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One of the most beloved American films, this captivating wartime adventure of romance and intrigue from director Michael Curtiz defies standard categorization. Simply put, it is the story of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a world-weary ex-freedom fighter who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, notably the crafty Capt. Renault (Claude Rains), Rick's café has become a haven for refugees looking to purchase illicit letters of transit which will allow them to escape to America. One day, to Rick's great surprise, he is approached by the famed rebel Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) and his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), Rick's true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris. She still wants Victor to escape to America, but now that she's renewed her love for Rick, she wants to stay behind in Casablanca. "You must do the thinking for both of us," she says to Rick. He does, and his plan brings the story to its satisfyingly logical, if not entirely happy, conclusion. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
Assignment: Is this movie a tool for propaganda? Does the directors and screenwriters want
the viewer to believe or understand their point of view or is it a "justified message" for the
viewer to interpret on their own? Compare and contrast to another film that was strongly a
propaganda movie and another that may you think about something in a different light.
Assignment: Is this movie a tool for propaganda? Does the directors and screenwriters want
the viewer to believe or understand their point of view or is it a "justified message" for the
viewer to interpret on their own? Compare and contrast to another film that was strongly a
propaganda movie and another that may you think about something in a different light.
I didn't think this movie was a tool for propaganda. It really focused on the predicaments which didn't have a lot to do with the war. It doesn't really focus on World War 2 and taking sides. It does mention it but generally showed German Nazis trying to find Victor and holding guns. In America and everywhere else we already always thought the German Nazis to be cruel. Even if this movie was biased, it probably wouldn't have changed our minds, considering that there's probably a 90% or higher chance of the movie depicting cruel Nazis. Really, they can't show the Nazis skipping around, eating cotton candy, and singing about pink unicorns and rainbow monkeys.
ReplyDeleteI think the director and screenwriters would want the viewer to interpret on their own. Triumph of the Will is known as one of the best propaganda films made. Like Casablanca, the setting is around WW2 and features Nazis. Unlike Casablanca, it is biased and focuses on Nazis.
Honestly, I haven't watched a lot of movies that made me think about something in a different light, though I could name a few movies I watches that I feel very strongly about like Wall-E and Avatar. Both have a strong environmental propaganda. I've always been an environmentalist, but these 2 movies made me feel stronger about helping out the environment (yes, I realize this may sound cheesy, but it's true).
Wall -E is propaganda for environmentalist?
DeleteYes! Casablanca is defiantly propaganda.
ReplyDelete1) The movie shows the underground. Victor Lazlo wrote newspapers against fascism. He escaped from a concentration camp. This shows that Casablanca portrayed the Czech as patriotic.
2) The Nazis are portrayed as evil. They are herding all nationalities into Casablanca, and they have no money and even if they do, the money runs out soon. They don't respect human life or dignity, and believe all people should bow to Nazis, and also everyone else should be enslaved to Nazis.
3) Casablanca portrays America as the "safe haven", where everyone is safe from the Nazis, apposed to other countries, such as France.
Casablanca is mostly a pro-Allie propaganda. It says that to achieve victory, one must give sacrifice.
WRITTEN BY MASHA POBEDINSKI AND SARAH K YUN!
Casablanca is a tool for propaganda because it shows in the movie that during the war, many American people got involved in the war. They got into the war by accident; they were just trying to get back to the U.S. This told people not to support the war because it would ruin their lives greatly. They director and screenwriters were trying to get a point across; don't support the war. It was similar to the movie Der Fuehrer's Face, a movie relieving the aggression against Hitler by making him a comical figure and showcasisng the freedom that America offered. The movie was made by Walt Disney Pictures in 1940. They use Donald Duck as a Ducknazi. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Ducknazi.jpg
ReplyDeleteSome of the chaos and misery which fascism and peoples' prosecution/the war has brought are graphically illustrated. Refugees of all nationalities are crowded in Casablanca. Few have money, which is used up quickly. They attempt to sell jewels and belongings, but the market is flooded. Some refugees are reduced to stealing; women sell themselves; others bribe corrupt officials who in turn double-cross them. There are pickpockets, murderers, and even black markets in visas. It shows people the misery the war is causing.
ReplyDeleteCasablanca shows how people would give anything to defeat the Germans. Laszlo and other underground workers risk everything showing that defeating the German Fascists is of paramount importance.
Rick's smuggling of guns and fighting with loyalists in the Spanish Civil War shows that the war didn't start with Pearl Harbor, but the roots of aggression that reach far back.
The film also portrays the typical Nazi in the arrogant Major Strasser. He hates anything non-German. He disregards human life and dignity, and is determined people should bow down to the Third Reich.
It also shows ways the resistance fought the Germans. By portraying the truth through illegal newspapers and more. In Casablanca, a Norwegian anti-Nazi says, " the underground is well organized here as everywhere." It shows that people of all nationalities meet secretly everywhere despite the danger.
It uses pathos, logos, and ethos to entice Americans to vote and become Pro-war.
In Casablanca the term "Concentration Camp" is used a lot; I wonder if this adds to the propaganda by helping people realize what the Nazis were doing. Also "Round Up The Usual Suspects" was used a lot, showing that the Nazis would interrogate and or imprison anyone that even looked "suspicious". This not-caring for peoples' lives must add to the propaganda...
DeleteI believe this movie is a tool of propaganda because it is trying to get people to accept the idea od the U.S. joining the war by depicting the Germans as very cruel people. They also show that even though the French are strong (such is depicted when their National Anthem overpowers that of the Germans (which of course angers the Germans)), they still need help.
ReplyDeletecompare???? to another movie
DeleteWell we can compare this to the cartoon starring Donald Duck called "Der Fuehrer's Face". This cartoon depicts Donald Duck living in a world where there are swastikas everywhere (even the trees and clouds are shaped like them). He has to do a lot of hard work with very little rest and nourishment. He finds himself getting tired and having difficulty completing his given tasks. He is also being bombarded by propaganda messages from the Aryan Race claiming their superiority and the joys of working for them. Donald has a vacation (which isn't a vacation at all) and has a nervous breakdown where he hallucinates all kinds of terrifying things about the Germans. He wakes up in a cold sweat to realize that it was a NIGHTMARE and gives his miniature Statue of Liberty a hug, being ever so grateful for his American citizenship and freedom. Cartoons are meant to be seen by children, and when there is this strong of a message in a child's cartoon, they are going to absorb it (like most infant minds) and feel a certain way. Children can pick up on who is the good guy and who are the bad guys, since this cartoon is depicting the Germans and Hitler as bad people, children are going to see them as "the bad guys". Not only will this be absorbed by children, but also their parents and everyone who notices. Sometime this all happens subconsciously. Propaganda can sneak its way into your brain and make you feel a certain way, and you won't even realize it. There are also theories that a lot of the music we listen to is a form of propaganda, but that is getting into another more complicated but far more interesting story.
DeleteI think this movie was a tool for propoganda. Since this movie was made during World War 11- the directors and screenwriters want to show people that people would give up on their love and opportunity to have freedom to help people fight against Germany and its allies and stop World War 11, so that the people watching the movie would get inspired and stand up to fight against Germany and its allies. Another movie that was used as a propaganda tool was The Great Dictator- in which Charlie Chaplin directed, produced, and starred in. That movie used comedy to show how the Nazis were machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. This movie had a stirring, controversial condemnation of Hitler, fascism, and antisemitism. The movie, The Great Dictator, talks directly about how cruel Hitler and the Nazis were, but in Casablanca, it talks about the people who were fighting against Hitler and the Nazis.
ReplyDeleteYes, this movie is a tool of propaganda. First, at the begging of the movie it shows some of the germans taking people who didn't have the documents that they were asking for. (That didn't make them look so nice)
ReplyDeleteSecond, throught the whole movie they depicted America like a great place. Everyone wanted to fly to America. This might have encouraged some of the american watchers to fight for the U.S.
Another film that shows propaganda is the animated film of Animal farm (we watched part of it with Ms. Crawford last year) or the book itself (:
I believe that Casablanca is a propaganda film because it was portrayed by the producers inn favor to the war cause. The producers themselves had been encouraged by the BMP to make this film for the war effort. It was part of the Why We Fight series of seven informative films urged on by Washington D.C. itself. The film itself portrays America as a safe haven where Casablanca has become a transition point to the fantastical American Dream. They portray America as a placed to be dreamed about, and as each person boards the plane towards safety and a new life, from tens, to hundreds more are left behind in Casablanca, hoping that tomorrow it will be them. Casablanca is portrayed as a place where turmoil is normal. Conscience and moral are lost to pickpockets and thieves. It is a place of desperation and great hope for an illegal passport in order to leave the turmoil of Casablanca. However, the movie does not portray Casablanca in too bad a light- focusing on the sparks of hope within it. When the Nazi invasion of France occurs, Casablanca falls into German hands due to its being a territory of France. The Nazis are portrayed as cruel brutes, killing and torturing innocent civilians for absolutely no sole reason. They are, in the end, beaten by the loyalty and strength of the resistance movement, however. The French resistance are the heroes of this film, showing sparks of hope among the mess of Casablanca, and winning over the Nazi enforcers, in small but significant ways. All those help the resistance movement, and often make sacrifices for it, such as Victor, Ilsa, and especially Rick and Renault are therefore the main characters and heroes/heroines of the story. This film in general encourages its viewers to support the war due to the sympathy for those brave souls in Casablanca and elsewhere. This film is similar to all of the Why we fight series, and many other wartimes propaganda movies from the viewpoint of the Allied forces because it portrays the situation at hand in favorable light, sometimes exaggerating on a situation (Situation of Casablanca) or omitting certain points, or touching on them very lightly or making them seem justified or better than they really are (some of the unfavorable things we were doing in the war).
ReplyDeletethink about German movies that will do the same: is there a politically correct movie?
DeleteCasablanca is a propaganda film. I think that the director and the screenwriters want the viewers to believe a certain thing rather than just displaying something and having the audience interpret for themselves. Another strong propaganda movie is "The Diary of Anne Frank." This is a very strong propaganda movie because it was about the Nazi's and the Jewish people. This movie was also about Hitler and the cruel things he did to the Jewish people to try to make anyone put a stop to him.
ReplyDeleteAventure malgache (1944) is a short British propaganda film in French directed by Alfred Hitchcock for the British Ministry of Information. The title means Malagasy Adventure in English. In September 2011, The Daily Telegraph published an article noting that writer and actor Claude Dauphin had collaborated with Hitchcock to recount his own experiences of operating an underground radio station in Nazi occupied France.
ReplyDeletePlot: An actor tells of being in the Resistance while running an illegal radio station and dodging Nazis.
It is a lot like in Casablanca, except that Casablanca does not include real-life events, and is a completely made-up story. In Casablanca, the main character is Rick and the underground character is Lazlo, whereas in Adventure Malgache, the main character is an underground radioman who must also keep hidden from Nazis. The Adventure Malgache, just like in Casablanca shows that people in the underground take defeating the Nazis seriously, and therefore the audience should too, for the characters risk their lives trying to kill the Nazis. The Adventure of Malgache is more straight-forward than in Casablanca.
yea
Deletethat is also a good propaganda film
No, i don't think that they were trying to get anything across to the viewers because its just a romance story and i don't think its really trying to say anything. I think that wizard of oz and animal farm is a strong propaganda movie, it definitively change my idea of political, economic and social events of America in the 1890s and the Russian Revolution.
ReplyDeleteYay! Someone agrees with me!
DeleteThey hid the propaganda well behind the romance... It could easily be noticed by an newspaper company or anyone that thinks about the movie and ponders over it. It is hidden, most likely, to not offend people that are anti-war, yet still show a message.
DeleteWhat about the Nazis and how they were corrupt. What about the idea that the war causes the people harm by separating husbands and wives, and how the underground anti-Nazis meet and how they risk their lives to defeat the Nazis. Also the romance is tied into the propaganda, for Ilsa is what keeps Victor going. It also showed what happened when Ilsa, after believing her husband dead, found Rick. When her husband "returned", she was forced to abandon Rick and break his heart. It shows that the war not only kills but harms people mentally (heart). It isn't only a romance, but a propaganda. The propaganda is well hidden behind the romance, but it is there...
DeleteWell, Susan, I have to disagree because it was part of the Why we Fight series meant as propaganda films, and if you look deeper into the meaning of the film, not just the romance, you will see that it really shadows deeper meanings.
DeleteIt is a propaganda because it is suggesting that they should support the allies win the war also try to free France too.
ReplyDeleteOne of Walt Disney's film called Der Fuehrer's Face shows that the Nazi is bad like in Casablanca where the show Nazi as bad people.
Exactly, It shows what happened to any straggling french to: they ended up in concentration camps.
DeleteThere was actually also a German Film made as propoganda before the start of the Why we Fight series- actually, why the we started the why we fight series- that depicted Hitler and the Nazi Party as angels and saviors
DeleteYes, i do think this movie was a tool for propaganda because it was trying to influence people and convince people that the German regime was too harsh on its people and since this came out before the United States entered the war, it could have been trying to persuade the U.S. to join because the cause against the German rule. This movie could be compared to the Lorax propaganda wise because the Lorax is a movie about how a lot of trees are cut down and eventually go extinct and then are brought back. This movie was stressing the importance of nature conservation and how it can affect your life.
ReplyDeleteGood comparison to the Lorax :)
DeleteI didn't think of that
It also can compare to another one of Dr. Seuss films talking about the cold war- I dont remember the name.
I think Dr. Seuss makes a lot of propaganda films
did it change the way your views about things?
DeleteI believe that the movie, Casablanca, was used as a tool for propaganda. This is because the characters in the movie show how people back then gave up their freedom to help fight the war. In the Movie, the character Rick gives up his VISA to help Victor come to America and help fight against Germany. Another movie used as a tool for propaganda is Since Pearl Harbor. Since Pearl Harbor, released in 1943, films a "report" to the Americans regarding wartime activities of the American Red Cross since the the attack on Pearl Harbor.
ReplyDeleteDoes it cause people to want to fight against Hitler and Japan?
DeleteThat is good, because many people do not realize how important the red cross was in WW 2 and its role
DeleteCasablanca was used as propaganda because the characters inside of Casablanca, gave up freedom in order to help fight for the war. For example) Rick giving up his VISA so Victor can fight and help America.
ReplyDeleteOne movie that also used propaganda is The Volunteer, which is about volunteers rising to help World War II, and recruited World War II as propaganda.
I think Casablanca was a tool for propaganda. In the movie they show how people needed Visa's to get out off Europe at that time. Through the entire movie that depicted America or going to America as the ideal thing to do. It also shows the Germans as harsh to the people and the Nazis has evil.
ReplyDeleteI think the director and screenwriters want then to believe all the things they portrayed in the movie in hopes that the United States could join the war.
I would compare this propaganda film to Animal Farm, because in animal form they were trying to get the message across about how evil and cynical humans are. In Casablanca they show the Germans and Nazi's as evil.
I believe that this movie was a tool of propaganda. I think it was trying to convince the American people to join the war and be allies with France. The movie showed the German people as being very mean and I think was trying to show the American people that the Germans were mean and that America needs to help the French defeat the mean people.
ReplyDeletecan a movie make you believe in something as the truth when it is not? How can you tell the difference?
DeleteI think that Casablanca was a tool for propaganda, because it demonstrated how people viewed the German's and Nazi's. It showed how people needed their documents to get to America and it also showed how people hoped and dreamed to get their documents to go to America. I also think they wanted-the director and screenwriters- people to see it the way they portrayed it. I also reminds me of Animal Farm, because they also protray humans as evil.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Casablanca was definitely a propaganda. My reasons include the following points:
ReplyDelete1) The movie shows the underground. Victor Lazlo wrote newspapers against fascism. He escaped from a concentration camp. This shows that Casablanca portrayed the Czech as patriotic.
2) The Nazis are portrayed as evil. They are herding all nationalities into Casablanca, and they have no money and even if they do, the money runs out soon. They don't respect human life or dignity, and believe all people should bow to Nazis, and also everyone else should be enslaved to Nazis.
All in all, this film was produced DURING the war, and it had a HUGE effect on it.
so for the comparasion part which i forgot in the earlier blog post...
ReplyDeleteAnother propaganda film was The Great Dictator starring Charlie Chaplin. Both films were types of propaganda for World War II. Both films were targeted towards the American audience to encourage Americans to participate in the war against Germany. Both films depict Germans in a negative manner. The Great Dictator was a comedy trying to grab peoples attention while laughing while Casablanca was a drama/romance that was trying to depict the bad of the war.