Sanders Casablanca

Casablanca, the Hollywood film directed by Michael Curtis and released in 1942 during World War II had a great impact on the audience of the time. The Political expediency theory, in this case, is shown by how Curtis delivered the film in a way not to alienate the audience. Instead of choosing sides, he uses his characters, primarily Rick, to represent what is going on at the time. By placing Rick in this position, the audience is then able to either sympathize or empathize with the war. Rick is often understood to represent America. His lack of involvement, or neutrality, in the film represents America's lack of willingness to get invovled in the war at first. As the film goes on, however, Rick becomes more involved and begins to see the Germans as bad. Much like America, who eventually became involved with the war as well. In order to keep the attention of his audience, Curtis tied in a romantic twist. It was this romance, between Rick and Ilsa, that represented a deeper political meaning in the film. It also kept the attention of a wider audience. In this scene posted, when Rick tells her, "Here's looking at you kid," Rick is sending Ilsa and Laszlo on a plane to Lisbon in order to keep her safe. He is doing this because at this point he has become involved, and he knows it is not a safe place for her.

In this scene, Rick is the dominant as he takes up most of the frame and Ilsa is only taking up the bottom corner and facing backwards.

The angle of the camera is slightly upwards, looking from Ilsa's level up to Rick's, signifying his dominance again.

The lighting key here is low, as a way to suggest a sad time (as it is sad for Ilsa to leave him) and to suggest the effects of the war.

The camera proximics are personal here and the character proxemics seem intimate