WRIT 1702 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Conrad Veidt, Searchlight, Point-Of-View Shot
WRIT 1702
February 14, 2018
Casablanca and Film Discourse
No film comes out of a vacuum, it is responding to cultural events
The Post: the kind of things the American president is criticizing
Films as Cultural Markers
● References to film spill into all facets of culture
● Elements of films which are taken and applied to other contexts
● Mimetic: units of culture info copied/repeated in new contexts
○ Values still carry over from situation to situation
Why Casablanca?
● It’s a practical text to use, take what is in the film and apply film discourse techniques
● Film remains one of the most beloved films of all time, still central to culture
● Umberto Eco - “it is the movies” when you put it all together you can see elements of
multiple films
○ Many genre archetypes: war, romance, suspense, intrigue, mystery,
melodrama
● A great text to model Film Discourse - the language of film
Iconic
● Icon - a culturally significant / person / thing / movement / event, widely recognized
(and usually admired), and whose symbolism is now fixed.
○ Contains an image component
○ When ideas become iconic, they become cultural cliches
○ Signify events or ideas of cultural importance
○ Icons have resonance!
○ It takes time to become iconic. Film = Collective cultural memory
○ Icons can be satirized, but the original association remains
Casablanca Historical Context
● Film takes place 3 years into WWII
● Vicci France - ‘Free Zone’ run by Marshall Phillipe Petain.
● Charles De Gaulle, leader of the Free French, de facto leader
○ Cross of Lorraine, showed membership of resistance
● US was watching at this point: that’s a European war, nothing to do with us
● Policy known as Isolationism, elected on the promise of ‘not getting involved’ on a
foreign adventure
● The US has escaped the horrors of war, seen as a beacon of freedom, not wiped out
by the war, constant stream of refugees trying to get entry into North America
● Strict immigration policies during this time; film presented as “if you have the right
papers you can get entry” not the case for people of colour
● Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, shift in the political winds, takes time to move public
opinion: US ended up going to Europe because Nazis declared war against the
United States
Document Summary
No film comes out of a vacuum, it is responding to cultural events. The post: the kind of things the american president is criticizing. References to film spill into all facets of culture. Elements of films which are taken and applied to other contexts. Mimetic: units of culture info copied/repeated in new contexts. Values still carry over from situation to situation. It"s a practical text to use, take what is in the film and apply film discourse techniques. Film remains one of the most beloved films of all time, still central to culture. Umberto eco - it is the movies when you put it all together you can see elements of multiple films. Many genre archetypes: war, romance, suspense, intrigue, mystery, melodrama. A great text to model film discourse - the language of film. Icon - a culturally significant / person / thing / movement / event, widely recognized (and usually admired), and whose symbolism is now fixed.
