J.Edgar tells a great overview of J.Edgar Hoover's life,
a very historically accurate film doing things like exemplifying the
manipulation that Hoover used on the press to make himself look like a hero.
However, covering things that are up to opinion about Hoover and no one will
ever know what happened, the film portarays him as a gay, cross-dresser but
barely provides evidence why they think that. While it is incredibly likely
that Hoover was a closet homsexual and transvestite it can only be assumed
about Hoover's life, as there is only clues, all-be-it heavy ones to depict his
personal life. The J.Edgar movie heavily involves aspects that were
used in 12 Years a Slave,Glory,
and Smoke Signals.
J.Edgar incorporates the dramatization of 12 Years a Slave, by putting some of the more intriguing
subjects to the fore front of the movie, while pushing the more mundane
subjects in a limited light. For example, in the movie, Hoover goes on and on
about wanting and needing a fingerprint system to identify criminals, but upon
doing research all the articles I looked at just briefly specifically the
Britannica biographyy about him went over how he incorporated forensics and
science into the Bureau.
The film also uses tactics similarly to the one in Glory, J.Edgar's mother is a key figure in the film used to draw in sympathy, and to explain why Hoover acted the way he did. He tells his mother he goes on a date in the movie, and she gets angry with him, later when he tries to come out to her, she insults him and tells him she would never want a gay son. As Hoover was a very private man it will literally be impossible to ever find out whether these events ever really happened. According to Washington Post Hoover did have gay china let in his house however so it can be speculated that these events were likely to happen. These events likely caused him to be the paranoid power-hungry man that he is, by the way accordin to the move and a Chris Lydon NYTimes article as he got older he would take shots of vitamins, literal syringes filled with vitamins injected into his blood, for energy. He was desperate because of his insecurities not to come across as weak and to be better than his opposition.
J.Edgar also uses a similar kind of storyline as Smoke Signals and Glory by making interesting events happen that did not really happen. In the movie, Hoover is continuously giving interviews to media members and he talks about all the exciting things that happened in his life and with cases. During the famous Lindbergh kidnapping he claims that Charles Lindbergh himself shook his hand and talked about how much respect he had for the FBI and that he was glad they could help. According to the FBI.gov article about the case Lindbergh acted cold and wanted to sort it out by himself and never get the police involved. The movie later covers its bases when alleged life-partner of Hoover, Clyde Tolson (Britannica) told Hoover he knew he was lying to the press and that Hoover could not deceive him, the movie than later goes into flashbacks correcting all the mistakes Hoover told. The lies exemplify that Hoover wanted power and wanted people to look up to him, because he was "the good guy" and deserved to be looked up to.
Personally, I think that J.Edgar can and should be used as a credible historical source. The film highlights lesser known/talked about events in Ameriacn history such as communist radicals in the 1920’s and Emma Goldman who was deported for being a leader of the communists (PBS). Emma Goldman herself shows another clue into Hoover’s life, as she was a gay rights activist and Hoover despised her(PBS), a classic school yard bully move where the bully picks on a kid because they are insecure about themselves in some way. Another example is the MLK-Hoover rivalry shown in the film. Hoover absolutely hated MLK because he was a communist, and in an interview I found on USNews.com it showed he hated communism as a whole and how it could corrupt good men. Hoover threatened MLK not to accept the Nobel Peace Prize and to stop spreading his views. I think the fact that MLK made Hoover nervous was that he wanted to control his citizends and limit free speech, the same reason why he deported Emma Goldman. The Atlantic writes in review about Mlk and Hoover about how Hoover blackmails MLK with a letter about an affair he had with another person and that he would go public with it, and ruin King's reputation. Thankfully, King never lacked faith and kept his head held high and gained civil rights for many people around the country. The letter entailing King's sexual relationship and also many other letters he claimed to have in the movie about people's personal life showed how he was insecure about his sexual orientation.
The Roger Ebert review about J.Edgar confirms how the movie was correct in the displaying of facts. The ony thing up to debate was whether or not he was a gay cross dresser, but most historians such as Richard Hack who wrote "PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J.Edgar Hoover" agree that he indeed was one. The Ebert review shows that the movie can be trusted to look at as fact, but a person will most likely want to do extra research about the stories in the movie.
The film also uses tactics similarly to the one in Glory, J.Edgar's mother is a key figure in the film used to draw in sympathy, and to explain why Hoover acted the way he did. He tells his mother he goes on a date in the movie, and she gets angry with him, later when he tries to come out to her, she insults him and tells him she would never want a gay son. As Hoover was a very private man it will literally be impossible to ever find out whether these events ever really happened. According to Washington Post Hoover did have gay china let in his house however so it can be speculated that these events were likely to happen. These events likely caused him to be the paranoid power-hungry man that he is, by the way accordin to the move and a Chris Lydon NYTimes article as he got older he would take shots of vitamins, literal syringes filled with vitamins injected into his blood, for energy. He was desperate because of his insecurities not to come across as weak and to be better than his opposition.
J.Edgar also uses a similar kind of storyline as Smoke Signals and Glory by making interesting events happen that did not really happen. In the movie, Hoover is continuously giving interviews to media members and he talks about all the exciting things that happened in his life and with cases. During the famous Lindbergh kidnapping he claims that Charles Lindbergh himself shook his hand and talked about how much respect he had for the FBI and that he was glad they could help. According to the FBI.gov article about the case Lindbergh acted cold and wanted to sort it out by himself and never get the police involved. The movie later covers its bases when alleged life-partner of Hoover, Clyde Tolson (Britannica) told Hoover he knew he was lying to the press and that Hoover could not deceive him, the movie than later goes into flashbacks correcting all the mistakes Hoover told. The lies exemplify that Hoover wanted power and wanted people to look up to him, because he was "the good guy" and deserved to be looked up to.
Personally, I think that J.Edgar can and should be used as a credible historical source. The film highlights lesser known/talked about events in Ameriacn history such as communist radicals in the 1920’s and Emma Goldman who was deported for being a leader of the communists (PBS). Emma Goldman herself shows another clue into Hoover’s life, as she was a gay rights activist and Hoover despised her(PBS), a classic school yard bully move where the bully picks on a kid because they are insecure about themselves in some way. Another example is the MLK-Hoover rivalry shown in the film. Hoover absolutely hated MLK because he was a communist, and in an interview I found on USNews.com it showed he hated communism as a whole and how it could corrupt good men. Hoover threatened MLK not to accept the Nobel Peace Prize and to stop spreading his views. I think the fact that MLK made Hoover nervous was that he wanted to control his citizends and limit free speech, the same reason why he deported Emma Goldman. The Atlantic writes in review about Mlk and Hoover about how Hoover blackmails MLK with a letter about an affair he had with another person and that he would go public with it, and ruin King's reputation. Thankfully, King never lacked faith and kept his head held high and gained civil rights for many people around the country. The letter entailing King's sexual relationship and also many other letters he claimed to have in the movie about people's personal life showed how he was insecure about his sexual orientation.
The Roger Ebert review about J.Edgar confirms how the movie was correct in the displaying of facts. The ony thing up to debate was whether or not he was a gay cross dresser, but most historians such as Richard Hack who wrote "PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J.Edgar Hoover" agree that he indeed was one. The Ebert review shows that the movie can be trusted to look at as fact, but a person will most likely want to do extra research about the stories in the movie.
