Casablanca about American Culture during Wartime

In All Quiet on the Western Front, the author paints a realistic and gruesome tale of war. Many people believe that war is a glorious event. The author succeeds to show how gruesome and devastating war actually is. In many books, movies, and TV shows, war is described as glorious and good. War is not glorious or good from the beginning of time people have been at war and from that people have died. War is shown as the thing that gets the girl or the thing that makes people see you as a king and that people come back untouched. That is the false way the Hollywood and others have butchered the reality of war.

Jarhead follows the journey of Anthony Swofford during his service in Middle East. Throughout his journey, Swofford presents a unique perspective on a variety of issues that indirectly affect American life and the “war” on terrorism. Some of the issues touched on include the mental stability and mentality of American soldiers, the influence of politics in the presentation of war, and the construction of a marine. Through these themes, along with the unique perspectives offered by the characters in the film, the audience is able to gain insight into the corruption and lies that are “war”. This insight ultimately helps the audience analyze the text deeper and enables them to draw the similarities in current events and dissect what they

     In Casablanca, the prominent themes of unhappy love and self-sacrifice set this romantic melodrama apart from most in its genre. These themes are best expressed in the interactions of the three main characters: Victor Laszlo, a heroic political leader; Ilsa Lund, an enigmatic femme fatale; and Richard (Rick) Blaine, a seemingly morally ambiguous night club owner. An unusual love triangle forms with the two men’s mutual love for the intermediary woman. Unlike the archetypal romantic triangle which includes the betrayed husband and the victorious lover, this situation results in unhappiness and loss for all involved. All three are willing to sacrifice for this love,

The characters in Casablanca all contribute to the political allegory, for example Rick is strong and isolated like America, Strasser is the typical Nazi general representing Germany, and Renault is compliant with the Germans like France. American Rick and European Louis look out for each other's interests throughout the film, just as America and Western Europe did once the United States entered the war. Renault had to obey and follow the Strasser?s demands until he had leverage and the knowledge that he could defeat or overcome

Ray points out that this concealing of the necessity for choice also governs the thematic paradigm in Casablanca. The film invites the audience to identify with Rick rather than Laszlo even though official American wartime sentiments are consistently voiced by Laszlo. Rick regularly insists upon unmediated self-interest,"I stick my neck out for nobody", "I'm the only cause I'm interested in", a position that Ferrari explicitly identifies with a discredited American tradition: "My

In the 1942 film, Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz, is a classic film noir. A film noir or black film, is characterized by the tone of dark elements, physically and psychologically, the element of crime, and the element of World War II and post-war disillusionment with influences of German expressionism. This film captivates the classic film noir characteristics thematically through Rick Blaine’s behavior, the characters and atmosphere, and the significance of the one setting used through the entire film as well as cinematically through the overall cinematic elements that establish scenery.

Nevertheless, it seems that they represent American society in the 1940’s. The character of Rick portrays an unconventional hero who tries to stay outside of everyone’s business, but in the end it is him who saves Laszlo’s and Ilsa’s life. This reminds me of the role of America during WWII. At first, the United States tried to stay out of the war, but when they were forced to react after Pearl Harbor, they got involved. The film also refers to this when Rick asks his friend Sam if he knows what time it is in New York. Before Sam can reply, Rick says that it must be December 1941, which was the time when the attack against Pearl Harbor occurred. Ilsa, on the other hand, represents the role of American women. She is described as the most beautiful woman that has been seen in Casablanca. Her appearance reminds me of the typical image of an ideal American girl – blonde, pretty and conservative. She tries to act in a moral way when she finds out that her presumed dead husband is still alive and she leaves Rick at the station in Paris. This reminds me of how women were treated during the 1940’s. It was their responsibility to take care of the family business, but in the end men would have the final decision. Ilsa tries to get the transit-visa from Rick, but she tells him to decide what she should do next. Rick sends her away with Laszlo and restores the perfect family union between Ilsa and Laszlo. Another

1. What is the setting for Casablanca? How does the film establish this setting? If you were creating a theatrical production of the play upon which the film is based, how would you establish the setting on stage? The setting for the movie looked as if it was around the 1980’s. The movie has a sort of mellow feeling to it because of how calm all the actors and actresses are performing. If i were to do a theatrical performance on this i would have set all the scenes in a way where it would fit the 1980’s attitude, such as clothing and accent.

Film makers use many historical events to spark up and idea for a movie. One historical event that is commonly used is war. One advantage a film maker has when using war as a movie plot is that there is already a lot of drama in war. This may seem like a good advantage for the film maker, however focusing on all of the drama of war leaves much of the actual info. When watching a war movie, you may feel like you have an understanding about the war, but when you really compare a war movie to an actual war you find that there is a lot of factual information left out. One may ask why would directors and film makers leave out the facts of war and focus on the drama? After reading The Faces of Battle by John Keegan and reviewing war movies

In the film, “Casablanca”, it showed us that America was neutral in the war as Rick said, “I stick my neck out for nobody.” Rick is portrayed as America, although he seemed as if he was neutral he started to show that he was caving in for the underdog, just as America did when we started to get involved in the War. During the film when the Germans come into Rick’s café, Rick shows that he is aware of what is going on in the War, just as we Americans knew about all the concentration camps. Also, when someone offered to buy Sam’s contract from Rick, Rick said “I don’t buy or sell human beings.” Casablanca shows that America is aware of what is going on and that we are above all of it.

Around the time of the war, Casablanca was a sort of getaway for war prisoners, they show this in the movie. For example, Victor, a jewish man, who came to Casablanca to escape the nazis with his wife Isla. This movie did not really show the war, like people being killed, especially the Americans. They didn’t want to show Americans getting killed because they were afraid it would make America look weak to other countries. Also that their fellow American citizens would be scared in thinking that America would lose, or that they weren’t strong enough compared to the axis countries. They didn’t even have a fighting scene in the movie, only what looked like army men from different countries trying to arrive to a certain destination.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, it was commonly believed that the war was “America’s golden age, a peak in the life of society when everything worked out and the good guys definitely got a happy ending” (2), which is a direct result from Hollywood’s glamorization of the war. During the war, the film industry began to boom, using the war as inspiration for making movies. Lifeboat (1944) and The Moon Is Down (1943) for example, makes it clear who the enemies were because the enemies were always “…cruel, devious, and unprincipled…” (11). It was also clear who the good guys and heroes were. The film industry even glamorized how people died in the war. In these movies whenever an American died their death was quick, painless, and clean. However, when the

Throughout Casablanca, there is a definite sense of patriotism and nationalism from the American side. Although the marketing team focused on the action, romance, and movie stars, the underlying political themes of Casablanca are eminent; the film’s intention was to get people to support the war. Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, is the representative of the Americans in the film. He is, after all, called a patriot by Captain Renault after the murder of Mayor Stasser. In the film, America is shown as a safe place for refugees; this further promotes American involvement in the war, because Americans should want to keep fighting for their land to stay safe.

In the film, the soldiers fought very hard. They went through a lot in this war. They had to defend themselves and their territory. Often times they ran low on food and water. A ton of men died everyday when they were fighting. The soldiers had to deal with orders that were not necessarily smart orders. They had to protect themselves against Germany.

From the opening sequence one can establish that Casablanca obeys the elementary principles used in the Classical Hollywood narrative structure. In the initial minutes of the film the audience is introduced via a voice over of the various political happenings prior to the films start such as Hitler’s occupation of Europe and the surge of refugees who fled the Nazi’s to Casablanca. The use of narration presents the audience with a simple introduction which the rest of