Outlaw Heroes in Literature

In Michael Curtiz’ film, Casablanca, the resolution to Annina Brandel’s predicament represents the apotheosis stage of one of Rick Blaine’s cycles. Throughout the film, multiple cosmogonic cycles (Campbell) become present. One, in particular, is at the forefront of the film, which involves Rick and his character development following the Hero’s Journey, or the Cosmogonic Cycle.

     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,

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

The effect of Groucho’s short history of Casablanca is to create a humour but yet also sarcasm scenario. The letter says, “It seems that in 1471, Ferdinand Balboa Warner, your great-great-grandfather … had stumbled on the shores of Africa and, raising his aplentock, which he later turned in for a hundred shares of common, named it Casablanca” (Groucho). Groucho finds it ridiculous that the Warner Brothers thinks they own the city name Casablanca. He makes up a how supposedly the Warner Brothers were given the right to own the name not because they made a movie using the title Casablanca.

Ray compares common values and stances between both outlaws and official heroes. Outlaws are often portrayed as people who are against a unified society. Ray even goes so far as to talk about outlaws “who worked to remain idle, unemployed, and unattached” (453). He also quotes a statement from a man who envies the poor and the criminals due to the amount of “freedom” that they have. Many people do not want to have so many responsibilities in their lives. They want the ability to think for themselves and have their own opinions without others influencing them. Also, due to having no responsibility, the outlaw hero is able to be freer in his adventures and throughout his life due to the

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

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.

Now, if you read between the lines you realize that Rick isn’t as he appears. He is said to have done odd jobs such as a roofer, a car parker, a painter, and a tree planter. Roofers tend to be of criminal background. Saying he is a car parker could be code that he stole cars. Painters go into people’s houses and spend time in the house when the family isn’t there. He probably robbed the houses. He probably just made up the tree planting thing to further reinforce the good guy persona. The main character also divulges to us that Rick made a copy of the gas station's bathroom key. That just reinforces a criminal background and the fact that he is using Rick for the disability money. Every relationship in this short story is based in greed. The producer doesn’t want to hire real actors so he can save money. Baldev was getting money to loan out his horrible basement. Lastly, the main character was taking as much advantage as possible of his disability and living conditions to get more

Ray uses the two archetypes in American film the outlaw hero and the official hero to make his point as well as he discusses the “reluctant hero.” This is a hero that helps their community, but only if it is on their terms and helps them in the end. It is this hero that cuts into the sharp contrast of the official hero by helping their community and the outlaw hero by helping themselves in the process that allows for the hero to reach all of the audience rather than lean too far to one end of the hero spectrum which could make the hero become unrelatable. Likewise, Seger creates a list of steps in which the hero goes through that makes them relatable to everyone, thus giving the hero their popularity. These steps have the hero start out as a normal person, meet a catalyst to start their journey, receive help to start their journey, the hero starts their training, a near death experience happens to our hero causing contemplation, and finally the hero changes to be the permeant hero the story needed. It is the steps that the hero goes through that at some point every person is to be able to relate to such as a struggle to continue, a mundane life to escape or a feeling of determination that the audience has felt at some point. It is in the relatability that Ray and Seger both agree since each states that it is due to how the American audience relates to the hero that allows them to be

Robert Ross’ whole life he grew up in a household where they did what was expected of them, rather than what was right. The type of people that Findley place in Robert’s life is what molds him into the type of character he becomes. Timothy Findley manipulates what a hero is supposed to be, by making Robert Ross a distorted kind of hero. Robert Ross exemplifies anti-heroism throughout the text because of his need to be a savior but inability to do so, his morals and his connection with animals.

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.

Casablanca is a movie that defines Social Class, Sacrifice, Race, and many other different topics in a way that our society can understand. Casablanca also depicts many different examples of impartiality, neutrality, fascism, Nationalism, Inescapable past, power of luck, idealism, and many others. The first concept that this movie depicts is the concept of neutrality and the difficulty of impartiality (not prejudice to one side or another). In this film, Rick likes to pretend he is impartial and does not like to participate in anything involving politics. Rick met Lisa when she was living in Paris.

In the film Casablanca they show various different aspects of American culture during the wartime forties. These things are cumulated in the films sole American, whose name is Rick. However this film not only shows the culture of Americans but also shows a look into what Americans viewed the war as. The values of people and what was considered obtuse for society are ever changing, and you can see this as plain as day within the movies and films of the time. Casablanca is an amazing example for this because it is special in the fact that it’s the only play written during the time that was never played but was instead turned straight into a movie. Now let’s take a more in-depth look into the movie and how it’s connected to the people who were meant to watch it.

The main conflict presented in Casablanca was the love triangle between Victor, Ilsa, and Rick. Victor and Rick loved Ilsa at the same time, however she was married to Victor yet was still in love with Rick. In this situation, love seems like the opposite of a solution, and is more so the factor causing any issues and tension. Looking into the film’s flashbacks, this is still a common theme. Ilsa’s love for her husband was not enough to save him from the war when he was believed to be dead, as it would be unrealistic to think so. If love truly “conquers all”, theoretically it would even be able to transcend death. If love was the one true answer, wars would not happen and all conflict would essentially not exist. Had Ilsa chosen to leave with Rick instead of staying with Victor in Paris, she could have never redeemed herself in the eyes of anyone she may have known, or to herself. Love could not save her from those consequences, so she made the wiser choice. The