The dead hand of the Great Depression : on dance marathons and spectacles of death and survival

The article’s main subject is the complex mechanism of observation and participation in the spectacles of sadism and cruelty prevalent during the Great Depression in the United States. A particular focus was given to They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy among other literary and art cases. Literary narratives focused on dance marathons are analyzed, apart from a literary-critical perspective, in the light of the history of theater and entertainment, and the history of economics. An in-depth presentation of the circumstances of the economic crisis allows us to see the dynamics of changes in literary conventions (including Hollywood narratives) as part of the historical-literary process, as well as the collapse of the American narrative about success and liberation through a career in the entertainment industry. The article proposes to consider cultural representations of the dance marathon as a sadistic spectacle in which the suffering of others becomes a shortterm entertainment - enabled by a clear division between participants and spectators, and the common understanding of the competition as a springboard to success in Hollywood. Tracing the collapse of this narrative (as well as the lethality of this promise) is an essential point in the essay’s conclusion.