What is the premise?
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- * Thematic Revelation
| * Moral Self-Revelation Rick realizes that his love for Ilsa is not as important as helping Laszlo fight Nazi domination. * Moral Decision Rick gives Laszlo the letters, makes Ilsa leave with him, and tells Laszlo that Ilsa loves him. He then goes off to join the Free French. * Thematic Revelation Renault's surprise flip at the end, where he decides to join Rick in the fight (a classic double reversal, produces the thematic revelation in the battle against fascism, everyone must play apart. Part of the power of the warm house is that it appeals to the audience's sense of their own childhood, either real or imagined. Everyone's house was big and cozy when they were very young, and if they soon discovered that they lived in a hovel, they can still look at the big, warm house and see what they wished their childhood had been. That's why the warm house is so often used in connection with memory stories, like Jean Shepherd's Christmas Story, and why American storytellers so often use ramshackle Victorian places, with their many snug gables and corners from a bygone era. The bar is aversion of the house in storytelling, and it too can be warm or terrifying. In the television show Cheers, the bar is a utopia, a community where "everybody knows your name" The regulars are always in the same spot, always making the same mistakes, and always in the same quirky relation to one another. This bar is also a warm place because nobody has to change. Casablanca (play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, 1942) The story world is as important to the success of Casablanca as it is to the most advanced fantasy, myth, or science fiction story. And it is all focused on the bar, Ricks Cafe Americain. What makes the bar in Casablanca unique as a story world, and incredibly powerful for the audience, is that it is both a dystopia and a Utopia. This bar is where the king of the underworld makes his home. Ricks Cafe Americain is a dystopia because everyone wants to escape Casablanca, and this is where they pass the time, waiting, waiting, always waiting to get out. There is no exit here. It is also a dystopia because it is all about money grubbing and bribery, a perfect expression of the hero's cynicism, selfishness, and despair. 11 But this bar is at the same time a fabulous Utopia. Rick is the master here, the king in his lair, and all of his courtiers pay their respects. The cafe is a big, warm house with lots of nooks and corners and all sorts of characters to fill them. Each character not only knows his place but also enjoys it. There's Carl the waiter and Sascha the bartender Abdul the bouncer Emil, who manages the casino and Ricks sidekick, Sam, master of song. Over in that booth is Berger, the nerdy Norwegian underground fighter, just waiting to follow Laszlo's command. There's even the perfect hiding place for the letters of transit, under the lid of Sam's piano. Ina land of contradictions, this warm house is the home of cool, the origin of hip, embodied in King Rick, impeccably dressed in his white tuxedo jacket, a man who is always suave and witty, even under threat from Nazi killers. But this is a world that lives at night, and the king is dark and brooding too. He refers to two murdered couriers as the "honored dead" This king is Hades. By creating a sealed world that is both dystopia and Utopia, the writers of Casablanca in effect create a Mobius strip story world that never stops. Forever in time, Rick's Cafe Americain is open every night. Refugees still gather there the captain still gambles and enjoys the women the Germans still make their arrogant appearance. It is one of those timeless places that make great stories, and it continues to exist because it is a cozy lair where everyone enjoys their role. Far from being the place where everyone wants an exit visa, Rick's bar in far- off Casablanca is the perfect community where no one in the audience ever wants to leave. Download 0.98 Mb. Share with your friends:
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