Casablanca
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.
What makes this film a favorite of women? Lets take a closer look at the film and find out. Casablanca is set in the exotic land of Morocco where refuges wait for passage to America, the Promised Land. In a popular American café, Rick, the café owner, hides from the memories of a lost love. Rick is a mysterious, masculine hero who hides behind a hard outer shell but is really thoughtful and unpredictable. Rick soon runs into the girl he loves, Ilsa. Ilsa Lund is a beautiful woman who is torn between two lovers. Thus begins the tender love story that women cannot turn away from.
Ilsa comes into Rick’s club with her husband Victor Laszlo, a Czech freedom fighter wanted by the Germans. From the beginning, women love Rick far more than they love Victor because of his mysterious masculinity. Victor Laszlo is a hero yet, not nearly as loveable as Rick. Rick holds the only two letters of transit that can guarantee Victor and Ilsa’s escape. We are left wondering and waiting to see if Rick will do the right thing and give Ilsa the papers.
Another important part of the movie that women love is the music. The song “As Time Goes By” is the song that belongs to the true lovers and is played over and over by Rick’s devoted friend, Sam. Women enjoy the lasting relationship between Sam and Rick and the compassion of Sam for both Rick and Ilsa.
When Rick is forced with the decision of what to do with the letters of transit Rick speaks with Ilsa and Ilsa asks Rick to think for both of them and make the decision. In the end, Rick sacrifices himself for the happiness of Ilsa and Victor as well as the war against Germany. He risks his own life for others even though he is quoted as saying, “I stick my neck out for nobody” and, “I’m the only cause I’m interested in.” This is an endearing quality. Women want to be Ilsa, and dream of loving a man like Rick.
Now to try and find out why such a romantic love story is a favorite of men.
Casablanca was directed in an era almost entirely dedicated to propaganda, as far as the film industry is concerned. The movie promoted America and the Allies similar to most films of the time, but it did so in a much different manner. The story told in Casablanca follows the main character, Rick, through his personal affairs and love tango with another lead character, Ilsa Lund. The film begins with Rick alone running his saloon based in Casablanca, in which he seems very indifferent to other people’s affairs, and comes off as very exclusive. He is delivered letters of transit by a man named Ugarte, which are nearly priceless to any refugee desiring to flee to the United States or another unoccupied country. Rick continues to act disinterested, reluctantly agreeing to hide the documents. He holds onto them even after Ugarte is killed for having stolen the letters, although there did not seem to be an...
...ater in the book Rick is no longer jealous of Todd and he isn’t afraid to confront him at the party. As quoted on page 143 “Don’t push me, I warned. If it comes down to you or Jake, I choose Jake. I’ll rat you out!” This doesn’t end well with how Nelson strangled Jake, considering Didi had to hit him over the head with a champagne bottle to save Jakes life. Nelson had to go to the hospital and it turns out that Jake takes the blame for Didi when the cops arrive, so in the end the jealousy wasn’t worth it.
Audience members, when seeing Casablanca, would associate it as a war film, and I agree with that, but to be more precise, it is a pro-Allie war film. The literary elements in the film are the reasons why it can be viewed this way, with the emphasis on the plot and characters. The timing of when the film was released also supports the idea of it being an anti Axis film. Although it was set in 1940, it was made a year after Pearl Harbor and America entering the war, but it was released right before the Allies had a meeting in Casablanca, so the filmmakers seemed to have wanted the audience to empathize with the Allies. The whole plot seems to be focused around how Rick is neutral at the beginning of the film, but because of an old flame coming into his life once again, he slowly becomes in favor of the Allie side.
Music is played almost constantly throughout the movie, as it helped to guide the narration as well. Casablanca was part of the sound era, which occurred from the 1930’s- present day. There are a few different elements of sound throughout the film, but I will be focusing on the occurrence of leitmotif. The leitmotif technique is a short, constantly recurring sound that is often associated with a specific person, or place. An example of a leitmotif can be found in the movie Casablanca. We constantly hear the song ‘As Time Goes By’ being played throughout the movie. The first time we hear the song is in the given scene chosen for us. In shot 7, Ilsa asks Sam to play ‘As Time Goes By’ for her on the piano. Later Rick hears the song, and as he goes to stop Sam from playing it, he realizes that Ilsa is there. From then on, the song is played almost every time that Rick and Ilsa are together. The only time that the song is not played is when Rick and Ilsa are arguing. When it comes to the overall music throughout the scene we see that the beginning has calm and relaxed music. Yet, this changes when Rick and Ilsa see each other for the first time. There is a lot of built up tension, and so the music picks up. In shot 17 we begin to hear the sound of violins rapidly playing. The music played in this moment is used to help highlight this intense moment between Rick and Ilsa. The scenes music changes from calm and
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
Throughout history, the film industry has seen many directing styles and techniques. The early part of the 20th century saw a factory style of film production, but as the years went by, director's began to employ new and untried techniques in their pictures. One such technique which these director's implemented was a new approach to the use of the camera and camera angles. "Casablanca," an Academy Award winning film of 1942 saw director Michael Curtiz manipulate the camera in ways others had not. He uses the close-up, point-of- view, and creative shot motivation methods in his film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, to create an American cinema classic.
Robert B. Ray categorizes Casablanca as "the most typical" American film. Ray uses Casablanca as a tutor text for what he calls the formal paradigm of Classical Hollywood as well as the thematic paradigm that addresses the conflict between isolationism and communitarian participation. The film is typical in its appropriation of an official hero Laszlo, who stands for the civilizing values of home and community, and an outlaw hero Rick, who stands for individu...
The song “As Time Goes By”, plays a specific role in connecting the past of Rick and Ilsa in Paris. The first time Ilsa walks into Rick’s cafe she asks Sam to play that very song. Sam at first seems hesitant because he knows the pain the song can put on Rick. The song brings him back to when they were happily in love, and the pain he felt when she didn’t show up at the train station. Just like the other guests, Rick tries to forget that pain by trying to never hear that song again. Sam eventually decides to play the song, and it turns out for the best. Rick even though remembering the hurtful past experiences, remembers the good ones as well. They eventually become reacquainted with each other. This allows Rick to keep his life moving because when Ilsa ditched him, he has been in halted state. Now that Rick had his life back up and running, he could setout to be the hero depicted towards the end of the
...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.
Casablanca debuted in 1942, shortly following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States' entrance into World War Two, although there was plenty of anti-Nazism sentiment, the movie fueled these feelings. There is pro-Allied forces propaganda to support the war, from the scene with La Marseillaise, to the characters of Renault and Rick, and to the last scene. Although the majority of the French patriots were elated to sing their national anthem, it created tension with the German soldiers who imposed their patriotic songs on the crowd, representing the imposition of Germany on France during the war. Captain Louis Renault, who tries to placate who he believes will be the winning side, seems flimsy when compared to Rick, the firm patriot who believes in freedom at all costs. The phrase, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" represents the new strong bond between France and the United States once Nazi-Germany has fallen. Although the film is propaganda against the Nazis, the political language in the movie does not glorify American courage and valor, nor is it militaristic. The movie presents the facts while emphasizing the poor qualities of the Nazis.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. It is a story that explores all
Both Rick Grimes and his actions are moral and unselfish. Rather than being self-centered, Rick puts his life on the line to protect the group and his family with the best of his ability. The well-intentioned actions and selfless motives of Rick is evident in these three examples. In the early events of the zombie outbreak, Rick manages to escape the hospital and meets Morgan and his son Duane. After Duane mistakens Rick for a zombie and knocks him out with shovel, Morgan and him bring Rick to their shelter. Even though Rick is desperately concerned to locate his missing wife and son, he never forgets to return the favor. For a few more days, Rick stays with Morgan and Duane as he takes the two into the town's police department to use the showers and retrieve weapons and ammunition. Despite the overwhelming danger and his worried state, Rick is able to retain his good moral character to the people of of his neighborhood, like Morgan and Duane.
He is handsome (like how no other forty year old can be), selfish, secretive and a scoundrel—for lack of a better description, he’s a quieter Han Solo but sporting much more unpredictable elements. You know that his love with Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa is forbidden, yet you root for them. Their chemistry as both enemies and lovers whose past goes back for years feels so real and unique, probably due to their lack of interaction on set. But while Bogart and Bergman obviously control the screen, it is the memorable “As Time Goes By” song that makes the film. When the song is introduced as the once-lovers’ theme, Curtiz chooses to focus on Bergman’s bittersweet gaze, and that’s more than enough to make it feel like it is our song as
It’s pretty clear that Ilsa cares for both Victor and Rick and she is unsure between the two guys. Rick told Ilsa that she promiscuous, the music is then played with full base interments, while Rick is non-stop with his unpleasant dialogue, 'Tell me, who was it you left me for? Was it Laszlo or were there others in between? Or aren't you the kind that tells?'. Ilsa is then left with a tear running down her face and leaves. A sinking chord is played again when Ilsa leaves and this then gives the audience a sympathy feeling for Ilsa like she shouldn’t be treated like this because of how faithful she is, but the audience also gets Ricks side about why he is being so pessimistic about how he lost his love. When rick speaks the music is then played in low pitch this is so you notice the identity of masculine and bravery. Rick becomes a pessimistic man who is assumed to be the powerful man in Casablanca. When rick is recalling the time he had in Paris, he was more confident than he was romantic and less of a pessimistic man. This flashback scene is one of the important parts because is showing why Rick is being so rude to Ilsa. This flashback has made us learn understand his motivations and audience will get a better conclusion on Rick and what he is like. In the scene its where they show the truth about how their relationship is
Although they do not end up together in the end of the story, I believe this is the perfect example of social exchange theory from the male protagonist point of view. The more social interaction he shares with his love interest is the reward he is given, simply because his goal is to have more contact with her and ideally have her fall in love with him and live happily ever after.