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Our Daily Bread

Name: Our Daily Bread
Director: King Vidor
Released: 1934
Duration: 80 min

Representation Score

1.6/10

Minimal

1934

Director

King Vidor

Runtime

80 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Our Daily Bread is a social-realist drama that highlights the collective experience of the working class. While it lacks demographic diversity, it provides a sophisticated critique of economic failure through communal themes. The film's strength lies in its cultural subversion, presenting a socialist-leaning utopia as a response to the Great Depression. However, it remains constrained by the era's social limitations regarding race and gender. Ultimately, the film emphasizes grassroots survivalism and the collective effort over individual heroics.

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Category Breakdown

Does Our Daily Bread have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film centers around a traditional romantic relationship between John and Mary Sims. There is no indication of queer subtext or non-conforming identities.

How does Our Daily Bread portray gender?

Limited

Mary Sims demonstrates emotional strength, but the story emphasizes the male protagonist's physical labor and land management. The narrative adheres to traditional 1930s gender roles.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Our Daily Bread?

Minimal

The cast is ethnically uniform, reflecting the societal norms of 1934 rural America. The story focuses on a single, white working-class experience without diverse ethnic representation.

How does Our Daily Bread represent religion and culture?

Good

The film is progressive for its time, focusing on a socialist community. It critiques capitalist instability by showcasing a communal farming collective as a means of survival.

Does Our Daily Bread include disability representation?

Minimal

There are no main characters with visible or invisible disabilities that significantly impact the storyline.

Present on Screen

The film offers a progressive critique of capitalist instability.
It explores communalism and prioritizes the collective over the individual.
The movie showcases the working class's ability to act in creating alternative social structures.

Limited or Absent

The cast lacks racial and ethnic diversity, remaining ethnically uniform.
Gender roles follow traditional 1930s hierarchies and divisions of labor.
There is no representation of LGBTQ+ identities or queer subtext.

Official Synopsis

John and Mary Sims are city-dwellers hit hard by the financial fist of The Depression. Driven by bravery (and sheer desperation) they flee to the country and, with the help of other workers, set up a farming community - a socialist mini-society. The newborn community suffers many hardships - drought, vicious raccoons and the long arm of the law - but ultimately pull together to reach a bread-based Utopia.

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