American Involvement in World War 2

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Casablanca is a movie published in 1942, during world war 2. It is based of a love story but was produced for a specific reason? By watching movies we can learn a lot about history and culture. By viewing Casablanca we can come up with a lot of questions. Does the movie promote American involvement in world war 2 and could be considered propaganda? Besides those questions we can take a look at how America and its allies are portrayed, or if there are any violent scenes, because most war movies show violence and casualties. Every era is different in its culture. What cultural components were demonstrated in Casablanca?

Casablanca promotes American involvement in world war 2 and is considered propaganda. To the time Casablanca was published, America still remained neutral to the war. The movie made Americans want to join the Second World War. It made them want to help other countries and avoid deaths. Casablanca makes the viewer feel patriotic about America because it makes them feel that America does the right decisions and helps to fight against the evil Germans. Lots of people want to escape to the United States to start a new and better life. For example, Herr and Frau Leichstag clink glasses and celebrate their emigration to America, where they want to start a new life. They try to only speak English though they’re still struggling with this new language. Another method to make the viewers feel patriotic about America is to depict all other countries worse and weaker than America. Rick, portraying the USA, is the good character that helps others. End the end of the movie Captain says to Rick: “You’re not only a sentimentalist, but you also became a patriot.”

The title Casablanca means translated “the white house”. That coul...

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...r architecture and clothing. But the maroccan culture is disregarded in that movie due to the influence from and concentration on other countries.

The purpose of the production of Casablanca was clearly propaganda. Everything points out that America should join the war and makes the viewer feel patriotic. America is given a good reputation and no violent scenes and casualties where Americans are the victims are neither shown nor mentioned. The whole conflict of the war is depicted through the characters relationships. Besides the conflicts cultural components like alcohol, gambling and music play an important role. We can say that Casablanca was a very successful movie and contributed to important political decisions.

Works Cited

Wallis, H. B. (Producer), & Curtiz, M. (Director). (1942). Casablanca [Motion

Picture]. United States: United Artists.

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