Don Lockwood Singin In The Rain Analysis

Characters in movie musicals attain moments of self-expression through his/her solo performances. This is exemplified through several of Don Lockwood’s (Gene Kelly) performances throughout Singin’ in the Rain. Don’s famous “Singin’ in the Rain” number is an obvious moment where he achieves to express himself both verbally and physically as well as allowing the viewers to access the illusion of his inner life [01:05:11-01:08:20]. Don achieves to create and perform that illusion when he declares his love for Kathy (Debbie Reynolds) in the song “You were Meant for Me” [00:39:50-00:44:18].

In order to express his private feelings for Kathy, Don works explicitly to set the terms of his own self-expression by creating the “proper setting.” As this

scene with Kathy unfolds, the nature of cinema’s image constructions is again obviously established by the use of technical equipment to further create Don’s fabricated dream. However, with the assistance of musical and narrative power he commands throughout the scene, Don ends up collapsing the image illusion in order to confess the genuineness of his feelings. He shows Kathy and the audience that cinematic sunsets are nothing but electric lights, “mist from the distant mountains,” [00:40:11] is depicted by a smoke machine, and that “colored lights in a garden” [00:40:18] are woodwinds imitating the song of birds. As the scene continues, the audience realizes that the music that has been underscoring the scene from the start begins to respond more to his honest words. In The Hollywood Musical, Jane Feuer argues that “it is through cinematic technique that the boundaries between worlds are able to be blurred.” 1 Even as Don exposes cinema’s image illusions, the sound track provides them with more meaning.
Significantly, the music instills Don’s words with an illusion of reality that is not an image; the illusion that Kathy’s character on screen is a subject that he expresses his inner feelings to. Diegetic voice and nondiegetic music combine in this scene to present a Don’s dream. The image is simply revealed by the audio levels. As the scene advances, Don himself “blends dream and reality, show and story” 2 by confessing his love from his dream while on a real stage. As a viewer, is would be difficult to question the genuineness of his dream at this moment due to his musical performance.
Stanley Donen’s, The Artist, and Gene Kelly’s, Singin’ in the Rain, not only deals with similar plot lines, but the characters share many attributes.

Singin’ in the Rain assesses the actual complications that occurred when films transitioned into “talkies,” while The Artist concentrates more on the effects of the transition on one particular actor, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin). Both Don Lockwood in Singin’ in the Rain and George Valentin in The Artist are at the top of their careers in the silent movie industry of Hollywood. They both have consistent co-stars including Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) in Singin’ in the Rain and Constance (Missi Pyle) in The Artist. Don unintentionally meets a young stage actress, Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) before she shows up in his workplace and captivates him, the same way Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) comes into George’s life. Both of their co-stars are unable to perform in talkies; however, Lockwood is able to speak well unlike Valentin. This brings the conclusion that both Lockwood and Valentin have to overcome obstacles and adapt to their surroundings with “talking movies.” In both films, the establishment of “talking” movies is introduced. Music, in addition, plays a significant role in both films. Don makes “talking” movies more attractive and exciting by utilizing dance and musical numbers much the same way that Peppy develops her plan to dance with George on film at the end of The Artist

[01:34:08-01:36:03].
There are similarities that overlap between Peppy Miller and Kathy Selden. They both start off as being your regular everyday girl, with talent that are unknown to the public. Again, they both end up becoming famous stars. Yet, Peppy Miller in The Artist is known for her work much faster than Kathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain. It is not until the end of the film that Don reveals the real talent behind the curtains [01:36:00]. For most of Singin’ in the Rain, Kathy would do voice overs for Lina Lamont, so Kathy was always behind the scenes, but her talent of singing and dance caught Don’s attention. The character arc in both movies were extremely similar, in a sense that they both deal with the fame of actors. The Artist has most twists and turns, but they both ended up having the same result in the end.