The following scene shows people on the edge of the road, with the furniture they can keep. On the poster behind them, an add praise the consumption society which just ruin them. Jack passes in front of them toward to the ad as if he would access to that new way of life.

1 h 09 m 14

Jack and his brothers make money dealing their alcohol with the mob. It assures them a pile of money but much more risks too. As a lot of scofflaws in this period, the Bondurant imagine stratagems to escape from police.

1 h 10 m 52

Jack is interested in girls, especially the daughter of Franklin pastor. But as the Church, the pastor isn’t very in favor of moonshine. This scene illustrate once again the gap between Jack and his

brothers. Jack can’t prevent himself from visit his girlfriend. At the opposite, Forest keeps his distance toward to women.

1 h 11 m 05

Assessment

As we can see in this extract, CLIC secret networks / underground networks develop to counter prohibition. Indeed, alcohol became, from one day to the next, a kind of forbidden fruit which everyone wanted to taste. Several clandestine bars are created. They are named “speakeasies” CLIC. In New York City alone, 5 years after the beginning of the prohibition, CLIC we could count 30 000 (thirty thousand) to 100 000 (one hundred thousand) speakeasy clubs. Why speakeasy? CLIC Because, according to some hearsays, this expression comes from the bar’s bosses ‘customs, who told to their clients not to speak loudly when they ordered alcohol. They should be discreet CLIC.

Anyway, those speakeasies were smarter than the saloons and drunkenness became the wealthy men’s vices. Because of the money earned by those who sold clandestine alcohol, lots of speakeasies saw the day. Furthermore, the bootlegging CLIC, which represented an illegal traffic in liquor ine violation of legislative restrictions on its manufacture, sale or transportation, increased CLIC. This was a total reject of the state authority. For example, the law had only been in operation for an hour when the police recorded the first attempt to break it, with six armed men stealing some $100,000 (one hundred thousand) worth of "medicinal" whisky from a train in Chicago.

The consequences of this underground network were abundant.

One of them was, one the one hand, the development of the artisanal CLIC creation of alcohol. Attracted by the money, lots of families wanted to create their own alcohol to sell CLIC. On the other hand, one of the main consequences of the prohibition was the organized crime boom. Indeed, during this period, the organized crime controlled the importation, the creation of alcohol and the distribution’s network through the speakeasies in particular. Criminals had recognised that Prohibition represented a marvellous business opportunity; in major cities, indeed, gangs had quietly been stockpiling booze supplies for weeks. (Arnold Rothstein)

In those two cases, alcohol’s quality was not controlled and, finally, varied a lot between the gangsters who sold the better one and the clandestine creators who sold the worst. Thus, many of drinkers suffered from blindness or were subjected to brain-damaged. That is not surprising, the well-known “bath tub gin” was, for instance, created with industrial alcohol and chemical poisons.

Anyway, the organized crime increased exponentially during the prohibition and through the alcohol’s control. One of the famous ones was Al Capone CLIC. He was one of the trafic’s leaders et built his criminal empire on illegal sales. His struggle with the well-kwnown prohibition agent Eliot Ness (the leader of the Untouchables) CLIC, the Valentine’s Day massacre, the fact that he became public arch-enemy, changed Al Capone in a real legend. Through this case, we can see that prohibition increased the mafias in the United States. Qualitatively and quantitatively, the organized crime became more and more important. Prohibition has been the original modification in the sophistication degree of the organized crime which can resonate in the current crime. Alcohol is not, after all, the only drug to have been prohibited by law.

BUT in front of the authority reject, the American government exercised a hard crushing during this period.

Indeed Blaise, policemen didn’t hesitate to break some Constitution amendments to limit the clandestine alcohol’s traffic CLIC. They fought above all the weakest traffickers: not the Mob but the artisanal clandestine creators. They didn’t hesitate to hurt, to torture or to kill people to have information. On the contrary, many policemen were corrupted. Eliot Ness created the Untouchables to fight against this phenomenon too. Extremely, one of the less famous stories of the Prohibition was the alcohol’s poisoning led by the government explained some researchers. You can read it in the article of Slate : “Prohibition : quand le gouvernement américain empoisonnait les buveurs d’alcool.” I invite you to read it. This well-known photo represents the liquor’s hunting. Policemen are removaling clandestine alcohol.

Prohibition became increasingly unpopular during the Great Depression.

Some believe that the demand for increased employment and tax revenues during this time brought an end to Prohibition. Others argue it was the result of the economic motivations