Gevry, Casblanca

No matter the premise of a film, its plot, character, or overall composition politics often times play a central role int he film. As evident even in Casablanca, politics and most notably World War II, are weaved into every shot of every scene.What Casablanca ideally does is create a world in which politics turn romantic. Rick is the strong and mysterious United States that will, though originally as bystander, take a heroic and successful stand. Americans were constantly bombarded with he images of war so for a film like Casablanca to have such a highly political agenda and yet still come across to the American public as a story of wartime heroics and romance is immensely impressive. Casablanca successfully created an movie that allowed viewers almost an escape into the ideal war. One in which a hero would step forward, love would outweigh all, and an ending was ascertainable.

The scene I believe most connects to the Political Expediency Theory would have to be the closing scene in which Rick and Renault walk off into the fog.

Dominant: The dominate in would have to be Renault and Rick.

Camera Angle: Neutral, yet slightly tilted downwards as if the viewer were watching the scene unfold from higher up,

Lighting: The lightning within this film is dark, almost twilight. This is done perhaps to show that it is always darkest before the dawn and that both Rick and Renault are going to see a bright new day.

Camera Proximic: This is a crucial piece. The camera is situated in a public proximity. As Rick and Renault walk away into the fog the camera does not follow them, it is merely to show that things will get better. In time all of us can, in essence, walk through the fog and move on.