Casablanca screening report

Casablanca screening report

1.       Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening

In the text under the chapter Hollywood goes to war the book talks about how the big five motion picture companies worked with the government to promote the cause for war as well as layer anti nazi propaganda within them. The main reason the film companies agreed to this wasn’t because of their patriotism but because President Roosevelt was willing to suspend the antitrust actions against the industry during the course of the war.

2.     Find a related article and summarize the content

In the article the lessons of Casablanca still apply, as time goes by from CNN the author talks about how relevant the film was to the geopolitics of its time premiering right around the time the United States liberated Casablanca along with the rest of North African. The character that Humphrey Bogart embodies in the film represents America as it comes to understand the threat that fascism poses to the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/07/opinion/mills-casablanca/

3.     Apply the article to the film screened in class

The article makes the case for Rick being the representation of Americas coming to terms with the threat of fascism and the author is right. American propaganda helped steer the American citizens opinion on war and films such as Casablanca with repeated references of concentration camps and the murderous nature of the Nazi’s helped stir up positive war sentiment.

4.     Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article.

Casablanca is now renown as a Hollywood classic loved as much as Citizen Kane if not more for its topical nature to America circa 1942. Although citizen kane may be more respected for its breakthroughs in film techniques the content and plot of Casablanca surpasses Kane greatly. The film and its main character are meant to influence America during wartime by showing a man who had once fought for the good side (aka America) who comes to help a former love (Europe) escape the oppressive advancement of fascism. This parallel perfectly encapsulates the dichotomy between the allies and the axis powers in Europe and helped to sway American public to support the war effort and enlist to fight an evil that was threatening our friend and allies overseas.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 

1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 

2) (x  ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 

3) (x  ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 

4) (x  ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 

5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 

6) (  x) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 

7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 

8) (  x) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper. 



Name: _______________Matthew Larue__________  Date: ________11/5/14_________