A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE

The film A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan is one that has a strong content about social discrimination and psychosocial and psychological traumas, these is revealed to the audience by the dynamics and characterization of the three main characters of the film: Blanche, Stanley and Stella. That is why is important to understand each of these characters and the dynamics of their relationships.
At first Blanche appears before us as a person lost and scared in a new world, tough, violent and fast world. She seems to be too much naïve and innocent to keep up with the way of life she just clashed against. But eventually the façade is dropped and we realize that Blanche is a totally different person, with an inferiority complex that tries to fix by diminishing other people. Blanche is a very sick woman that develops very deep and sincere attachments for the illusion of a perfect man in her head. Then, we have Stella. Stella is a very passive woman, she is a person that takes all the bad things that happen to her and keeps them for herself, and she is a submissive person devoted to her husband and future family. Stella is a conservative woman that is more concerned with the sake of others, than that of herself. At the end, we know that Stella is a victim, without any good reason at all, caught up in the middle of a war between Stanley and Blanche. And then, there is Stanley, a real jewel of the conflicted world he lives in. Stanley is a product of the society he lives in, he is rude and brute. Stanley is an uneducated person with little knowledge about valuable or fine things, which is why he is always relying or bluffing about knowing someone that will help him, when she thinks his mental skills won’t let him, yet he is astute enough, to not show his deficiency masking it with even more rudeness. Stanley is a very interested person when it comes to money; he is a very perceptive person, and this is obvious, because she is extremely street smart. But not smart enough, because he judges people easily and jumps into conclusions, without being certain; even tough he investigates and proves he was right, this is not excuse for doing this. Finally we see that Stanley is a very noble person as we see that in the profundity of his mind, he is very ashamed of the serious anger management problem that he has. After a brief introduction to each character, it would be easier to understand the dynamics in their relationships between Blanche and Stella, Stella and Stanley and finally, Blanche and Stanley.
Following this, the first dynamics to get into are the ones in the relationship between the two sisters: Blanche and Stella. Blanche tries to put Stella down to elevate herself up, Blanche tries to make Stella belief that she is very secure of herself when in fact she is not and also Blanche plays to be a martyr in order to make her sister do whatever she pleases. Blanche is a very materialistic person which is extremely concerned with the looks of things, and she wipes this on her Stella’s face all the time trying to make her feel poor as opposed to her that is supposedly wealthy. Because of the serious emotional problems that Blanche has, probably because of the lost of her beloved ones, she feels guilty and as a mechanism of defense she tries to blame it on Stella, stating that she suffered very much because she stayed and Stella didn’t. Even more, because Blanche has such a big influence over Stella, she manipulates her trying to persuade her to leave her low social status life, probably because she wants to steal her sister’s husband; it can be implied also that Blanche is trying to get Stella out of the way. Even though Blanche is always looking at Stella over the shoulder and treating him as she was inferior and stupid; Stella is noble enough to always be looking after and taking care of Blanche, Stella is there for Blanche truly and unconditionally.
Then we have the dynamics between Stella and Stanley. Stella is always devoted to hr husband, she is all over Stanley and Stanley doesn’t even care, at first it seems as if he was stuck with Stella because of the marriage and the future newborn; but then we see that Stanley actually loves Stella very much or is obsessed with her. Either way, Stanley conceives Stella as a maid and a sexual object that he can use and abuse, yet Stella keeps coming back until the very end when she runs off Stanley to protect her son, obviously a mother’s feelings are stronger than those of a lover. Taking all these into account, Stanley and Stella’s relationship is, according to psychology and psychiatry, one of the strongest there are; their relationship is summarized as sadistic-masochistic one.
Further more, because of the apparent impossibility and the games of power and domination that finally end up in a rape, the dynamics of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship are more pervasive. While Stanley is always suspicious and madly disturbed by the fact that that Blanche is or pretends to be of a glamorous, fashioned and classy type; Blanche seeks to seduce him, because she is physically attracted to him and tries to find her lost love in Stanley, even more important, Blanche likes Staley because she is seduced by the fact that he represents strength, power and authority. However, Blanche discriminates Stanley because of his background and actual social status, and she does it because she is very concerned with appearances and what people says; a symptom of her insecurity. And finally she is always provoking Stanley’s anger so that he takes it on Stella and later, on her too because she likes to play the martyr. Also she provokes Stanley because, as she is traumatized with the fact that she is getting old and still doesn’t have a family neither is settled with someone, she wants to be the center of attention and as her sister she is masochistic too, finding pleasure in physical and psychological pain.
All of these feelings are transmitted to the audience by the elements of action, dialogue and acting, the chaos and the is introduced to us from the very begging and throughout the whole film when the audience sees the destroyed and violent New Orleans, and the feeling of claustrophobia and seeing no way out is transmitted by the fact that the director choose that the characters of the film where confined to a very small space with an facade of how the minds of the main characters might look like. The author of this paper belief, that the way in which the film closure is the best, because is very realistic and follows the natural flow of how things do happen in life. Every piece is very well put together in order to show that A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan is a film with a strong content about social discrimination and psychosocial and psychological traumas, which are revealed to the audience by the dynamics and characterization of the three main characters of the film: Blanche, Stanley and Stella.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044081/trailers-screenplay-E20832-10-2

THE THIRD MAN

This essay will discuss how Carol Reed in the direction of the film The Third Man, uses plot and narrative devices, camera work, sets, costumes, lighting and acting, among others; in order to convey a sense of danger and confusion, making the audience feel that things are not as they outwardly seem to be.
Reed uses a plot device to create this sense which is based on passing from transcendental themes to trivial ones, for example passing from the topic of death to wanting a cup of tea in just a second or giving the audience misleading clues through dialogue or diegetic thing, making us beliefs something that might or not be true. Reed utilizes as well some narrative devices to produce this feeling in the audience, the ones he uses are facts such as the fact that Anna only plays comedies, because her life is and eternal tragedy, but even more, the mixture of dramatic with funny moments or situation at the same time, making us use what Nietzsche called the art of mistrust.
In the same way, sound is very important to create this mood. Reed uses a soundtrack in his film which is totally opposite to the plot of the film, and even more to the moments of crucial significance, creating an unbalance in the film. Its is important to note too, that Reed uses sound perspective in dramatic moments so that the audience won’t see, but hear what is happening, charging the scene with more suspense and making it as dramatic as the spectator wants it to be, since it is actually taking place in its mind.
To create even further this sensation, the image quality is very soft and it contrasts with the camera work that Reed uses. Reed uses an unbalanced framing combined with low camera angles that make feel that the image is going to spill over a side. Two basic camera movements are used in the film, those are tilting and panning in a slow pace and the shots or takes are very short, very quick, is cut after cut creating a dizzy suspense. The use of close ups is important, since they work as a window to the mind of the characters that make us doubtful with their acting, since their feelings are emphasized. And finally, a shallow depth of field with short focal length causes a feeling of claustrophobia and anxiety, bringing all the pieces of camera work together to achieve this sense.
The film is set in Vienna after World War II and at the beginning of the Cold War, but what is more important is that Reed at first uses settings that have more space and air, but as the story takes place and complicates; Reed increases the use of dark settings and closes the spaces, giving the movie this sense of the unknown. Later, after the case is solved, the settings become larger again giving Harry a lot of space to run away and the audience the feeling that the end is near.
To keep the mood, Reed chooses to pick for his costumes generally dark clothing, especially in dark grey tones, and also the cloths is for cold climate, long coats. The grey colors are intermediate, not here not there, someplace in the middle, unbalanced, and even more important, the clothing is for cold weather and generally in the mind cold is related to death and the concept of death is uncertain by itself, plus the fact that the coats are long gives us the impression that the people wearing it are hiding something, the more cloth and the longer the more we wouldn’t know what really is beneath it.
As for the lighting, is some way Reed kind of makes a satire out of Film Noir, with people constantly coming in and out the shadows or complete darkness. Nevertheless, this type of lighting is very functional for the mood of the film, is based on strong contrasts between light and shadow depending on what is happening, certainly the lighting resembles a mixture between Film Noir and German Expressionism. The types used are a low key lighting and a focused lighting with the foreground focused and the background unfocused so that the audience won’t see what is happening in the back; giving a sense of doubt, danger and confusion.
Finally, in the acting there is a disconnection between what is being said and the attitudes at the time, this in order to reinforce the feeling of confusion; and the attitudes of the characters are suspicious and deceiving, one can see their faces but not their real intentions. The audience senses a confusion and danger from the characters since they, the audience, is forced to try to read between the lines and to see behind the facades, because everything is not what it seems.
To fit all the pieces of the film puzzle together in order to create a sense of danger and confusion and make the audiences feel that things are not as they outwardly seem to be. Is important to note that Holly Matins’ innocence, and the innocence of USA with which he is identified, are poorly suited to deal with the shady, ambiguous, and uncertain world of post World War II in Europe. And this is because Holly has not felt the apocalypse of war in its own skin, he might know about it, but he has been in safe soil ever since, he is a very relaxed person that writes westerns, and since he has not had tough times he is not as insightful as Europeans were at that time; because death, pain and war bring out the best and worst of mankind. He is just ignorant of the real situation. On the other hand, Europeans at that time had just came out of a period of wars that can be traced down up to the Roman Empire of even more into the past. This is a continent that trough a huge amount of time had been shady, ambiguous and uncertain both with its people and its geography. Europeans at this point and even today have a legacy of conquer and war, which made them what they are, but that Holly could even begin to imagine since he didn’t experienced it in live flesh, and even today it remains at to some point in the same way, because USA does not fight his wars on its soil. That is why Holly is poorly suited to deal with these and a bunch of other things in the European society. According to all the previous facts the author of this paper tries to prove that Carol Reed in the direction of the film The Third Man, uses plot and narrative devices, camera work, sets, costumes, lighting and acting, among others; in order to convey a sense of danger and confusion, making the audience feel that things are not as they outwardly seem.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041959/trailers-screenplay-E14457-10-2

THE BEDFORD INCIDENT

In the film The Bedford Incident, based on the novel with the same name written by Mark Rascovitch and directed by James B. Harris, there are several characters that are important, but over all of them, there is one that is very significant because the whole film somewhat takes its course according to his decisions, that is Capt. Eric Finlander.
Eric Finlander is a strong, old school, egocentric, distrustful, conservative captain; he is a stereotypical leader, a tragic hero, a good, but flawed person with a one track mind that stick to a position and would bend only slightly. Military, Finlander is very knowledgeable, effective, confident, logical, devoted, obsessive, intense person that won’t back up until the very end, and that thinks of people in terms of their usefulness. Throughout the whole film we see that Eric is very strong both mentally and physically, he goes trough 24 hours of an intense situation in which any little mistake could cost the whole mission and he surpasses it without any trouble, also we can see that his ways are old school because how he treats the younger kid and the all the crew so that they become strong, in other words, “no pain, no good.” We see his conservative way of thinking every time we receives a note from the government telling him to hold back, some times he says it some times one can see it on his eyes, that is that they should blow them up, like the old times. There is a scene in which one can clearly see how egocentric he is, when Poitier is making him an interview, every time Poitier makes a compliment he smiles with a cocky look on his face and is more willing to answer any question about himself. Finally, his distrustfullness we can see every single time that he expulses Poitier or someone external to his crew out of a room when something critical is happening. We recognize Eric Finlander as a stereotypical leader and hero, because he is a sentimentalist who has obscure secrets that make him strong and mysterious, he is this rough guy that wont blink at the verge of an edge, he is a hunter.
On the other hand, his military strengths become a problem because they help to increase his obsession. First, since he is so knowledgeable he might be overconfident which is the first step to get defeated, because the one who thinks that he can’t loose, drops his guard. Then, because he is so effective, he can’t deal with the idea of loosing, which increases his obsession, leading to probable wrong choices, because of the affection of the clear logical thought. Then, because of the fact that he is so intense and devoted, Finlander never backs up, and, in an unstable situation like the missile crisis, not backing up a little might signify pushing to hard and ending up in war. And finally, his other liability is that, by thinking in people in accordance to their usefulness, instead of bending his crew he breaks it, ultimately affecting the whole mission. Finally, because he is obsessive with winning and being the best, he wears out his whole crew, making them physically and mentally exhausted, this fact leads them to make mistakes that lead to their end. Because of all the reasons priory exposed, but mainly because his obsession and egocentrism, he in unable to measure the consequences of his actions, affecting not only him, but his whole crew community which is destructed, and the world as it was know in that time, because at that point there was more than enough nuclear power to wipe out the world’s population, and a single mistake or uncalculated movement would lead to doom. Nevertheless and after all, if we expunged ambition and vanity, where would the heroes and patriots be?

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Lewis Milestone, is one of the first movies ever produced. Released in 1930, this film is based on a novel, and tells the story about a group of German soldiers during World War I. All Quiet in the Western Front, is able to win an American audience’s sympathy for German soldiers, who fought against Americans and their allies during World War I, by using emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view, symbolism and persuasiveness.
The first thing that makes the audience sympathize with the German soldiers is the alienation from the war. During the whole film the audience is alienated from war, because actual war is always shown outside windows and doors, in other words, far away form the soldiers and even when we see the war he hardly see them fighting, and if we do, they are fighting the French not Americans. This narrative alienation of the war is crucial for the audience to take the German’s side, especially at the beginning of the film.
In the same way, at the beginning of the film we are shown that these soldiers are just a bunch of kinds that are being manipulated by their teacher so that they go to war, but they really don’t know what they are getting into, these kids think that war is a game. The audience’s point of view is manipulated by exposing them to the familiar side of the soldiers, and then the audience empathizes with them taking them young innocent children. The audience point of view is also manipulated, when it sees the reasons and rationalization of these soldiers towards war, is clear that they are against it. And once they are there we can understand their act of killing as an act of what Jean-Paul Sartre called “Bad Faith”, which is taking something as necessary, when in fact is voluntary; so, the audience approves them.
The soldier that is most approved over all is the main character, Paul; the reason of this is because of the underlying of what he stands for. Despite the fact of the beliefs of someone, and over good or evil, the romantic audience is always fond of Paul, because he symbolizes rationality, leadership, literature, knowledge, and finally life itself; since he dies trying to reach a butterfly. It is also important to note that the German soldiers speak in English, which distances them very much from what the imaginary they are supposed to represent.
This imaginary is also broken by the call of the film to the audience’s emotional appeal. The audience does not see these soldiers as bad hostile German soldiers, but more as a group of young innocent men, that are happy, loyal, friendly, and heroic patriots that are defending what they are thought and consider is right, until further in the film when they are illuminated when they crash into the reality of things. The audience from the beginning likes this group of kids because as we get into their minds when they are being brain washed by its teacher speech, we see that their aspirations in life are to impress their parents, very childish in deed. This finally makes the audience like this particular group, because we see some kids that become martyrs of war because they have been tricked into it. The audience sees that they al just children and feels sympathetic to them because of their psychological trauma and their suffering. Then, All Quiet in the Western Front, is able to win an American audience’s sympathy for German soldiers, who fought against Americans and their allies during World War I, by using emotional appeal, alienation, manipulation of point of view and symbolism, but not only because of this, but because of the persuasive and subtle way in which its done.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020629/trailers-screenplay-E10949-10-2

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

The objective of this paper is to try to identify as precisely as possible, what constitutes racist behavior in the film To Kill a Mockingbird, directed by Robert Mulligan. And, to show how does the plot, dialogue, acting, cinematography and setting are designed to make the viewers reject racist behavior on both emotional and intellectual grounds.
The clearest example of what constitutes racist behavior in the film is the very fact that Tom Robinson was declared guilty by an all white jury, even though there were more than enough proves that proved otherwise. Also the use of terms such as “Boy” to make reference to a Negro, or “Niger Lover” to refer to a person who has no racist prejudices whatsoever, therefore sympathizes with Negroes as this person sees them as person not as colors. Also facts such as the unconceivable idea for a Caucasian to understand that a Negro can feel sorry for a White person, this is taken as an insult by pinkies; or the fact that the film takes place in the south of USA by the time when racial segregation was still very well established and openly expressed.
At last, in the film, we can consider as a racist behavior too, not only the fact that negroes are implied to have works in plantations as we can infer because the way the males dress, or the females take on the worn out roles of caring nannies; but even more, the fact that being a racist is taught to the younger, the children are brain washed so that they won’t break the “Severe Code of Society” which says that white race rules, negroes are slaves and the races don’t mix. The children’s innocence is ripped off by creating a wall in their subconsciousness, a wall that divides people according to the way they are genetically and phenotypically constructed. Nevertheless, these racists would feel guilty of physically inking the souls of these children, taking away their pure innocence by making them watch an execution provoked by racial segregation.
Apart from the previously commented, it is important to see how the technical aspects of the film make the viewers reject racist behavior. In concern to the plot, one can see that during the developing of it, for the first thirty minutes or so, the audience is exposed to an almost perfect nuclear family in which the role of the mother is taken by a black female, also the father model has no prejudices at all against any race and appears as a integral and successful person. This makes the audience take his side in advance, before the conflict of the film actually starts, a racial segregation conflict. This is reinforced by the acting of Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch); Atticus is portrayed as a person, who can hardly harm anyone. Atticus Finch is a “Niger Lover,” obviously because he knows what is right and wrong, and also knows what is the right thing to do. Finch is a well educated, humble, idealistic, moral, intelligent, peaceful, family oriented person with very good values that he teaches to his children. Atticus Finch is a person who is in complete power and use of the concept of empathy. And this is why the audience, can easily take his side. The movie, as is previously said in this paper, is set in the south of the United States of America during the 30’s, but more importantly for the purpose of this essay in the fact that in the setting, the lighting becomes darker as the plot gets complex, casting stronger shadows (one could say that there is a touch of German Expressionism), and all the transcendental scenes or turning points of the film take place during the night.
Finally according to cinematographic factors, the important thing to say is that the effect required on the audience is reached by the mise-en-secene elements, the attitudes and movement of the characters, but even more, by the symbolism that is presented in the film. The clearest example is the trial of Tom Robinson, in which we reject the subjective and racist declaration of the jury, but is this is just what the audience feels, but the reasons are the symbolisms written between the lines. In the court room, Tom Robinson and Finch are on the right, representing good, and the racist are on the left representing bad forces of evil. Also the fact that the audience is only shown the Defense Argument on the trial, infers that is unnecessary to hear a bunch of lies from the other side. And finally, the fact that the kids are with the Negroes, let the audience know that innocence is with the Negroes; but more interesting, and this is from a catholic point of view such as the perspective of the movie, is the fact that black people are upstairs, they represents the maximum goodness ever known to men, they represent Heaven, they represent God himself looking down at this mockery and feeling ashamed about it. Downstairs are the Caucasians, the white people representing earth or probably hell, they are the symbol for the bad things, and the forces of evil. This and many other symbolisms can be found throughout the film. These technical decisions were made to make the viewers reject racist behavior on both emotional and intellectual grounds, by teaching them that in a short term it might seem as if it is pointless to struggle, but in the long run, one realizes that is not useless, but just the first step; and a thousand miles journey starts precisely, with this first step.
Moreover, this film states that no matter how deep the racial segregation or social prejudices are, the power of childish pure innocence will always be stronger, therefore, at the end, justice and the superior good always prevails.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/trailers-screenplay-E10948-10-2

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

“2001: A Space Odyssey” is a film that gives a lot to think about; but more important is a film that shows the basis of morality in humankind, were is civilization going with technology and what does the future has for us, in other words, the ambiguity of what is to come.
Without doubt, the ending of the movie is confusing. I am sure Kubrick left it opened so that; from that day on, people would talk and be intrigued about it. And for sure, so that people ask themselves, very intelligent in deed; after all, where is the fun in knowing exactly what happened because someone showed it. With that being said, I now intend to stick only to three of the versions of what I think happened in the film’s ending; even tough, a have several more.

First Version: Mental Shape and Power.

One explanation of what it could have been is that it was a mental experiment. It is a fact that humans only use around five to ten percent of the brain’s capacity; perhaps this was what happened, the line between reality and imagination vanished making everything possible and real or at least gave the feeling that this is what happens when one uses more of the brain’s power.

Second Version: Death Flash

It is said that peoples sees their whole lives just before they die. Probably he died when he jumped out of his little space-vehicle to the spaceship. Just before he went to see his maker, he saw what he was planning to do if he made it into the ship; then he saw the light or lights at the end of the tunnel. Then he saw how would it had been his elder life and finally saw the moment of his fetus status. Or that elder guy was his version of God, and after he met God, he reincarnated and started the cycle again.

Third Version: Eureka! Jupiter looks suspicious…

Because the monolith floating on Jupiter’s orbit I would say that it was some kind of satellite looking for something, probably we are originally from Jupiter. Since the sun is a star, and every star has a life cycle in which they become cooler and cooler with time; Jupiter was no longer a place to live in. The sun is a yellow star, this means that the heat it produces can generate or support life at a certain distance, it meant that we had to move closer in time and space to the sun; and for doing so we had to open a time-space portal perhaps that was the function of the black satellite monolith. Or we are an experiment of some intelligent life form from Jupiter that putted us here to see how much we could evolve giving us a hand with the monolith that possibly was a machine that had the capacity to modify the brain’s waves for good evolution, making us more intelligent and aware of our environment.
If some of these versions are possible; I certainly consider that any of them could have been what happened. But something I am sure about is that “2001: A Space Odyssey” ending means that is a lot more amusing and exiting to think about things than being told them. And that when I direct a movie in the uncertain future, I will make sure to set an open ending, so that humanity talks about it for many years to come.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/trailers-screenplay-E10201-10-2

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK

When it comes to films about historic moments or events, few can really accomplish the goal of being strictly accurate with the real facts such are the cases of films like: Brave Heart or newly Kingdom of Heaven.
Nevertheless, Good Night and Good Luck achieves this objective almost completely, with its black and white format the film gains a more credible approach to what television looked like in the 50’s, the set was convincing with details such as the anchorman smoking in the studio and all of the equipment, i.e.: a monitor which had the Westinghouse name on the bottom below the screen. Plus David Strathairn plays the role of Edward R. Murrow in a glorious way; I could even feel Murrow’s passion and conviction for the job he was doing along with Fred Friendly in the show See It Now. It is a shame that certain scenes such as the bar celebration do not have historic consistency; there is no prove that this actually happened.
On the other hand, aspects such as the relationship between Murrow and William Paley seem to be sincere, and as well the suicide of Don Hollenbeck because of falling into the black list of the Red Scare, gives to the film a realistic touch. In the same way, the use of real footage such as Milo Radulovich’s interview or Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s response to Murrow in SeeIt Now or his trial provides the movie a bonus, because you can actually breathe the tension of the McCarthyist situation, you could cut the thick air with a knife; that is why at the end Good Night and Good Luck crosses the borders of filmography to acquire an air of documentary.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433383/trailers-screenplay-E25030-10-2

CASABLANCA

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a. Because Casablanca is the translation of White House in Spanish, and the white house is the symbol of American government, also because it is an exotic place and the story takes place mostly inside a bar which belongs to an American, as a matter of fact, it is called Rick’s Americain Bar. Everyone in the bar no matter which nationality they are speak in English, it is just a part of USA inserted in Morocco.
b. It says that wherever that Americans set foot in, the relationship would be pretty much the same: Americans will try to dominate the culture by imposing their own, which we can see in a mass production way and with the help of economic with stores such as McDonald’s or Pizza Hut. Americans no matter where they go, they will try to put aside the place’s culture and Americanize the place. American first colonizes, and then they conquer. If it was the other way around it would not be effective.
c. It is typical “Hollywood” because: this film was very dominant and still is around the world, the film relies more on characters and story, it has a closure, considers cause-effect relationships, mostly is lighted with the three-point style and the films cut style is invisible.
d. We see almost nothing of Casablanca, what we see is an alley next to the Blue Parrot, which we see too in the inside, we see the airport or at least the hangar, we see Ilsa’s hotel room, and the Rick’s Americain Bar, inside and the façade, I might have missed one or two spots, but that is pretty much what we can see during the whole movie. But, if we get technical we actually see the whole Casablanca, but more like a dot in a map; but that doesn’t really counts.

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In the film there are various stereotypes, but mainly there are 7 important ones: The American, The Corrupt Cop, The Antagonist, The Dealer, The Idealist, The Pretty Woman and The Negro.

a. The American (Rick Blaine): He is the hero per excellence, he is sentimentalism, has obscure secrets that make him strong and mysterious, he has or has been with the pretty girl, and sacrifices himself for an ulterior purpose, which generally is the sake of a beloved one or human kind.
b. The Corrupt Cop (Capt. Renault): This is a guy who is always on his guard, he tries to avoid problems, but sticks to the stronger side, and he acts for his own sake and benefit accordingly to the situation that is being held at the moment. He has no regrets, knows that he is morally and ethically wrong, and yet is fond of it.
c. The Antagonist (Maj. Strasser): This is a guy that represents power and intelligence, apparently this guy has a heart so black that he doe’s bother with good emotions, he is just there to get what he wants over anyone’s head; this guy is Machiavellian thought, for him it is so important the end that he will use any means to get to it. No matter if his end is good or wrong he is just there to oppose the hero, so we reject him, or hate him.
d. The Dealer (Signor Ferrari): This guy is really simple, his goal is to become economically wealthy, that is why he is in any kind of business that promises good monetary reward, no matter how nasty it is. That is why this is the guy everyone looks for when they need something that seems impossible to get. In other words, he is a very good PR, an excellent problem solver.
e. The Idealist (Victor Laszlo): This is a secondary hero that sometimes the audience gets to like more than the hero himself. This guy represents ethics, moral, love, respect, presence, intelligence, leadership, benevolence, courage, honesty and loyalty. He defends his beliefs with all the prior named values, and is willing to give his life for it; and his beliefs are generally those of a large group of people that are right. In other words, his beliefs are the sake and stability of society.
f. The Pretty Woman (Ilsa Lund): As is said, this girl is beautiful, almost all of the time defenseless, she loves without expecting something in return, sometimes she is courageous enough to affront certain situations, but mainly she is just a pretty face that represents sex and desire.
g. The Negro (Sam): This guy is very loyal to his boss (master); no matter how bad he is treated he is so humble that he always getting his boss’ back covered. Whenever there is trouble he tries to keep aside of it, because he is really calmed and represents peace and happiness. He is a very good friend, appears in the right moment to support his boss and shows real wisdom about life itself with his advises.


3

For this paper Rick Blain is a hero, because he is supposed to be in the context of the film, but in real life he is just a guy with a frustrated love memory that is unable to interact with people because he is scared of being hurt again. Then when his love, by destiny apparently, shows up in his life again, he is very immature and the first thing he does is to complaint and get drunk. After that, he is stupid enough to sacrifice himself and his feelings in order to make her beloved one happy, because it is clear that he doesn’t do it for the cause that is being fought for, but to redeem himself in some way. If that is the kind of hero, audiences are supposed to look up to, we are doomed; as a matter of fact, the people that are ruling this country are nothing like this, neither in the government nor in the public or private spheres. On the other hand, what a real hero should be like, in this paper’s point if view, is very simple; someone that defends his real truth and beliefs with everything he is got, but knowing the thin line that divides well from wrong. In other words, someone that defends anything he considers right, whether it is or not doesn’t really matter, but defends it knowing that the rights he has, end up where those of everyone else’s begin. And in doing so, one should be integral, brave, kind, polite, sincere, noble, intelligent and loyal.

4

For the writer of this paper gender is insignificant, a hero or heroine is the same and should act the same way, and that way I established in the prior answer. Nevertheless, Ilsa has more of a hero, than Blain, she knows what she wants and goes for it, yet she crosses the thin line, which takes a lot away. The author of this paper does not care if she is defenseless or pretends to be, or if she is a woman. That does not give her the right to cross that line at anytime or anyhow. The goal is to try to get to your end and not hurting anyone in the process, which is really difficult, but that is the reason why I consider that’s a hero. Yet she was really close to be a real hero as she was: kind, polite, noble and intelligent; but she wasn’t brave enough, and she certainly was neither sincere nor loyal. Leaving her someplace in the middle.

5

a. Basically, the relationship between Rick and Sam can be resumed as follows: Rick gives Sam sincerity and respect, treating him as an equal and Sam is grateful for it so he pays Rick with sincerity as well and also loyalty and care.
b. As this paper stated before Sam is the stereotype of the Negro, this guy is very loyal to his boss (master); no matter how bad he is treated he is so humble that he always getting his boss’ back covered. Whenever there is trouble he tries to keep aside of it, because he is really calmed and represents peace and happiness. He is a very good friend, appears in the right moment to support his boss and shows real wisdom about life itself with his advises. But, he transcends the stereotype, because he is very bright, talented, smart and intelligent. Also, because he plays and important role as a mediator between Ilsa and Rick, a reconciliatory one; and finally because he has, at to some point, important influence over Rick’s actions.

6

Allegorically, Casablanca represents the United States’ participation in World War II, because the characters in the film represent the countries and the moods of war, is as simple as the fact that Rick Blaine represents USA, he is fighting his war at some other place no matter where is it as long as it is not USA soil, he was forced into the war, supposedly, he entered the war lately and claims to be the hero of it, which in fact is someone else, and he doesn’t stick his neck for anyone unless there is no other option. He fights the easy battles and always has his back covered by someone else, just in case.

7

a. This film is such a classic because it has all of Hollywood’s classic techniques, because it was done during a time period that is printed in every person in the world and is a characterization of World War II.
b. Audiences are drawn into this film again and again, because its setting, even though we know is Casablanca-Morocco, is somewhat placeless. Also because its story even though is worn out, there is something inside the audience that likes, perhaps is that we have watched so much, that we need to watch it again. We are used to it. And obviously because is a classic, is passed down to each generation of film goers, and they want to have such a reference: 1) This captures Americans, because it shows how they love to create problems were there are not, by trying to solve other people’s problem, and they like to be heroes getting involved in things where they neither are needed nor have been called. And as this paper stated in two of the prior answers, Allegorically, Casablanca represents the United States’ participation in World War II, because the characters in the film represent the countries and the moods of war, is as simple as the fact that Rick Blaine represents USA, he is fighting his war at some other place no matter where is it as long as it is not USA soil, he was forced into the war, supposedly, he entered the war lately and claims to be the hero of it, which in fact is someone else, and he doesn’t stick his neck for anyone unless there is no other option. He fights the easy battles and always has his back covered by someone else, just in case. And 2) It says that wherever that Americans set foot in, the relationship would be pretty much the same: Americans will try to dominate the culture by imposing their own, which we can see in a mass production way and with the help of economic with stores such as McDonald’s or Pizza Hut. Americans no matter where they go, they will try to put aside the place’s culture and Americanize the place. American first colonizes, and then they conquer. If it was the other way around it would not be effective.

view trailer http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/trailers-screenplay-E10189-10-2