The Violation of Cinematic Expectations and Conventions in "Cradle Will Rock"

In the 1999 film Cradle Will Rock, writer/director Tim Robbins uses familiar cinematic conventions and popular character actors to build a specific expectation in the minds of the audience. Doing this, he makes the plot itself (which defies most or all such expectations) seem more profound. <Tab/>Robbins' use of music--always juxtaposing it, as Marc Blitzstein did in his musical The Cradle Will Rock (the creation of which is the story …

…the people it does, and featuring a variety of musical numbers--would create certain expectations in most audiences. When, ultimately, they didn't find a cute and fuzzy story in Cradle Will Rock, the dashing of those expectations will make the darkness of the Depression seem that much more stark, and the not-so-hopeful final fade to the modern-day capitalist orgy in Times Square seem downright depressing. Which seems to be what Robbins was hoping for all along.