Compare how far the actors of the main characters are influenced by times in which American films you have studied were made.
The two films I have studied and will compare in this essay is Casablanca and Do The Right Thing. Casablanca was directed by Kurtiz and was made in 1942 after America joined the war, the main character Rick is used as a vehicle to present themes and meanings to the film. This is the same for Do The Right Thing which was directed by Spike Lee , the main character Mookie, he is also used to present the themes to the audience.
First of all, Casablanca(1942) was set after America joining World War 2, the character Rick is used to portray America at the time when the film was being produced, for instants Rick is always shot with a hat, which casts a shadow over his face , this could suggest that America was in the dark with someone of their plans , it could further suggest that the American people were not happy with the decision that there nation made to join the war. Additionally, our main character is shown very closely related with mis en scene that has symbolism attached; the editing closely links him to the close up of the Vichy water. The Vichy water symbolises the fact that Vichy government occupied the French region which collaborated with the Nazis, By Rick binning the entire bottle of Vichy water signifies America cutting their ties with the corrupt Vichy government and the Nazi regime. Furthermore, the film wanted to point out the differences between the Nazis and the American people, this is mirroring the views of America at the time the film was being made because they believed the Nazi government was wrong and that they had very different views therefore this has been conveyed through the difference in their costumes. In the Audio codes in the film whenever Rick or an American character is shown the music is calmer and high pitched, whereas when the German head soldier shot the music was low key and tense mood. It gives the Nazi characters shown a negative connotation, yet again this links back to the American people's views at the time. To add to this, the editing when Rick is shown tends to be very minimal which suggest he a good person, whereas the Nazi main characters get lots of cuts compared to the rest of the film , this could connote to America cutting the Nazi regime out of there zones in which they occupied. Kurtiz uses ellipses in the film, he done this to deprived the audience of knowledge when Rick gun shot scene took place ,this key visual code was not shown on screen which left the audience unsure to what is going on, this could be influenced by America at the time as the world was deprived on the fact that the Nazis were running concentration camps until the American soldiers found them.
On the other hand Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing 1989,uses Mookie to explore elements of society in Brooklyn as pre-production was taking place. The main character Mookie is used to explore the themes of racism,police brutality and relationship, for example Spike Lee has used the character to show the audience what life of a young black male was like in the 80s. Throughout the film we see how racism affects Mookie, this is done through speech codes by the character Pino and through the cinematography, for example Pino is shown making racist remarks while Mookie is still in shot, this technique closely links he comments to him. This represents what black people had to go through at the time,while the film was being made. Moreover, Radio Raheem was another key character, the song Fight the power which featured in the soundtrack was a very important factor to this film as it represents the equal rights and treatment protest for black people. Furthermore, the tracking shot of the main character Mookie builds up tension as it shows a long shot of him making the first big step of the protest by throwing a trash can through the windows.This refers to the one of many protest that took place around the time the film was being produced , it is clear that Spike Lee wanted to portray the these demonstrations and turn it into a story that would show the american people and world what these young black males were going through. This links in with my next point about the theme of police brutality, in the film Radio Raheem is murdered by the Brooklyn police force,the shot lasts for a lengthy duration to deliberately to shock the audience and make them uncomfortable, in the US at the time this was a huge problem and it still is now, yet again Spike Lee wanted to portray what many people were going through in these areas , in some ways this was his own creative way to join the movement.
Casablanca uses micro features such as a blank and white affect, this is how films were shot during 1942, the film is dialogue heavy, meaning most action happens in the audio codes rather than the visual codes. However, Do The Right Thing is shot using twenty first century affects, also the audio and visual codes are evenly spread out ,rather than one being heavier like Casablanca.
In conclusion, both films explore themes and events linked to the time the film was being produced however the issues were very different and the way they Kurtiz and Spike Lee did it was different. For example, Casablanca focused on Rick and the Mise en scene elements while Do the right thing focused on themes,soundtracks and the cinematography.
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