Casablanca is a 1942 romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz. Set in the beginning of World War II, it focuses on the character Rick Blaine and his life in Morocco. Rick is surrounded by a mysterious past that prevents him from returning to his home in America, and even though the audience learns much about Rick, his reason for exile never surfaces. Rick, now living in Casablanca, owns Rick’s Café Americain and leads a cynical and seemingly lonely lifestyle. The American classic, Casablanca, acts as a political allegory, telling both the story of Rick’s love life as well as the war effort and the dreadful invasion of the Germans. Curtiz employs a unique narrative film structure that utilizes a distorted temporal order and restricted …show more content…
narration and later reveals all with an important flashback. Throughout the movie, Curtiz also hints at the action of subsequent scenes by inserting clues into the former ones. The film also contains significant motifs, the most crucial being the song “As Time Goes By”, which act to reveal the mood of specific scenes and also strengthen the understanding of the film’s wartime context. The film begins by discussing the present situation in the Moroccan coastal city of Casablanca. People from all over the world flock to this melting pot made up of refugees, resistance fighters, Nazis, and people seeking new fiscal opportunities, and all of them find their way to Rick’s Café Americain. The viewer immediately learns that Rick once hated fascism and fought for the resistance, but now he harbors no political opinions and remains neutral and detached often saying, “I stick my neck out for nobody”. An outlaw, Ugarte, comes to Rick to ask him to conceal transit documents that he obtained by killing two German couriers. Rick reluctantly accepts the documents and hides them, contradicting his initial harsh remarks to help no others. This minor change of heart acts as a clue and foreshadows a much bigger character transformation for Rick. The story range, the information that the viewer gets, is incomplete at the beginning of the story because the rational for Rick’s cynicism and dejected views is unknown. A major clue, if not a direct answer, for his pessimism comes to his café soon after the arrest of Ugarte. The lovely Ilsa Lund, a former lover of Rick’s and the reason for his bitterness, comes to the establishment with her husband, Victor Laszlo, to purchase the same letters of transit. Victor Laszlo is a renowned Czech Resistance leader who has escaped from a Nazi concentration camp and has fled to Casablanca. The couple must have the letters to escape to America in order to continue his work. The awkward initial meeting between Rick and Ilsa makes for a confusing scene due to the fact that the viewers know nothing about their past together. Soon after Ilsa and her husband depart, Rick has a flashback that reveals all the desired information to the audience. Curtiz distorts the temporal order of his film in order to first present the characters Rick and Ilsa in isolation and then to reveal their complicated past together.
Rick’s flashback takes the film back a few years to Paris, immediately before the Nazi occupation of the city. Rick, called Richard at the time, seems and acts like a completely different person. He is full of life and vigor when he first meets the young and beautiful Ilsa. The couple fall in love and plan to leave Paris together, but Ilsa abandons Rick and he makes the journey to Casablanca alone and heartbroken. Rick still has no understanding of why Ilsa left him and this accounts for his negativity and cynical attitude. However, Curtiz employs an interesting film tactic by revealing to the audience information that Rick does not know. Through narrative dramatic irony, the audience finds out that Ilsa had a legitimate reason for leaving Rick. She thought her husband, Laszlo, to be dead when she fell in love with Rick. When she discovered that he was still alive, she left Rick abruptly without explanation and returned to Laszlo, leaving Rick feeling betrayed. After the club closes, Ilsa returns to try to explain, but Rick is drunk and bitterly refuses to listen. It is after this occurrence that Rick has his flashback to …show more content…
Paris. As the plot of the film progresses, Rick sees Ilsa and Victor more often in their struggle to obtain transit letters. Laszlo suspects Rick to have the letters so he meets with him at the café. Rick initially refuses to give the papers to Victor, most likely out of spite due to his relationship with Ilsa. But later this evening Rick first starts showing signs of a change of heart. The Nazis begin to loudly chant their song “Die Wacht am Rhein” and in response Victor orders the band to play “La Marseillaise”. The band is unsure how to act and the look to Rick for advice. Rick gives his approval which reveals his suppressed political fervor for the first time since coming to Casablanca. Later that night, Ilsa and Rick meet where she reveals to him why she left him back in Paris. Once Rick has this immense and life-changing understanding, he undergoes a complete character transformation. He once again begins to reject fascism and decides to help Ilsa and Victor for the good of the war effort. Rick devises an intelligent plan to get Laszlo and Ilsa out of Casablanca and to safety. By the end of the film, he acts heroically, sacrificing both a possible future with Ilsa and his comfortable life in Casablanca so that Laszlo can escape with Ilsa and continue his important political work. Through doing this, Rick shows an understanding of the importance of the war effort and how his own self-interests are subordinate to the greater good. Curtiz exploits certain motifs in his film that both reveal of mood of specific scenes and also help explain the wartime context that envelops Casablanca. The most significant motif of the film comes in the form of a song, “As Time Goes By”. This song, which parallels Rick and Ilsa’s relationship, plays in four different scenes and each time it transforms to depict the couple’s changing emotions at various stages in their relationship. The first time the song plays is in Rick’s café when Ilsa and Victor first enter. Ilsa approaches Sam, the pianist, whom she knew in Paris and asks him to play the song. As Sam plays “As Time Goes By” for Ilsa, Rick overhears and tells him to stop playing the song. At this point, he sees Ilsa for the first time since she abandoned him in Paris. He feels a significant and palpable shock which is accompanied by a sudden loud chord in the song, referred to as a stinger. This chord lasts for a while, as though the surprise of seeing Ilsa freezes Rick’s emotions into an intense state. This version of the song does not contain its nostalgic and romantic tone. Again, the song plays again once everybody has vacated the bar and only Sam and Rick remain. As Sam plays “As Time Goes By” at Rick’s request, Rick falls into a flashback which shows his time in Paris, when he first met and then fell in love with Ilsa. These were definitely more joyful times for Rick, and the music reflects this with a jaunty version of “As Time Goes By” that contains sweet and sooting melodies. However, here is a stark contrast by the end of the flashback. Rick realizes that Ilsa has left him and he is alone at the train station about to leave Paris. The devastated Rick boards the train with Sam to a heart-wrenching version of “As Time Goes By”. The audience hears the song for the last time in the final scene, in which Rick makes Ilsa leave him and board the plane with Victor. While this will prevent Rick and Ilsa from ending up together, Ilsa realizes that Rick is doing it out of love for her. The music cooperates by perfectly attuning the notes with the mood, sounding a version of “As Time Goes By” that returns to its original nostalgic harmonies and soothing cords. The song varies throughout the movie, but plays beautifully for what is perhaps the most touching expression of love in the entire film. Other motifs, such as exile and travel as well as the spotlight, are important to explain the historical context of the film.
Many of the characters in the film are exiles who have come to Casablanca to begin their lives anew. An exile is a person who is unable to ever return home, and with the idea of exile comes travel. The introduction of the film presents various means of hurried travel which symbolically show people hurriedly fleeing Nazi occupation. This rushed travel contrasts with images of leisurely excursion such as a boat ride down the Seine River which occurs in Rick’s flashback, at a time where Paris was untouched by the Nazi’s. The film begins with scenes of travel and importantly ends with travel. The final scene in which Ilsa and Victor leave, demonstrates that for the exile, travel is never ending. The journey never ceases during a time in which there is war. The spotlight in Casablanca also acts as a symbolic motif. The light constantly shines over Casablanca and Rick’s café which serves as a reminder that the citizens are always under watch. The light follows important individuals such as Laszlo around which symbolizes the fragility of his safety. Ilsa and Laszlo must leave Casablanca because as long as they are under the watch and scrutiny of the spotlight, they are never truly safe and able to conduct their business to fight the
Nazis. In conclusion, Michael Curtiz employs a unique and stylistic narrative structure in Casablanca in order to invest the audience in the story and have them trying to piece together the clues throughout the entirety of the film. The plot does not reveal the full story range until Rick’s flashback to Paris, and even after that Rick still is unaware of Ilsa’s reasons for leaving him. The temporal order is skewed with the important flashback and the film saturated with foreshadowing clues. Motifs also play a vital role in this film, helping to display the current feelings of characters and also explaining the complex historical context of the war. Furthermore, Casablanca ends on an interesting note which can neither be definitively happy or sad, but is instead both at once. Rick and Ilsa depart for good and he finds a new friendship in Louis, the prefect of police. Rick's substitution of Louis for Ilsa at the end of the film underscores the notion that politics trump love, and the public is of greater significance than the individual.
The film Casablanca centers on an American man by the name of Rick Blaine who flees a German-occupied France during World War II to a city in Morocco by the name of Casablanca. (Casablanca, 1942) This city is a territory of France at the time and is out of full German jurisdiction due to this status. (Casablanca, 1942) Many citizens of German-occupied countries in Europe sought refuge here due to the lack of control Germany had on other countries’ territories early in the war. The general intent of refugees in Casablanca was to flee to even further countries such as The United States of America, which they could not achieve in their home, occupied countries. As the film’s plot develops, the viewer is introduced to refugees very important to the freedom-fighting movement France, and we learn that Rick originated in New York, U.S.A.
The Allegory of Men painted by Frans Francken in 1635 perfectly depicts the impact of religion during that time period. Francken was a devote Catholic during the 1600s when the church had a lot of influence on the community and government(“Frans Francken the”) . The painter’s intention was to capture the people’s awareness of the church’s power on one’s afterlife. The painting instills good catholic values by reminding people how important it is to make proper decisions to be granted entrance into heaven. Since the church has so much power, they ultimately decide what were “good” and “evil” choices. Divided into three parts the painting shows heaven, Earth, and hell. However, the underlying message in the painting is how humans end up
In the film Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz, a clear juxtaposition exists between Rick and America. Despite Rick’s numerous similarities to America and his deep longing to be part of the country, a physical and psychological barrier separates the two. With America practically being on the opposite end of the world, Rick understands that he cannot abandon his responsibility to aid and influence others in Casablanca. Rick is willing to sacrifice his personal comfort and well-being for the greater good of society. This juxtaposition between America and Rick foreshadows that the United States would soon become involved in the war by overtly displaying Rick’s transformation when he confronts his troubled past.
In the essay “Beautiful Friendship: Masculinity & Nationalism in Casablanca”, Peter Kunze lavishly explains the magnificence of Michael Curtiz’s 1942 film Casablanca. Kunze focuses on how the movie not only highlights an exchange of relationships, but how the film has an underlying meaning between these relationships. He also implies that there is a more complex meaning behind every character in regards to their gender, economic, and social roles. The overall thesis of his reading is “the patriarchal ideology underlying the narrative commodifies Ilsa, leading Rick to exchange her with other men in an act of friendship and solidarity as well as to dissuade any perception of queerness between the strong male friendships in the narrative” (Kunze
The film Casablanca, indeed, involves problems that Rick faced and he finally solved that problem, ending in a satisfying way. Risk’s equilibrium is disrupted when he is going to leave Paris with his girl friend Ilsa because Ilsa doesn’t showed up at last. Risk becomes a boss of a cafe in Casablanca but he never imagines that he would encounter Ilsa again. Ilsa walks into Risk’s life again by accident when she is planing to get a letter of transit in Casablanca in order to escape to America with her husband. At the same time, Nazi Major Strasser arrives in Casablanca and tries to stop Ilsa’s husband from leaving Casablanca. Risk’s equlibrium is disrupted again. Risk still loves and hates Ilsa, and moreover, he gets the letter of transit. Even though Risk wanted to stay with Ilsa and let her husband go to America alone, Risk finally let Ilsa and her husband go and killed the Nazi Major Strasser. That is a satisfying ending.
The Allegory of the Cave has many parallels with The Truman Show. Initially, Truman is trapped in his own “cave”; a film set or fictional island known as Seahaven. Truman’s journey or ascension into the real world and into knowledge is similar to that of Plato’s cave dweller. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities along with the very intent of both of these works whose purpose is for us to question our own reality.
If Casablanca's audience had to choose between Rick and Laszlo, they would choose Rick because everything in the film has prepared them to choose him, who represents the rejection of America's involvement in world politics. Instead, the film relieves the audience of the necessity of choice by displacing the film's political conflict into melodrama, where familiar emotions overwhelm ideas. Although Victor Laszlo is always in Rick's shadow, he stands for the values of the father and the prevailing American belief in 1942 that freedom is worth fighting and dying for, which is the definition of the official hero. By censoring the theme of American reluctance to give up its autonomy, the film spares the audience the agony of siding against the values of the father, condensing the oedipal resolution to another shared experience between Rick and the viewer.
...o survive and flee the inevitable evil. With World War II raging, viewers in the United States could feel the fear and anxieties as well as compassion for the characters. Although some movies can be rewritten to obtain a better effect over the viewers, Casablanca cannot be redone. The mere fact that the evil of the day was a reality of the time prevents this movie from ever having the same effect on the audience.
The city of Casablanca is a bleak place full of hardship and full of people that are tied down. These people look for an escape that can set their mind on a different path. Rick’s Cafe Americain reflects that place to visit that can set the people’s minds free. Specifically, there rests a piano that can turn the minds of the people away so that they can feel free and have an enjoyable time at the cafe. With this, the cafe and piano give the people a sense of living a normal life. In the movie, Casablanca, Sam’s piano resembles a symbol that not only resembles a sense of enjoyment and freedom, but helps establish a connection to the past of Rick and Ilsa.
Casablanca’s setting exposes the hometown view points so the audience sympathize with Casablanca’s inhabitants. Casablanca’s majority wants to leave but must stay while under the German rule. Although Casablanca still claimed they were unoccupied France, it became obvious that they i...
...t it is clearly obvious what is about to happen using an establishing shot. Casablanca also uses camera angle specifically portraying Captain Renault and Strasser as less powerful people in the office scene. Editing allows for smooth transitions between shots and allows for us as viewers to experience the scene like we are seeing through the characters eyes. Lighting provides us a mood of the scene, specifically when Rick first sees Ilsa for the first time since Paris. The Music plays a role in how we as audiences should feel while watching the movie. And without production design movies would not flow correctly. Every setting is specifically chosen to depict the location where the scene takes place. Casablanca is a quintessential film because it ties up all the formal elements of classical Hollywood. Without this movie Hollywood may be a completely different place.
“The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.”- (Kazantzakis). The play Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder, takes place in the small town of Grover’s Corners. The residents of Grover’s Corners are content with their lives and do not mind the small town they are living in. Emily Webb, a girl living in Grover’s Corners does not think secondly about her life… until it is over. This play can be compared to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where men are kept prisoner until one man is able to escape. Only after escaping the cave, does the man realize how much better the life outside is, and truly understands that his previous life was a prison. Emily's crossing from life to death is a parallel to the the
Have you ever thought about six to thirteen year olds ever acting like savages and turning into a serial killer? After reading Lord of the Flies, this is exactly what happened. Ralph, Piggy, Jack and other kids cash land on a gorgeous island with leaving no trace for the world to find them. Ralph tries to be organized and logical, but in the other hand, Jack is only interested in satisfying his pleasures. Just like in the short story, The Tortoise And The Hare, Lord of the Flies, stands for something. This novel is a psychological allegory, the island, as the mind, Ralph, the leader, as the ego, Jack, the hunter, as the id, and Piggy, an annoying little boy, as the super ego. As we read Lord Of
Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, is a novel about British schoolboys, who survived on an island after the plane crash. This novel is an allegory: It is a literary work in which each character, event, or object is symbolic outside of the novel. It is allegorical in the level of society in terms of three major symbols. The conch symbolizes civilization, and helps to possess an organized law and order. Next, Jack, as the main antagonist in the novel, represents a savage in the society. Furthermore, the fire signifies the return of civilization and conflicts within the society. Thus, Lord of the Flies is an allegory for society since it represents good governance, humanity’s innate cruelty, and struggles to the return of its civilization.
The Epstein brothers created Casablanca, a romantic adventure, like no other of its time. There are few movies that are loved by men and women alike. Casablanca is one such movie. It successfully combines action, adventure, love and romance into a film loved by all.