The Crucible vs. On the Waterfront

A commenter in the Fark discussion on the recent death of Arthur Miller said:

2005-02-11 10:59:36 AM

the_american_president

It's interesting to watch "The Crucible" and "On The Waterfront" back-to-back. Both deal in not-so-subtle ways with the HUAAC "witch hunts" of the 1950's, and it's illuminating to see what different conclusions are drawn in the two works.

In some ways, the two works were similar. Both of them dealt with standing up against social pressure. The difference is that the people exerting the pressure in “The Crucible” wore labels that said “I'm an Authority!” whereas they didn't in “On the Waterfront.” (Some of the people on the pro-individual side wore those labels.)