Last week, I watched the 1923 silent film \Within the Law,"" which was an adaptation of the Bayard Veiller play.??It was one in a series of screenings sponsored by the UW-Madison Cinematheque starring Norma Talmadge, an unsung star of the silent film era.
Surprisingly, I only fell asleep for about 10 minutes of the 96-minute movie.??The rest of the time, I did truly appreciate the silent black-and-white film with live piano accompaniment.??
I was not expecting much before watching the show.??I am not the artsy type, and I have no clue about the silent film world.?? But afterward, my mind was spinning with ideas about various aspects of the movie.??
The quality of the picture was excellent. Besides color, there does not seem to have been much innovation in the area of film between 1920 and today.??Yes, the resolution in today's televisions is significantly better, but the basic model has not changed.
The plot of the film also got me thinking. It involved a young Mary Turner (Talmadge), who worked for an unscrupulous big businessman, Edward Gilder (Joseph Kilgour). Mary, who was forced to work for an awful wage, was then convicted for a crime that she did not commit: Stealing from the businessman.??In the courtroom, Mary begged for clemency, but Edward persuaded the judge to sentence her to three years in jail.??Mary vowed revenge.
After getting out of jail, Mary wanted to lead an honest life but could not find employment as an ex-convict.??As a result, she and her friend resorted to earning money through a series of con jobs. They extorted money from an old man and pretended to be high-class citizens.??She also did all of her cons and morally dubious behavior while staying within the law.
Eventually, she gained success and revenge by marrying the son of her original employer.??The theme of the movie was a bit disturbing.??Mary was only successful by taking advantage of the legal loopholes that existed in the system.??The businessman was only successful by paying his employees slave-labor wages.??The message was that the only path to success was by conforming to the ways of the lying, cheating businessman and staying ""within the law.""??
I was struck by how familiar all of this sounded.??In the 1920s, before women's suffrage, labor laws, the civil rights movement or a regulated economy, this made some sense.??The Bolshevik revolution had just overthrown the government in Russia, and America had just experienced its first Red Scare.??The fact is most people did not know whether or not communism would be successful.??
Today, we know that communism fails.??It makes far less sense to use these socialist scare tactics when history has proven communism to be an economically unviable solution.??Read the 1944 version F.A. Hayek's ""The Road to Serfdom"" for an exploration of the relationship between socialism and human freedom.
The argument remains the same today in Madison. People still rail against the big corporations, low wages and all the ills of consumerism and capitalism.??Yet these same people will shop at Urban Outfitters, tinker with their MP3 players and enjoy all the fruits of progress that our market economy brings.??
Since the 1920s, businesspeople have been condemned for their greed and obsession with money.?? Yet business, competition, globalization and money are the best tools for human progress that we have yet discovered.??
Why do some countries develop into modern, successful societies, while others remain behind' The key is that open participation in the global marketplace causes countries to spend their energy specializing in certain types of production instead of trying to create all of their goods on their own.??With global trade, countries can import the highest quality goods at the best global price while exporting their specialized goods.
The result is a significantly higher standard of living for countries that open their markets. The great progress of India, China, Uganda and Chile has been because of their willingness to open their markets.??
So a random silent movie proved to be an inspiring experience. I started thinking about the context of the film, its history and its parallels to today.??As a graduating senior, the thing I most regret is not taking full advantage of the great resources of our university.??If it is the Distinguished Lecture Series, intramural sports or even silent films, we should fully utilize the tremendous opportunities here at UW-Madison.
Nitin Julka is a senior majoring in computer science and psychology.
