| 2022 adapted paper – You will be asked questions about the following:Section A – Hollywood 1930-1990 (comparative study) • Representation – Ethnicity and Gender • Auteur |
Revision Activities
o Watch Both Casablanca and Do The Right Thing (if possible).
o Make sure you know the names of key characters, actors, directors and production companies.
o Make sure you can make some points about the social, cultural, political, historical and institutional (including production) context of each film. This will be unlikely to be the focus of the question.
o Identify what you think the key purposes, messages and ideologies of the films are.
o Select three sequences from each to analyse in detail (the beginning and end are always good choices). Use the sequence analysis grid in this template to support you doing this.
o Revise auteur theory (see glossary in this pack).
o Revise the use of the key elements of film and how they create an aesthetic (auteur theory).
o Consider how auteur theory is affected by the difference between production under the studio system and New Hollywood.
o Review the model paragraph and essay in this revision pack
o Use the practise questions to plan at least two essays
o Write up at least two model paragraphs from your essay plans (one each on Casablanca and Do The Right Thing).
| Sequence: | ||||
| Technical description of producer’s decision | Effect on audience response and understanding | Link to purpose, message or ideology | Is this part of the auteur signature or an individual creative choice? | |
| Mise-en-scène inc. Lighting | ||||
| Cinematography | ||||
| Editing | ||||
| Performance | ||||
| Sound |
Representation.
Make sure you can link representation issues to the film elements that are being used to convey, and shape, them. How are they communicated? Think about Mise-en-scène inc. Lighting, performance, sound (esp. score) and cinematography. Editing can be considered through the generation of meaning through a sequence. It is not enough to assert a film maker’s intention – you must explain how it is conveyed to the audience.
Term: Coded (and coding): Where a character representation is designed to make an audience think that the character is a particular type of person without making it explicit (often because of social taboos, or legal restrictions).
Key notes on each film:
Representation of Gender:
Casablanca:
As a near-propaganda piece (designed to support entry of the U.S. into WWII – although at the behest of European and Jewish heritage Warner executives rather than the government) the representation of gender needs to be considered in the way that it ties the film to traditional, and developing, tropes of gender and narrative.
Traditional gender representation: There are clear examples of the damsel in distress (whose plight is meant to move the audience to demand more involvement in the war) – Annina and Ilsa (to a certain extent – see notes below). There is also the redemption of a fallen women (often referred to as “the tart with a heart”) in the form of Yvonne; she is coded as a prostitute (she doesn’t actually work at the bar, is sexually – but not romantically – linked to Rick at the start of the film) and begins to be a collaborator but regains her patriotism in the “La Marseillaise” sequence. Look for costume and hair that signify respectability or glamourous immorality. Also look for cinematography that signifies feminine ideals (soft focus/gauze) and the use of score.
Traditional male heroism comes in the form of Victor Laszlo who risks his life in his Nazi resistance work and for the woman he loves. Traditional male villainy is represented in the form of Major Strasser whose villainy is made clear by his status as a Nazi. In the film he does relatively little but uses his status and power to exert leverage over others (which is patriarchy in action). Look at how his score clearly signifies his power and intention. Look for costume choices and performance choices.
New, developing forms of gender representation come in the form of characters who are influenced by the Film Noir genre that had developed in the 30s. Rick Blaine, Captain Renault and (to an extent Ilsa) are all Noir-ish characters whose good hearts are covered by layers or ambiguity, both self, and social deception and cynicism. Rick is the most important of these He believes himself to be a irredeemable (despite his heroic costume signification – white) and has to have his heroic qualities spelled out to him by Renault, another hero (check out those WWI medals and rakishly angled kepi – his hat, and white costume) who is burying his heroic qualities under his abuse of power through womanising. Both are anti-heroes, who like all good anti-heroes realise that they are the good guys only at the end of the film. Note that Rick could keep Ilsa but does not as that would be immoral. Look at how costume can signify heroism but the use of shadows in the mise-en-scène (inc. Lighting) tell another story.
One of the performance elements of Casablanca that escapes modern students is smoking. There is an entire language of smoking in twentieth century cinema. One of the key signifiers of masculine identity in the film is the way Bogart smokes. It conveys a form of careless machismo in many of his scenes and two characters smoking together is a form of social intercourse that can convey friendship or rivalry – look closely at it.
Look at the end of the Paris sequence to see how Rick is represented as more traditionally heroic and positively masculine, until he is left alone in the rain (the rain representing feminine tears as it washes away Ilsa’s words). After that he cynically becomes the anti-hero who uses alcohol to suppress feminine emotions (that regularly threaten to break through).
Ilsa is similarly a noir-ish character. She appears to Rick to be a femme fatale but the mise-en-scène surrounding her tells the audience that she is not. Her performance when she pulls the gun on Rick also tells the audience (and Rick) that she is not a callous villainess. As a result Ilsa is a good woman, who has had a bad past, and her only crime is that she is unable to be honest (due to social stigma). This places her outside of traditional gender representation where heroines are either virginal or good wives (or widows). Ilsa, like Rick, is a more modern representation of gender although it is important to note the way Ilsa is represented as a traditional, feminine heroine through costume, cinematography and score. Look at the way signification
Do The Right Thing:
Spike Lee has received some criticism for rendering his female characters one dimensionally, however I would argue that Mother Sister is as rounded as any other character in the film. In a movie that uses such a wide variety of characters as Lee’s does there is a limit to screen time an individual gets. It is also important to note that this is a film which is mostly concerned with toxic masculinity.
This toxic masculinity is represented in different ways and many of these characters are presented as being the unfortunate products of a deeply flawed society: Look for signification which seems to be in conflict – bright, bold colours mixed with knuckle-duster jewellery for example.
Radio Raheem and Pino are represented as deeply antagonistic opposites whose machismo creates disruption and disequilibrium around them. The use of the script homage from “Night of the Hunter” is really important in rendering Radio Raheem as a tragically violence-prone individual. Performance is really important for both characters but also look at the use of distorting, near-fish-eye lens width. Pino’s costume is starkly opposite to community he is in and the black colour juxtaposes with Sal’s use of colour.
Buggin’ Out’s intelligence has been corrupted by his situation which leads him to exploit division to gain him status. Again look at conflicting mise-en-scène choices and the use of extreme camera angles (extreme low or high depending upon the situation – note that in the scene with Clifton, the white man with the mountain bike, the normal rules about low angles conferring inferiority do not apply because Buggin’ out has an audience – this changes the usual signification).
Sweet Dick Willie, Cocont Sid and ML are corrosive forces whose commentary is laced with toxic sexuality and impotent threats of violence. Look at the use of colour on the wall behind them, the heat haze created by burning in front of the camera and the mise-en-scène and performance choice of placing them on seats.
Both Da Mayor and Smiley are damaged male characters. Da Mayor has been damaged by the oppression he has faced in his life, leaving him an alcoholic. He still retains enough heroism to save Eddie from being run over and he ends the film a redeemed character (with the possibility of a romantic future with Mother Sister). He finally earns his place as the patriarch of the block. Look at costume and performance choices.
Smiley on the other hand is more ambiguous. His final act, setting fire to Sal’s, represents him as a character whose only voice is destruction. Again performance and costume are key.
Ahamad (who hangs out with Cee, Punchy and Ella) represents unthinking male arrogance – note the way he berates Da Mayor, demonstrating a lack of empathy which makes him complicit with white oppressors. – Performance.
Male characters that have more screen time are more nuanced. Sal wants to be a peacemaker (he literally feeds the community, gives employment, and is especially sentimental when it comes to Jade) however he still cleaves to Italian machismo and high-energy confrontation which fatally flaw him. Look at how his shirt tells this story – the bold print fits the neighbourhood but is in a style which fits his community.
Mookie is a male character that has been stunted by his situation (his shuffling walk representing this in performance). He is capable of intelligence but is constrained. He has no opportunities to escape his situation and so is a poor father and partner. Mookie is distrusted by his employers and feels resentful. Like Smiley he cannot articulate his feelings but his destruction of Sal’s saves the Frangione family from the crowd but he is unable to verbalise his decisions, at the time or in the morning.
Mister Señor Love Daddy is less of a character and more of a chorus (commenting on the action from his studio – a form of deus ex-machina – literally “the god from the machine”). This is a function Samuel L Jackson would reprise in “Chiraq.” There are lots of mise-en-scène choices that place him outside of the action when you are considering gender.
Vito is a male character who resists the masculine behaviour expected of him but cannot escape it. Look at oversized clothing which seems to infantilize him.
The most impotent (powerless) male character is Sonny (the Korean shop owner) although it is clear to characters like ML that he has another form of power (like Sal) through owning a business. Look at his performance and use of props when he is trying to defend his shop with the broom.
It almost goes without saying that the male characters with the most power are the police although Lee is clear in their performances that they are afraid of the community that they police and that drives their tragic and fatal over-reaction.
Female characters are less numerous but similarly represented and codified.
Tina is significant because Rosie Perez has considerable symbolic screen time in the intro sequence. As such she represents an Afro-Latino femininity which is much more physical and confrontational that available to white characters at the time. If you are looking at the intro sequence you must consider performance and costume.
It would be possible to argue that Perez’ intro, and the inclusion of Mother Sister, means that Lee presents the audience with a patriarchal society that has the possibility to be a matriarchy. Perez represents Black resistance – of which more later) and Mother Sister is the voice of the matriarchal traditions of the community. Note the way her speech patterns, and the score, link her more closely to The South. The combination of mise-en-scène and performance in the sequence where Jade brushes Mother Sister’s hair is useful here.
That said Tina is particularly powerless and, if Mookie is a poor father, she is a poor mother (literally and figuratively). She is reduced to berating Mookie at times and her vocal performance is meant to be grating.
Jade is interesting because of the way both Mookie and Pino respond to Sal’s behaviour towards her (which reveals the problematic legacy of racial exploitation and segregation – think about the different reasons why both of them are angry) but note that she isn’t passive or without agency. She supports Mookie financially, tells Buggin’ Out to do something constructive and sees nothing wrong in Sal’s care and attention. Look at how Jade’s costume signifies that she is different from Ella (whose body-conscious costume is signifies a brash lack of maturity).
Ella (who hangs out with Ahmad) is also interesting because her performance demonstrates traditional feminine empathy to Da Mayor after he has been abused by her friend.
Possible comparative points (not an exhaustive list) – although comparison by film element use is much more important: e.g. how is sound used to signify gender representation for a character in each film?
| Casablanca | Do The Right Thing |
| Rick Blaine: a Noir version of an idealised man. An homme fatale? An anti-hero to fit the impending war? Love triangle. A version of the hardboiled persona (can inhabit a world of moral ambiguities). | Mookie and Sal: Flawed characters. Both unable to escape social situation or cultural situation to create a better future. |
| Ilsa Lund: subverts the femme fatale trope. Codified as good but conflicted. Attempts to be bad. Love triangle. | Tina: Trapped through situation. Reduced to impotent rage. |
| Captain Renault: a version of the rake (or cad) character type. His womanizing is portrayed as charming rather than predatory. | Da Mayor: Damaged through experience. Redeems himself through actions and his indefatigable optimism. |
| Victor Laszlo: Traditional hero. Love triangle. | Toxic males rather than heroes: Radio Raheem is a useful one to concentrate on. Despite his Carl Lewis flat top hair (the Black athletic hero at the time) he is unable to be the heroic protector of the community. His rage renders him inarticulate and violent. |
| Major Heinrich Strasser: Traditional male villain. | The Police: Oppressive (but performance demonstrates it is partially through fear). |
| Yvonne: The fallen woman trope. Initially Rick’s girlfriend. Collaborator – but regains patriotism and so saves herself. | Ella: Redeems herself through performance of empathy for Da Mayor. |
| Annina Brandel: The damsel in distress. Saved from Renault by Rick’s actions. | Jade: Not a damsel in distress. Requires no saving. |
Representation of Ethnicity:
Ethnicity refers to the concept of culturally distinct groups – sometimes referred to as a people.
Casablanca:
Ethnicity as a representation focus throws some of the smaller characters into sharp relief in Casablanca. It is important to stress that there is an ideological dimension to the representation of ethnicity as the film is attempting to act in opposition to Nazi ideology concerning ethnicity (whilst having to negotiate American attitudes concerning identity which are not too dissimilar). It is important to remember that there are only three American born actors in the entire film (Joy Page, Dooley Wilson and Humphry Bogart).
The film is interesting in that a great many of the key production staff were Jewish, or of European Jewish heritage (the writing team of Howard Koch and Philip and Julius Epstein were all Jewish for example). Even the film’s villain, Major Strasser, was played by a German Jewish actor, Conrad Veidt, who had fled the Nazis.
The first characters you need to consider are Annina Brandel and her young husband. These characters are coded as Jewish (the character of Annina was played by Joy Page who was not only of European Jewish heritage but whose stepfather was Jack Warner – himself Jewish). Think about all the ways that the Brandels are represented as being good and in need of help. There is nothing overtly Jewish about the representation as America also harboured many with anti-Semitic attitudes but the subtle coding helped to convey the ideological message. Look at how clothing signification, performance and score combine to convey this to the audience. There are other characters that are coded as Jewish – the elderly German couple, the Leuchtags, who are at Ricks, practicing their English, early on in the film, are presented in a way which makes the audience want to be protective of them through performance.
The other key components in considering the representation of ethnicity are that Sam, the only Black character, is American (despite the film being set in North Africa) and is represented as being a free individual but still very much beneath Rick in status. They are shown as being friends, rather than simply being employer and employee, which is unusual for a film of the time period. Sam is unthreatening and takes no part in the major plot points of the film but does supply some of its emotional content and his piano playing places him within the world of Black American popular music (a useful comparison can be made with Do The Right Thing and Love Daddy’s roll call). Costume and performance help to mark Sam out as being unthreatening and oriented towards supporting Rick (his costume echoes that of Rick).
Signor Ferrari and Signor Ugarte: Whilst Ugarte (played by the great German communist actor, and Brecht collaborator, Peter Lorre) is supposed to be Italian and Ferrari has an Italian name, but wears a Fez signifying him as Muslim and Moroccan, both are represented as being untrustworthy and morally ambiguous non-white characters. Both consider Rick to be similar, or a rival, but Rick’s non-intervention is represented as being morally superior to Ugarte’s profiteering and Ferrari is presented as an organised crime figure with his multiple business interests. Both are represented as being physically repellent (Ugarte through his unusual looks and Ferrari by being fat) which place them below the white charaters in status.
Again smoking is a key performance choice. One of the key signifiers of American identity in the film is the way Bogart smokes. In the first sequence at Rick’s it conveys his nonchalance – which fits the way he is a mouthpiece for American isolationist attitudes. These are rooted in a cynicism about the Old World and Rick’s smoking conveys the way he Americans felt above petty European squabbling.
Captain Louis Renault is the embodiment of a set of attitudes about the French. These attitudes are that the French have a morality which is different from other ethnicities – more open to moral ambiguities. Remember that America and France have a very long history and Americans in the mid-twentieth century felt slightly inferior to aspects of European culture. Again look at his uniform, which tells one story about honour and tradition, the way he wears his kepi, which tells another and Claude Rains’ performance, which is charming and disarming. Without the performance (and that hat) Renault would be a predatory villain.
A number of ethnicities are collected together into a sense of European-ness in the film. Viktor is supposed to be Czech and Ilsa is supposed to be Norwegian but it matters little except that he represents a kind of central European civility and civilisation (his performance is key here) and she is an idealised Scandinavian beauty. Both come from countries invaded by Germany so the representation helps to further the ideological aims of the film.
Conrad Veidt’s performance as Major Strasser represents the Nazi as a highly civilised but evil figure wheras the brief appearance of the Italian Officer Tonelli represents the Italians as being hapless and buffoonish through his rapid and inconsequential speech. Note that Strasser completely ignores Tonelli at the airfield when he arrives.
Note that lower ranking French and German uniformed characters often speak with American accents – they are pretty disposable in terms of representation, literally being walking uniforms.
Do The Right Thing:
There are four major ethnicities to consider in this film; African American, Italian American, Latinx and Korean.
Obviously there are a wide number of ways that African American identity is represented in the film due to the wide variety of characters and many points overlap with the material on gender. I can’t list them all here but look at the notes below and you will see how there you can develop more.
It would be worth looking at the way Mister Señor Love Daddy acts as an idealised African American. The mise-en-scène shows that he is in touch with his Pan-African roots, his performance is confident his city upbringing and, if you consider sound, both his speech and the music he plays reflect pride in musical and verbal performance.
At the opposite end of the scale look at how the performance and costume of Da Mayor represent his character which has been beat down by oppression but still retains some dignity.
Radio Raheem in some ways embodies what has been described as negritude (consciousness and pride in blackness). This is expressed through mise-en-scène (props and costume choices) and is reflected in this way by Buggin’ Out (note Raheem and Buggin’ Out’s choice of hair and jewellery). Both are flawed however and Lee seems to be saying that misdirected pride can be diverted by the forces of oppression to become self-destructive.
Mother Sister represents the matriarchal and maternal aspects of African American identity (see notes above). Bill Lee’s score when she speaks is also really important as it evokes The South.
The Frangione family are almost caricatures of Italian American identity but it is really important to note that the two Italian American actors playing roles here (Danny Aiello and John Turturro) felt completely comfortable with the representation. The use of performance, costume and mise-en-scène (think about not only the “Wall of Fame” but also inclusion of the Colosseum). The fact that Sal uses food as a proxy for love, “let me make you something special,” is what he says to Jade. Sal’s performance moves quickly, and overtly, from placidity, to irritation, to threats of violence (and finally to violence against Raheem’s Ghetto Blaster). Note the way he is, himself, stunned by his own actions (performance). Useful to recognise that Charlie, who has his car filled with water, is played by Italian American Frank Vincent in a similar manner to Sal. His costume is similarly overtly Italian American. The way his threats (performance) backfire on him foreshadows the end of the film.
Irish-American: A little note here but the fact that Clifton is wearing a Celtics jersey is important. This not only marks him out as being Irish American but also someone who has spent enough time in Boston (the home of Harvard) to regard the Celtics as their team. Despite his assertion to Brooklyn rights (“I was born in Brooklyn”) he is represented through costume and props (the California-style mountain bike) as an outsider.
Latinx: Specifically Puerto Rican. The small gang surrounding Stevie appear a few times in the film. They are marked out by costume and music – the Ghetto Blaster duel is really important here as they understand the street rules, but are bested by Raheem. Officer Long lists a set of racial stereotypes that Stevie’s gang seem to adhere to, notably colour (“red wearing”) and music. Through representation Puerto Rican’s are placed down the social scale by dint of being outnumbered. Tina is Puerto Rican (her mother’s speech and her speech patterns – performance signify this) and it is notable that Lee uses Rosie Perez to signify Blackness in the intro. Her status as both Black and Latinx demonstrates that ethnicity is not simple and that representation choices can highlight that characters have multiple identities.
Note that Sonny, the Korean shopkeeper, is regularly harassed and abused by the black residents of Bed-Stuy. Remember to reference the broom (props).
The Police: The Police are almost an ethnic group of their own. Lee could have made the decision to use Irish American actors (the NYPD famously has a high proportion of Irish officers) to highlight how the community is policed by outsiders, but the casting choices are more complicated. Officer Gary Long is played by Danny Aiello’s son Rick (making him Italian American). Office Ponte is played by the noticeably Latinx Miguel Sandoval. There is a point to be made that membership of the police places characters outside of normal ethnic barriers – although Ponte is noticeably more conciliatory during the hydrant scene and Long is the one who mouths “what a waste” (both performance).
It may be useful to think in terms of positive and negative.
| Casablanca | Do The Right Thing |
| White American – positive: Rick | Black – positive: Segnor Love Daddy, Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Jade. |
| European – positive: Ilsa, Victor | Black – negative/conflicted: Radio Raheem, Buggin’ Out, Ahamad |
| European – negative: Major Strasser Officer Tonelli | Italian American – positive: Sal (with limitations), Vito |
| Coded Jewish – positive: Annina | Italian American – negative: Pino |
| Coded North African – ambiguous: Signor Ferrari and Signor Ugarte | Latinx: Ambiguous – Tina, Stevie. |
| African American – positive: Sam |
Compare how far do the films you have studied use the key elements of film form to convey meanings and ideologies? 40 marks
It is essential for both films to use film form to convey meaning and ideology however Lee’s film is denser, in both the techniques he uses, and the meanings he generates, as befits a film made nearly 50 years after Casablanca.
One way that both Casablanca and Do The Right Thing convey meaning and ideology is through their use of mise-en-scène. Despite the fact that Casablanca is a product of the early 1940s and Do The Right Thing is a product of the late 1980s both films were produced with the intention of effecting direct, real-world change (to galvanise American opinion against the Nazis and to highlight the intersectional injustices that oppressed African Americans respectively) and incorporate symbolic elements into the frame in order to do this. Casablanca, as a studio picture, is as much Hal B. Wallis’ film as Michael Curtiz’ in this regard as he had day to day control over prop and set decisions. In Casablanca there are regular symbolic uses of frame elements: from repeated uses of the Free French cross (both in ring form and as shadow – in the window of La Belle Aurore for example) to the use of the searchlight to represent the vigilance and surveillance of powerful forces outside of Casablanca and the story-world. Similarly Spike Lee gives naturalistic elements symbolic significance such as the “wall of fame” photographs which act as models for behaviour and success for Sal’s family but also appear to be aghast onlookers in the climactic scene. It is also notable that Vito and Mookie’s conversation about civilisation is conducted underneath a picture of the Colosseum, again demonstrating that, whatever their situation, the Italian Americans have well recognised symbols of success and power to offer them hope and solace. In contrast the African American characters have Smiley’s photographs (mangled and drawn upon) and Senor Love Daddy’s radio monologue; in which he lists black success and excellence but which reinforces Lee’s point about the narrow avenues open for black exceptionalism in 80s America.
Where they are very different is in the way that they use mise-en-scène to connote genre (which has an impact on meaning). The low-key lighting, partially obscured face and venetian blinds in the scene where Ilsa watches Victor leave to meet the Free French all signify Film Noir (Curtiz was heavily expressionist-influenced and his director of photography was Arthur Edeson who had also made The Maltese Falcon) which, as a genre, is concerned with intrigue, moral choices and the struggle between good and evil. Curtiz also uses frame-filling noir-ish shadows to hint that Rick Blaine is an anti-hero, and might let Victor die, to keep the film from sentimentality. Lee, on the other hand, opens his film with a stylised set for Rosie Perez to dance in. The deep colour saturation, open floor and high key lighting are all features of music video and Lee often uses the form of music video (especially post classical, or MTV, editing) as a way of linking his film to black music culture (at the time Chuck D, from Public Enemy, referred to rap as “black CNN”). At other points his use of heat-haze in front of the camera helps to ratchet up the tension by recalling other heat-tinged films set in the deep south.
Another way that both films convey meanings and ideologies is through their use of cinematography. Both films are attempting to place individuals within a wider picture and as a result both films use deliberately obvious crane shots. Lee uses the crane to put Mookie, as he awkwardly, pigeon-toed, stomps his way across an expanding screen, firmly in the real Bedford-Syvesant. Mookie is a man who belongs in this community, and his struggles are the same as everybody else’s, however Bill Lee’s score accentuates the crane shots and becomes both cinematic and Gershwin-like. This elevates him to heroic status and also instantly places Mookie’s struggles within the complicated post-slavery historical web of Jim-Crow, northern migration and the influence African Americans have had culturally. In Casablanca a similar effect is achieved in the final shot. The crane shot suddenly, cinematically, underlines Rick’s point that “the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans” as Louis and Rick seem small and insignificant. The dialogue, however, maintains its volume, in a hyper-real way, which means that the ideological point is made that they are still important, despite the huge events that are engulfing them, and that to succeed in the war individual humanity will need to be retained. Another difference in both films is that Casablanca uses flattering lens sizes (and filters) to make the central characters mythic and glamorous, to emphasise the nobility of their struggle, whereas, in Do The Right Thing, Ernest Dickerson uses fish-eye lenses to distort faces in order to emphasise their failures and descent into conflict.
I have already touched on the way that sound is crucial to the way that both films convey meanings and ideologies, especially through the different techniques of scoring and sound tracking. Steiner’s score for Casablanca helps to emphasise scale of the unfolding drama however it is the inclusion of La Marseillaise which is designed to have both emotional and political impact as it reminds the audience of the fall of France. Similarly Do The Right Thing has a score but is also sound tracked by a selection of artists. Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” takes on particular significance; as it opens the film and is played on Radio Raheem’s Ghetto Blaster. The track is both a call to arms and a comment on the action of the film.
Use of editing helps to convey meaning and ideology in both films and both films also use continuity and discontinuity editing at key points. Casablanca opens its action with a montage sequence which helps to locate the action and frame the narrative. The entry into Rick’s Café Americain, however, utilises continuity editing and fluid camera movements to help to set the scene, convey atmosphere and begin to develop some of the intrigues and tensions of story. Lee, on the other hand, does use continuity editing to help develop his characters and story but will break with the editing style (most notably in the racial slur scene) to develop his message.
Use of performance is the final element which helps to convey meaning and ideology. Curtiz is deliberate in his use of the stylised performance conventions of pre-war Hollywood cinema. Bogart uses the mannerisms of the noir anti-hero (his character vacillates between control and dominance to hard-drinking and defeated) and often plays up to the off-hand requirements of the script. Bergman plays Ilsa constantly on the verge of emotional collapse which emphasises the sense of hideous tension Wallis wanted to create. Lee, on the other hand, jumps between performance styles at times. Key sections, like Radio Raheem’s love and hate speech (lifted from The Night of the Hunter), the racial slur scene or the choral comments which occur after Raheem’s death are non-naturalistic and not in the same performance mode as other sections of the film. Lee varies his actor’s performance style to aid the delivery of the message and serve the film’s ideological purpose.
As you can see the Lee layers up significations using all of the elements of film form, in thought provoking, and sometimes contradictory ways whilst Curtiz, Edeson and Steiner elegantly craft meaning from the elements of form that they use.
Auteur Signature
- There are stylistic and thematic choices that are distinctive to a film maker.
This creates a problem for applying auteur theory to films made under the studio system in Hollywood. These are films produced before 1954. Under this system the producer was the key creative force although the director had a key role in shaping the film (alongside other personnel).
- Curtiz – made over 170 films including musicals. He seems to change style with each picture (after Casablanca Wallis and Curtiz made Yankee Doodle Dandy – a musical biopic.
- He left no biography to make clear his intentions and few interviews – there are only a few sources of information.
Argument for Curtiz as an Auteur.
| “First I look for “human interest” when a story is given me. If that interest is predominant over the action then I believe the story is good. Always it is my desire to tell that story as if the camera were a person relating the incidents of a happening” “I want to deal with the human and fundamental problems of real people. That is the basis of all good drama. It is true even in a spectacle, where you must never forget the underlying humanity and identity of your characters no matter how splendid the setting or situations are.” Film historian Peter Wollen says that throughout Curtiz’s career, his films portrayed characters who had to “deal with injustice, oppression, entrapment, displacement, and exile.” |
Themes:
Cinematography:
| Sidney Rosenzweig argues that Curtiz did have his own distinctive style, which was in place by the time of his move to America: “…high crane shots to establish a story’s environment; unusual camera angles and complex compositions in which characters are often framed by physical objects; much camera movement; subjective shots, in which the camera becomes the character’s eye; and high contrast lighting with pools of shadows” Concept: The viewer is a physically present witness to the scene. |
Curtiz/Wallis/Edeson/Steiner (Casablanca) auteur signature
Themes:
- Injustice, exile, entrapment and oppression. Human relationships and drama.
- Wallis: Gravitated towards drama – including Noir
Style:
- Curtiz: Complex framing, crane shots, subjective views and high contrast lighting – noir. Viewer as witness.
- Edeson: Noir composition and lighting – Chiaroscuro.
- Steiner: Music as background to dialogue, leitmotif, diegetic music.
Lee (Do The Right Thing) auteur signature
Themes:
- Racism: The Black American struggle. Nuanced investigation of race. Power imbalance. Gender politics. Politics of desire.
Style:
- Bricolage – deeply layered references and homages –political, musical and cinematic.
- Post classical (post-MTV) editing and cinematography.
- Symbolic character introductions.
- Heightened tone.
- Vibrant colours.
- Bold, unfamiliar camera angles and shot types. Places audience inside the world.
- Stylised dialogue.
- Documentary material.
- Breaks in the action.
- Fourth wall breaks – Brechtian
- WAKE UP!
Aesthetic
A set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist, movement or a particular artistic product.
These are decisions made about the five key elements of film:
- Cinematography, including lighting
- Mise-en-scène
- Editing
- Sound
- Performance
Exemplar paragraph:
One of the key aesthetic choices made by Lee to generate an audience response is his use of colour. Whilst the repeated use of red, most noticeably in the wall behind the chorus-like trio of ML, Sweet Dick Willie and Coconut Sid, is designed to replicate heat, much of the use of colour is designed to promote Afro-consciousness. Although Lee’s previous film, School Daze, had been shot in colour, and featured a notable 30’s influenced musical scene which used a super-saturated palette. Do The Right Thing tapped into the nascent style movements in Brooklyn at the time. These included Afrocentric accessories, bright colours (that were being developed by fashion labels like Cross Colours) and sportswear. Spike Lee’s title design is very similar to De La Soul’s Daisy Age Album artwork for Three Feet High And Rising (released in the same year). Lee’s use of colour palette in costume, titles, props and setting is often used to celebrate black culture’s refusal to pander to white American norms (which all converge in the mise-en-scène surrounding Senor Love Daddy). Colour is not an option available to Curtiz, Wallis and Edeson, however their used of deeply saturated black creates a chiaroscuro effect in scenes (for example when Rick talks to Renault in his office and all the audience see’s is his shadow opening the safe). This use of deep colour contrast generates in the audience a noir-ish sensibility where there are few moral absolutes of good and bad and plenty of shadows for characters to hide their true intentions. In these ways colour is important in developing audience response.
Exam Technique Advice
Continually return to the question – start paragraphs referencing the question.
PLAN!!!!!!!
Try to explore examples from each of the element areas.
Use detail in your examples to demonstrate that you have studied the films (you have more knowledge and understanding than the normal audience).
Compare the two films continually as you go along. Use comparative words and phrases: similarly, conversely, however (as a comparative), this is different to.
Be evaluative “how far” is an instruction. Do this throughout your essay.
Always check for mistakes/fluency before you finish.
Practise Questions
Use these to plan responses and write up practise paragraphs
- Compare the use of aesthetics to represent gender in your chosen films.
- Compare the use of aesthetics to represent ethnicity in your chosen films.
- Compare how far your knowledge of auteur theory has been useful in deepening your understanding of your chosen films.
- Compare how your chosen auteurs use key elements of film form to convey meaning.
- How far is the aesthetic of your chosen films influential in generating meaning and response?
- Compare how far the auteurs of your chosen films are restricted by their production contexts.
- With close reference to two aspects of film form, compare how far the auteurs of your films reflect their signature features.
Extra Help:
https://www.sparknotes.com/film/casablanca/
Click to access casablanca.pdf
Do the Right Thing: Crash Course Film Criticism #6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZBmOd83Fds
Mr G's English, Film and Media. 