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American foreign policy with respect to isolationism in the period 1919 – 1941
Casablanca analysis and criticism
Essay on the movie casablanca
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During the time of the making of Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), the debate on World War 2 and the United States’ involvement reached its peak. The makers of Casablanca perfectly used the characters in the movie as an allegory to the current political sentiments of the major countries in the war. The most striking example is from Rick. Before the war, the United States’ policy was to try and avoid being involved in another world war and were openly neutral. The U.S. had an underlying hate for the Germans though and secretly helped the British and French. Rick is a perfect example of this U.S. sentiment. During the beginning half of the film, the isolationist policy of the U.S. was epitomized by the loner actions that Rick displayed. For …show more content…
example, in the initial scene in the bar, Rick is alone, playing a game of chess with himself. Even though he is dominant to the point that he can determine who can enter the gambling area with a simple nod, which is indicative to the power that the U.S.
had on the global stage at the time, he is still isolated from everyone else at the bar and won’t even have a drink with any of his guests. He is not strictly neutral and isolated though. He is explicitly anti-German and shows this when he denies the German banker into the gambling area and tears up the German check at the bar. Later in the film though, he starts to reflect the growing voice in contemporary America for intervention in World War 2. He still maintains his “neutrality” on the outside, but leans towards the resistance by helping out Ugarte with the letters. He also, in a dramatic turn, ends up killing the Strasser to help Victor and Ilsa escape. Another character that personifies contemporary ideas is Captain Renault. All throughout the movie, Renault is depicted as a conflicting charming, yet despicable man. Initially when he rounds up all the “usual suspects”, the camera shows a shot of the French Revolution slogan, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” This satirizes the fact that the French used to be a shining country on a hill for freedom, but have sunken to the German’s pressure, mostly through the Vichy
government. However, at the end, when Renault helps Rick out after he shot the Strasser, Renault throws a bottle of the magnificent Vichy water into the trash, symbolizing that he has turned away from the pressures of his government in favor of what is right.
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...
Imperialism is when a big country takes over a smaller country to gain more land and materials. The age of imperialism started in the 1870’s when European countries started making empires in Asia, Africa, and the middle east. Algeria is a small country in Africa that was taken over by France in the 1830’s. In 1847 the Algerians wanted their land back so they fought for control but the French defeated the Muslim leader Abd al-Qadir and gained control of the land. Algeria had many positive and negative effects because of imperialism that shaped its culture, society and government. (Dipiazzia 66).
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.
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.
The 1942 movie, “Casablanca” portrays a World War II era enclave where refugees fled Nazi Europe and used this unoccupied city as a safe haven while pursuing their dreams of coming to America. The main character is Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, who owns a nightclub and casino in unoccupied Morocco during the Nazi era. Blaine, whose sole purpose appears to be money, illuminates a sense of arrogance and self righteousness as he assists in retrieving the necessary immigration documents for those who are willing to pay the price for their freedom. Hidden deep within his memory are the reflections of a women that he once loved, Ilsa Lund, played by Ingrid Bergman. The third leading role was that of Paul Henreid who played the Ilsa’s husband in the movie. Victor Laszlo, a Jewish activist who was on the run from the German Regime was once believed to be dead after being captured and placed in a concentration camp, during which time his wife (Ilsa) fled to Paris and ultimately had an affair with Rick Blaine.
Through this dramatic irony Orwell is trying to picture to the audience the selfishness of the pigs, and so criticizing the selfishness of Stalin and the leaders of the Russian Revolution. The selfishness of totalitaristic leaders is also depicted in V for Vendetta. James McTeigue draws this idea into V for Vendetta through allusions to the Nazi Party and Hitler. This allusion is established throughout the film, with direct representations, such as the close up of the Nazi flag in Gordons house and through the symbolism of the finger men logo which vaguely resembles the swastika. Allusions to Hitler are also drawn straight from Sutler himself. The rhyming of Hitler and Sutler as well as during flashbacks of
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.
Despite not being considered as the traditional ‘hero’s journey’ which is outlined in Joseph Campbell’s argument of ‘separation-initiation-return’, Humphrey Bogart’s character Rick Blaine, in the 1942 film Casablanca, can be argued to follow this twelve-step journey. Campbell states “whether the hero be ridiculous or sublime…” (p.38), on this basis, Rick Blaine qualifies as a hero. These twelve steps are: Ordinary World; Call to Adventure/Disruption; Refusal of the Call; Meeting with the Mentor; Crossing the First Threshold; Tests, Allies, and Enemies; Approach to the Inmost Cave; Ordeal; Reward; The Road Back; The Resurrection; and Return with the Elixir. Although in some parts stages may overlap, this essay aims to argue that Casablanca still
During the Cold War Walt Disney started a more political angle trying to get more recognition for his work and more profit for his studio. In 1993 Marc Elliott wrote the book Walt Disney Hollywood's Dark Prince he states that Disney used his movies in order to create an American centralized patriotism during World War 2, he illustrates that in the movie saludos amigos which is a movie about Donald Duck traveling to South America and
Laszlo is a known to be opposer to the Germans, so the Germans were looking for him. Lisa knows Rick can find them a way to get out of the country. The film started with the owner of a famous night club, Rick Blaine, receiving two important visa letters. These letters are so important because these letters are coming straight from above so one will go straight to America without any issue with the people that will check it. When a Czech underground leader, Victor Lazlo, came in town with Rick’s old love flame the plot gets thick. Now Rick Blaine has to make a decision whether not to help Lazlo escape the Germans and get back together with his long-time love Lisa or to help Lazlo run to the Americas to assist in a revolution against the Nazi’s. This clearly shows how the problems of war and love become very complex in the film. Casablanca is a great piece of movie history because not only did it do a great deal to show how people were affected by the war, but also because
Starting from the late 19th to early 20th century, modernist writing has become widely spread as a way for people to express ideas and feelings that are written in a more isolationist form. The modernist literary movement was driven by the desire to transform writing from the classic views of the time period and begin to express the newly developed emotions that were going on at the time. Both The Guest by Albert Camus and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, are two modernist texts that strongly exhibit the feelings of emotional isolation and alienation throughout each book. In each story, the protagonist undergoes a sense of desolation, and although both characters experience the same sense of remoteness, each are isolated in different ways.
First of all, based on the romance scenes of spending time together of Rick and Ilsa, Casablanca is considered as a
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