StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Eco: Casablanca - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The requirements of a cult film are discussed including the idea that the film must be well loved and it must present a completely furnished world…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.3% of users find it useful
Eco: Casablanca
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Eco: Casablanca"

Eco: Casablanca The film Casablanca is introduced as an unremarkable film with average artistic quality but as having achieved a cult status. The requirements of a cult film are discussed including the idea that the film must be well loved and it must present a completely furnished world. This description of the cult is applied to books and other movies. It is indicated in order to achieve cult status, a movie must be fragmented so scenes and events can stand out in the mind as individual series of memories rather than a complete whole while still retaining some quality that indicates the author had little to do with the outcome.

To discuss the film in more detail, Eco introduces his idea of common and intertextual frames. Common frames refer to those events that occur within the film representing everyday living activities. Intertextual frames refer to stereotyped situations based on preceding textual traditions. He also introduces the idea of the intertextual archetype as being those intertextual frames that contain a certain ‘magic’ providing the viewer with an intense emotion and feeling of déjà vu. With these definitions established, Eco proceeds to discuss the making of the film, mentioning how the way it was written even while it was being shot contributed a great deal of the mystery and mystique of the film.

This causes both the actors in the film and the viewers of the film to automatically place their own expectations into the action, adding a sense of ownership and therefore utilizing as many of the intertextual archetypes it could find. It is precisely this wholesale use of the intertextual archetype that Eco claims is the reason behind Casablanca’s achievement of cult status. In analyzing several of these archetypes, Eco breaks down the first portion of the movie as a means of pulling out the major melodic themes (intertextual archetypes) and then applies these to the rest of the movie.

In doing so, he enumerates more than 24 different archetypes that are used. He then moves into discussion of the symphonic elaborations upon these themes, including the theme of purity and sacrifice, unhappy love, Platonic love, the Supreme Sacrifice and the Redeemed Bad Guy. Because of its used of these elements, Eco claims Casablanca is not simple a movie, it is the ‘movies’ combined, making it work despite its unconnected nature and promoting it to cult status. Discussing the structure of the film, though, he indicates that Casablanca achieved a sense of archetypical clichés meeting and having a conversation among each other by accident, while films that followed have worked to recreate this structure in order to become cult films to lesser success.

Films he mentions here include Bananas, Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET. These movies are shown to fail to achieve the same degree of cult status as Casablanca because of the degree of dependence on other information that they rely upon – quotes in Bananas, the unprotected hero in Raiders and the connection between directors and characters in ET.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Eco: Casablanca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words”, n.d.)
Eco: Casablanca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1536669-eco-casablanca
(Eco: Casablanca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words)
Eco: Casablanca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1536669-eco-casablanca.
“Eco: Casablanca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/miscellaneous/1536669-eco-casablanca.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Eco: Casablanca

River flowing through a village - High Atlas mountains in Morocco

After the terrorist attacks against casablanca Moroccan economy was badly hit as the inflow of tourists decreased.... The first direct economic consequences of the terrorist attacks against casablanca are already visible in Morocco's major industry; the tourism trade....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The African Union as an International Organization, from OAU to AU

From the paper "The African Union as an International Organization, from OAU to AU" it is clear that the AU is still in its development stage and it remains to be seen whether the AU can be more successful than its predecessor.... nbsp;The leaders of today's AU were also the leaders of the OAU.... hellip; The funding of the AU is a complex and perhaps a sensitive issue for some of the states as many member states are underdeveloped states....
12 Pages (3000 words) Research Paper

Al-Qaeda Network

This discussion “Al-Qaeda Network” examines the question of why al-Qaeda attacked on 9-11, reasons which should have been understood prior to waging war against this organization or as an excuse to invade a sovereign country that had no ties to this action.... hellip; The author states that top leaders of the Al-Qaeda network were identified as Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahri who was killed in a U....
10 Pages (2500 words) Term Paper

Class Inequality

In the short story by Leila Abouzeid, the author narrates an exchange of views between two cousins – one a high placed officer and the other a poor worker.... The author uses the social backdrop of Morocco to present her story.... The story captures the inequalities evident… the affluent and the deprived sections of the Moroccan society by describing the trappings of the households of the two central characters of the work....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Critical review for movie Casablanca

From Paris to Marseilles, then casablanca With the whole world crumbling we pick this time to fall in love… They had a with fate in casablanca.... Then by train, car or on foot through North Africa in casablanca, French Morocco.... Others had to wait in casablanca.... Victor and Ilsa tried to get out of casablanca by all means, because Gestapo trailed them and Major Strasser has arrived to the city.... The general set-up is clear, but lets add to all this the bloody war, human struggle, nobility, dignity, faith and you will get casablanca - the film that became the genuine classic of cinematograph....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The Movie Casablanca by Michael Curtiz

To begin with it is a romantic story that does not present any essence of uniqueness: There are other movies that have depicted better… Moreover, the movie is basically a based on the re-production of a play that was written by Joan Alison and Murray Burnett, titled “Everybody Comes to Personal Movie Analysis al Affiliation) Personal Analysis of the Movie “casablanca” This is a romantic drama that was directed by Michael Curtiz in 1942; the film is not an all time classic movie owing to a number of issues....
1 Pages (250 words) Assignment

Short reaction on Casablanca 1942

It is difficult to find a negative response about casablanca in the literature.... Such problem is faced by many of us. The secret of why casablanca Short reaction on casablanca 1942 casablanca (1942) is a movie that will never become out d.... It is difficult tofind a negative response about casablanca in the literature.... he secret of why casablanca became even more popular over the years, lies in the fact that since 1957 many cinemas began to show the movie during summer exams, first in Harvard, and then and in other universities....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

What Gives Casablanca Cafe a Competitive Advantage

The study "What Gives casablanca Café a Competitive Advantage?... casablanca café is conveniently located in the sense that it is easily accessible and at the same time convenient since anyone who intends to visit the restaurant can conveniently access it either through bus or the numerous taxi that is available along 3049 Alhambra Street.... The services at casablanca café are impressive, personally, I asked for a coffee latte and within the next one minute my order was already processed and I was enjoying my drink....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us