History Creator / EliaKazan

[[NamesTheSame Do not confuse]] him with [[VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution Eliza Cassan]].

[[JustForFun/NamesTheSame Do not confuse]] him with [[VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution Eliza Kassan]].

* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: His protagonists eventually learn this and Kazan claimed to have learned this himself.

* AntiHero: Generally Types I-III, his movies featured characters who tend to be very unlikable and even villainous but eventually turn out to have something going for them. He introduced greater psychological complexity to American movies.

* AntiHero: Generally Types I-III, his movies featured characters who tend to be very unlikable and even villains but who turn out to have something going for them. He introduced greater psychological complexity to American movies.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/011_elia_kazan_theredlist.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:310: ''"[[Film/OnTheWaterfront Conscience...that stuff can drive you nuts]]."'']]

Elia Kazan (born Elias Kazantzoglou; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an Greek-American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.

Such an impressive body of work, however, rests side-by-side with his most controversial action, which has in some circles become proverbial. He served as a "friendly witness" [[UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist for the House Committee for Un-American Activities]] at the height of the RedScare. He initially testified admitting to being a former communist in the '30s but he refused to "name names". He subsequently did do so, when placed under pressure. This made him PersonaNonGrata among many of his former leftist friends for whom Kazan could NeverLiveItDown. Kazan was not the only major artist to "name names", almost everyone did, but unlike others, he refused to apologize for his action, even putting out an ad in the newspapers justifying this decision and asking others to come forward. Not long after he made this decision, he made ''On the Waterfront'', a film that has at times, been read as an allegory for his own struggles, something that Kazan [[FlipFlopOfGod has both admitted to and wavered]][[note]]As Kazan noted, his involvement with the pre-production of that film preceded his testimony and most of the film was based on real-life incidents on the docks and the union corruption there, which had nothing in common with his situation[[/note]]. Kazan defended his actions by pointing out that while he may have named names, he only gave useless names to the Committee, the ones who would have been blacklisted anyway, and the CPUSA's strategy against [=McCarthyism=] was poorly conceived and exploitative of artists for the benefit of a political ideology that had become a mask [[DirtyCommunists for hypocrisy]] by TheForties and TheFifties. Critics rebuked him by pointing out that by taking the public stance he did, as a prominent liberal and public intellectual, he legitimized the HUAC's pretensions of being a sincere anti-communist crusade rather than a right-wing committee that trampled on civil liberties. Nearly half a century removed from the Communist hearings, there were protests outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion during the ceremony where Kazan won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Many in attendance refused to stand and applaud.[[note]]The debate wasn't so much on whether Kazan deserved the award, artistically even his critics admitted that he was deserving. They merely pointed out that the AMPAS and Hollywood studios, in general, had never truly given a public apology or restitution for the careers it ended, and honoring Kazan ''before'' doing that seemed galling[[/note]]

Such an impressive body of work, however, rests side-by-side with his most controversial action, which has in some circles become proverbial. He served as a "friendly witness" [[UsefulNotes/TheHollywoodBlacklist for the House Committee for Un-American Activities]] at the height of the RedScare. He initially testified admitting to being a former communist in the '30s but he refused to "name names". He subsequently did do so, when placed under pressure. This made him PersonaNonGrata among many of his former leftist friends for whom Kazan could NeverLiveItDown. Kazan was not the only major artist to "name names", almost everyone did, but unlike others, he refused to apologize for his action, even putting out an ad in the newspapers justifying this decision and asking others to come forward. Not long after he made this decision, he made ''On the Waterfront'', a film that has at times, been read as an allegory for his own struggles, something that Kazan [[FlipFlopOfGod has both admitted to and wavered]][[note]]As Kazan noted, his involvement with the pre-production of that film preceded his testimony and most of the film was based on real-life incidents on the docks and the union corruption there, which had nothing in common with his situation[[/note]]. Kazan defended his actions by pointing out that while he named names, he only gave useless names to the Committee, the ones who would have been blacklisted anyway, and the CPUSA's strategy against [=McCarthyism=] was poorly conceived and exploitative of artists for the benefit of a political ideology that had become a mask [[DirtyCommunists for hypocrisy]] by TheForties and TheFifties. Critics rebuked him by pointing out that by taking the public stance he did, as a prominent liberal and public intellectual, he legitimized the HUAC's pretensions of being a sincere anti-communist crusade rather than a right-wing committee that trampled on civil liberties. Nearly half a century removed from the Communist hearings, there were protests outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion during the ceremony where Kazan won an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Many in attendance refused to stand and applaud.[[note]]The debate wasn't so much on whether Kazan deserved the award, artistically even his critics admitted that he was deserving. They merely pointed out that the AMPAS and Hollywood studios, in general, had never truly given a public apology or restitution for the careers it ended, and honoring Kazan ''before'' doing that seemed galling[[/note]]

Elia Kazan (born Elias Kazantzoglou; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.