Isolation In Casablanca

When people close themselves off from the world, it is because they are hurting and are trying to protect themselves from feeling more pain. In reality, however, that isolation does more harm than good because they are holding themselves back from their true potential. In Casablanca, a 1943 film directed by Michael Curtiz, the protagonist Rick, a self-declared “man alone,” overcomes his internal struggles, opens up and finds himself, which allows him to join the fight against the Nazis in World War 2. Casablanca follows the rules of a classic screenplay because Rick’s text, that he cares about no one other than himself, which is set off by his internal conflict, that he thinks he cannot be loved, is thwarted by his much more virtuous and heroic

Annanina, desperate to get visas for herself and her husband, considers sleeping with Louis in order to get them, even though it would mean being disloyal to her husband, Jan. She asks Rick if anyone loved him so much, they did a bad thing to ensure his happiness and safety, if he could ever forgive her. Rick responds, “Nobody ever loved me that much.” Even though Rick had convinced himself that he is unlovable and a loner, the fact that he is taking the time to speak with Annanina says a lot about who he truly is. If he really didn’t care about other people, he would have written her off and sent her away, but instead, he sits with her and lets her speak, and his face exposes his concern. Later, Rick walks over to Jan, Annanina’s husband who is struggling with a game of Roulette, and tells him to “play 22,” helping him win money to pay for the couple’s visas. Annanina runs over to Rick, hugs him, and thanks him. Rick brushes it off and says, “He’s just a lucky guy.” Although we know Rick helped Jan win money in Roulette to pay for the visas so Annanina wouldn’t have to sleep with Louis because he cared about the couple and wanted to help them, he denies that he played any part in Jan winning. This is because Rick still believes his text, that he is a man alone, even though he just displayed his subtext, that he

She tells Rick that she is still in love with him, which negates Rick’s text, that he is a man alone, and allows him to open up and accept his heroic subtext. He knows that the right thing to do is to send Ilsa with Victor and then fight against the Nazi’s, so he devises a plan. As Rick is about to send Ilsa away on a plane to America with Victor, she cries, saying that she can never leave him. Rick comforts her and replies, “I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of, Ilsa. I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.” This demonstrates that Rick has embraced his subtext because he is putting his own wants aside for the good of everyone else. Even though he wants to be with Ilsa more than anything, Rick knows that she will be safer with Victor, and he realizes that his problems are small in relation to the rest of the world, so he decides to join the fight against the Nazis. With his inner conflict negated, Rick can overcome his text and assume his full potential by accepting his subtext, that