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After Tomorrow

Name: After Tomorrow
Director: Frank Borzage
Released: 1932
Duration: 79 min

Representation Score

1.2/10

Minimal

1932

Director

Frank Borzage

Runtime

79 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Frank Borzage’s drama is a period-specific melodrama that prioritizes emotional intimacy and individual resilience over systemic critique. It captures the interpersonal struggles of the Great Depression through a lens of personal perseverance. The film relies on traditional narrative frameworks, focusing on the tension between romantic idealism and the pressures of familial obligation. While it offers some complexity in female archetypes, it remains rooted in the social norms of its era. Ultimately, the work lacks depth in representing multiple aspects of identity and diverse casting, functioning as a study of individual endurance within established societal structures.

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Category Breakdown

Does After Tomorrow have LGBTQ+ representation?

Minimal

The film focuses on a traditional heterosexual relationship between Pete and Sidney, adhering to the social and cinematic norms of 1932. It does not include any characters with non-binary or transgender identities.

How does After Tomorrow portray gender?

Fair

Sidney demonstrates emotional strength in the face of poverty and family pressure. However, female characters are confined by the social constraints of early 1930s melodrama, without challenging patriarchal norms.

How racially and ethnically diverse is After Tomorrow?

Minimal

The cast appears homogeneous, focusing on the socioeconomic struggles of a specific class. There is no indication of racial diversity or non-white majority casting.

How does After Tomorrow represent religion and culture?

Limited

The story examines the realities of the Great Depression through personal melodrama. It emphasizes individual morality and familial duty rather than critiquing Western institutions or capitalism.

Does After Tomorrow include disability representation?

Minimal

Illness is used as a plot device to increase emotional tension, but there is no nuanced portrayal of disability or neurodivergence.

Present on Screen

Offers a nuanced look at female emotional strength and resilience.
Effectively portrays the socioeconomic pressures of the Great Depression era.
Explores complex interpersonal dynamics and the burden of familial obligations.

Limited or Absent

Lacks racial and ethnic diversity within the cast.
Fails to provide authentic or nuanced representation of disability.
Does not challenge assumptions about straight relationships or patriarchal norms.

Official Synopsis

In the Depression, Pete and Sidney are good kids, working hard, giving money to their parents, and engaged for three years while they save to get married. Each has a selfish mother: Sydney's is cold, Pete's is clingy. Sidney's mother is looking for her own happiness, no matter how much that search harms her daughter and long-suffering husband; and, the longer the engagement lingers, the more pressure Pete's mom puts on Sidney to break it off and set her son free. "After Tomorrow" is Pete and Sidney's favorite song, but with illness, poverty, and temptation: will that good day ever come?

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