Two Kinds of Love in Movie Casablanca Essay

In Michael Curtiz’s film, “Casablanca”, the character Richard Blaine has an internal conflict that reflects the feelings of the refugees in Cuba. He also exhibits the power of love. Richard Blaine is a saloon owner in Casablanca. He is very cynical in his actions. Rick is also very uninterested by anyone of his guests in the saloon. He seems detached from his surroundings even though he is worshipped by the customers. Rick likes to remain alone and mysteries and will not have drinks with any companions. His actions and character may stem from emotional distress from his past. Richard seems as though if he is waiting for someone or something to return to him in Casablanca.

The story featured in the film Casablanca involves Rick Blaine, who is a former American that owns a nightclub in town. His one-time love, Isla, arrives to town with her husband, Victor Laslo. Laslo is from Czechoslovakia and is desperately trying to get a visa to leave Casablanca. However, there has been an order to keep Laslo in Casablanca. Rick learns that Isla is in Casablanca, and is reminded of the time they spent together before Casablanca. When Laslo learns of the past between Isla and Rick, he is okay with it just because he wants the best for Isla, which is to leave Casablanca. However, this is just the love story in Casablanca.

Casablanca’s love afflictions render that true love equals self-sacrifice. The married Victor and Ilsa (Bergman) get separated when Victor gets arrested for leading an underground rebellion. Ilsa receives word that he was killed in a concentration camp. Then the day she is to leave with new found love, Rick, she obtains information that Victor lives and leaves Rick without reason. Rick remains bitter and cynical, making it clear that he, “don’t stick his neck out for no one,” and, “ isolationism is his foreign policy.” He remains cold towards everyone when he finds the truth behind why she left him and shows no interest helping them escape Casablanca although he has the power. When Rick and Victor speak, Victor only asks for one exit visa. When Rick asks him if he really loves her that much, Victor responds honestly yes, well knowing that Ilsa and Rick

The movie Casablanca take place in a town called Casablanca in Morocco in the beginning of WWII. Some important characters in Casablanca are Rick Blaine, Ilsa Lund, and Victor Laszlo. Rick is the main protagonist in the film. He is known for being anti-fascist and fighting in the Spanish civil war. He falls in love with Ilsa however she leaves him at the train station which breaks his heart. During the movie, he jeopardies his happiness for the good.

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

Later in the movie, he even meets a couple desperate to leave Casablanca--whom he helps by assisting them in cheating one of the games in his own bar to win money. It was as if his love for Ilsa and the realization of the bigger picture that lies beyond them, cracked open his thick, cynical exterior. Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White note in a passage of The Film Experience: An Introduction that "we can understand Casablanca as a drama of character by following Rick's transformation from a singular to a collective character ready to sacrifice his

The next day, Isla bumps into Rick and gives an explanation about how she has had a husband even while her and Rick were together. Later that night, Lazlow speaks with Rick, trying to buy the letters of transit but Rick firmly states he won’t ever plan to sell them. The band of Germans start singing their national anthem, so Lazlow walks over to the other band and tells them to play the anthem of France. Soon, the whole cafe was singing the French National Anthem, and the Germans stopped. At the hotel afterwards, Lazlow asks Ilsa if she had anything to say, to which she answers, “no,” and he leaves. Ilsa goes to Rick, begging for the transit papers, but he continuously says no. She then pulls a gun out, trying to force him but has no guts to do it because she was still in love with him. Ilsa then explains to Rick what truly happened in Paris. Lazlow finds out that Rick still loves Isla and askes or the papers, but gets arrested by the German police. Rick begs Louis, the chief of police, to let Lazlow go and comes up with a plan to use the transit papers. Rick hands the papers to Lazlow, and Louis steps out attempting to arrest Lazlow again. At the airport, Ilsa and Lazlow flee and Rick shoots Strasser, one of the policemen who came to the scene. In the end, Rick and Louis start a friendship

Some say, to love is to be willing to die. Others say, to love is to be willing to do whatever a loved one asks. Barbara Fredrickson says love is neither of these. In her book, Fredrickson attempts to redefine love through the biological microscope. The author compiles a variety of studies and research data to prove her claim that love is the product of neural coupling, oxytocin in the brain, and the work of the vagus nerve. Fredrickson presents a well-rounded claim, but there are some deficiencies that hinder the strength of her argument. Fredrickson’s use of vague language throughout this excerpt causes the reader to call into question the validity of said studies. In addition, Fredrickson’s use of first person point of view is a clever

Rick owns a nightclub and restaurant called “Rick’s Café Américain” that attracts many refugees looking for priceless transit letters. One of Rick’s regulars, a crook by the name of Ugarte asks Rick to hold on to some transit letters that he acquired from two murdered German messengers that allow the person to travel to neutral Portugal. Ugarte had planned to sell the letters at the club but he couldn’t because he was arrested for killing the messengers and dies being the only one who knows Rick has the letters. Rick finds out that his former lover, Ilsa is in town with her husband who was supposed to buy the letters from Ugarte, but now has to find an alternative. This all leads to a tough challenge for Rick that brings him heartbreak and an extremely difficult decision to make. The film is based on Joan

The hero which was locked in deepest realm once again surface to help others and stand on his beliefs. He understands the true meaning of love, he realizes that love is not all about loving it’s all about sacrifice and devotion for other. The reborn Rick tells Ilsa “You’re part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today.

The lighting of a film intricately ties into how the film intends on showing certain scenes through use of the camera angle. Such examples of this in Casablanca are how during these close-up scenes we see the lighting of certain characters light up significantly. This is seen, again, in the famous “Of all the gin joints scene” because of how the audience sees multiple close-up scenes of Isla’s face, most notably how we see the tears flow from Isla’s cheeks. Another way lighting plays into the classic feel of a Hollywood film, according to Bordwell, is how “a dark street will realistically motivate single-source lightning; the closeup of a woman will be more heavily diffused than that of a man” (Bordwell 27). One famous example of this is how the tension builds up when Isla returns to Rick’s nightclub after her husband goes to meet with a meeting with the local resistance against the Nazi regime. In this scene, we see how the lighting is much more darker than scenes where we are focusing on Rick and another character. Watching the film, the audience gets the sense that the film attempts to create a certain mood through the lighting whenever Isla and Rick are alone. When the two are alone, like in this very scene, the tension builds up due to how much darkness there is in both the room and between the two former lovers. Conversely, when there are conflicts between Rick and Captain Louis Renault, the French commander in the city, represented towards the end of the film before Isla and Victor leave the city, the lighting of the room is significantly more bright. This is not to say that there exists no conflict between Rick and the French captain, but rather how the film conforms to Bordwell’s description of how lighting contributes to a classic Hollywood

This ‘new’ Blaine is what he was like in the past. Therefore, one is sent back in history. Once back in history, Blaine is a very romantic and compassionate man. He was deeply in love with Ilsa. The film later identifies that, Rick Blaine was on the anti-fascism campaign in Paris, and he was blacklisted as a result of his involvement. When the Nazis were invading Paris, he had to escape from Paris in order to avoid persecution. He was planning on Ilsa escaping with him, but she never showed up at the train station. This new revelation revealed what caused such a drastic change in Blaine. When Ilsa left him, he felt like he is "insides have been kicked out" (Casablanca). This abandonment caused Blaine to drastically change. He went from being a compassionate, romantic man to a harsh, cynical one. Blaine also probably changed from being on the anti-fascism campaign to being apolitical because he felt like his campaign is what made him lose Ilsa, the love of his

The feeling of love is, deep, soft, satisfying. Because of its affectionate and intimate nature it is viewed by some as an inapplicable topic for experimental research. But, whatever our own perception may be, our assigned mission as psychologists is to analyze all facets of human and animal behavior into their component variables. (scientific American , June 1959) Therefore as far as love or affection is concerned, psychologists have been unsuccessful in this quest. The few things we know about love don’t go beyond simple examination, and the few things we read about it

However, experience within relationships differs greatly, some are intense and passionate others are intimate and caring. Sternberg’s Triangular Love Theory (1997) suggests that love has three different components: intimacy, passion and commitment; Intimacy in which two people share confidences and is highlighted through friendships and romantic love affairs, Passionate love described as infatuation as well as romantic love, and commitment the expectation that the relationship is permanent (Sternberg, 1997).

Love, whilst recognised as a universal experience has been found to be extremely difficult to define. This essay compares and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of two of the most prominent love theories. The first is Freud’s theory of love as aim-inhibited libido. Aim-inhibited libido can be defined as libido where the sexual instincts have been diverted or disguised due to the means for their fulfilment being forbidden. Roger’s theory of unconditional positive regard is founded on the idea that a healthy love relationship must consist of two self-actualising people. It was found that Freud’s theory was too scientific, while Rogers’ not enough.