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Classical hollywood cinema influences
Classical hollywood cinema influences
Classical hollywood cinema influences
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What makes for a classic Hollywood film? Increasingly, films have evolved to the point where the standard by which one calls a “classic Hollywood film” has evolved over time. What one calls a classic film by the standards of yesterday is not the same as those of today. The film Casablanca is no exception to this. While David Bordwell’s article, “Classical Hollywood Cinema” defines what the classical Hollywood film does, the film Casablanca does indeed conform to the very definition that Bordwell provides the audience with in his article. However, while it is true that the film capers closely to Bordwell’s definition, this is a controversial, as well as subjective, claim to make because everything other than the ending of the film indicates …show more content…
Bordwell makes notice of how little an audience may know entering into a film, as is the case with Casablanca. This is most notably signified both by how the opening of the film famously opens with narration of a news report, setting the stage so that the audience knows what is going on in the film. Despite this, the audience, while watching the film, would still possess curiosity about certain events, specifically about Rick and Isla’s past in Paris. This is notably explained through the use of flashback, which Bordwell makes mention as a significant aspect of the classic Hollywood film. The audience gets a taste of this in one notable scene when Rick is sitting in his nightclub after hours thinking about the events with Isla in Paris. Bordwell submits, “[a] flashback can quickly and covertly fill a casual gap” (Bordwell 23), and we get evidence of this in Casablanca as seen through the progression of Rick and Isla’s …show more content…
Most notably seen with Rick, one can clearly see how he serves as a central protagonist to the story, as he struggles to both solve the problem of dealing with his ex-lover, Isla, as well as trying to survive in Casablanca. Despite this, the film does not caper to this happy ending because we do not see “the romantic sphere and the other sphere of action… coincide at the climax” (Bordwell 19). While it is true we see Rick able to effectively, with help from Captain Renault, deal with the Nazi Major Heinrich Strasser by effectively killing him and the French captain allowing Rick to go free, we do not see a resolution of the romantic element. In fact, Rick and Isla never end up together in the end in what most audiences would be able to predict would be a happy ending. This is a significant contradiction to Bordwell’s definition and article because Casablanca tailors in almost every way to the provided definition, yet the most significant, and perhaps most important, part of the film ends in an atypical way that is uncharacteristic of the classic Hollywood
The body of Kunze’s essay is broke down by the “three triangulations of desire” and these relationships are dissected to support Kunze’s argument. He elaborates on the importance of Rick, Ilsa, and Sam; Rick, Ilsa, and Victor; and what he believes is most important Rick, Ilsa, and Renault. He uses resources such as Kosofsky Sedgwick’s work on homosocial male desire to support his own argument that Casablanca “accurately depicts the emotional complexity of male friendships and the reductive role of women in these fraternal bonds not only to fulfill the film’s admittedly propagandistic goals, but as an inadvertent testament to gender dynamics in a power structure organized around male power and interactions” (Kunze pg.20). Using Sedgwick’s work as a model, Kunze constructs this erotic triangle between each group of characters mentioned above. Kunze examines each relationship and believes it serves as a sensitive register. Kunze explains that there is more power and meaning that the general content. Utilizing Sedgwick 's model, Kunze suggest that the viewer can see the “complexity of Rick 's interactions with Sam, with Victor, and with Captain Renault—each of whom represents different levels of homosocial desire, all trumping Rick 's love and respect for Ilsa” (Kunze pg.21). Throughout the body of the
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...
“Show, not tell.” That’s what they all tell you. What exactly is so wrong with telling and not showing? It can come across as campy, or ruin a moment that could’ve been portrayed better with visual imagery. Telling is the bane of film, books and everything-art. I’ll conceded that telling more than showing a movie walks a fine line of making or breaking the flow of the story, but if done properly, I think telling can lift the life of a movie to new heights. I rest my case in the classic Casablanca. The masters of the screen during the Golden Age of film grasped dialogue in ways we cannot comprehend or reach nowadays. What they did so well during then is now considered the cardinal sin of movies now.
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.
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.
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.
The city of Casablanca is a bleak place full of hardship and full of people that are tied down. These people look for an escape that can set their mind on a different path. Rick’s Cafe Americain reflects that place to visit that can set the people’s minds free. Specifically, there rests a piano that can turn the minds of the people away so that they can feel free and have an enjoyable time at the cafe. With this, the cafe and piano give the people a sense of living a normal life. In the movie, Casablanca, Sam’s piano resembles a symbol that not only resembles a sense of enjoyment and freedom, but helps establish a connection to the past of Rick and Ilsa.
...ory telling tie it all in together. J.P. Telotte, author of “Voices in the Dark: The Narrative Patterns of Film Noir”, states by, “grounding their social commentary in a factual context, by aligning narrative with the newsreels of the day, these films also challenged the way audiences saw their world. (Telotte 155)
The many debates about art cinema versus classical cinema have been going around for a while. The mainstream Hollywood classical film and the art cinema are frequently presented as opposites. In one, the style of the film is bland, while the other seeks to center its focus on the visual becoming central as narrative unity. Throughout the movie directed by Stanley Kubrick called 2001: A Space Odyssey, we see that this film can be classified as an art film. On the other hand, it can also be seen as classical film. Even though these two are the complete opposite and they contradict themselves, they are both apparent in the film.
...t it is clearly obvious what is about to happen using an establishing shot. Casablanca also uses camera angle specifically portraying Captain Renault and Strasser as less powerful people in the office scene. Editing allows for smooth transitions between shots and allows for us as viewers to experience the scene like we are seeing through the characters eyes. Lighting provides us a mood of the scene, specifically when Rick first sees Ilsa for the first time since Paris. The Music plays a role in how we as audiences should feel while watching the movie. And without production design movies would not flow correctly. Every setting is specifically chosen to depict the location where the scene takes place. Casablanca is a quintessential film because it ties up all the formal elements of classical Hollywood. Without this movie Hollywood may be a completely different place.
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
From the lavish mansions of Hollywood stars to the cigarette smoke filled offices of broke screenwriters, the 1950 noir movie Sunset Boulevard remains a timeless classic with a stunning story of an actress gone mad, and a screenwriter just trying to squeak by. This film is the first pre-1960’s flick that has left me with a feeling of awe. The first word that comes to mind after the credits begin to roll is just“wow!”. I was struck by the intriguing plotline and brilliant execution of the story. Not only is the film a classic for its gripping story, and twisted power dynamics, it also shows amazing camera work and brilliant acting.
Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder in 1950 is based on how Norma Desmond, a huge Hollywood star, deals with her fall from fame. The film explores the fantasy world in which Norma is living in and the complex relationship between her and small time writer Joe Gillis, which leads to his death. Sunset Boulevard is seen as lifting the ‘face’ of the Hollywood Studio System to reveal the truth behind the organisation. During the time the film was released in the 1950s and 60s, audiences started to see the demise of Hollywood as cinema going began to decline and the fierce competition of television almost proved too much for the well established system. Throughout this essay I will discuss how Sunset Boulevard represents the Hollywood Studio System, as well as exploring post war literature giving reasons as to why the system began to crumble.
Robert B. Ray categorizes Casablanca as "the most typical" American film. Ray uses Casablanca as a tutor text for what he calls the formal paradigm of Classical Hollywood as well as the thematic paradigm that addresses the conflict between isolationism and communitarian participation. The film is typical in its appropriation of an official hero Laszlo, who stands for the civilizing values of home and community, and an outlaw hero Rick, who stands for individu...
In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.