Recently I watched Casablanca with a group of other people. They gushed about how it's one of the most romantic films of all time! It's such a true love story!
Let's review the female characters in this film:
1. Yvonne is being passed around from man to man, who take her home for sex and then treat her like garbage the next day. We know basically nothing else about her.
2. The young Romanian woman is preparing to have sex with the police chief, in exchange for a visa. We know basically nothing else about her.
3. Ilsa's beauty is praised continually. She doesn't seem to have ambitions of her own, other than following her husband around or following Rick around. Her only decision is which man to follow around. But even that decision is too hard for her. She tells Rick, "I don't know what's right any longer. You'll have to do the thinking for both of us."
There were no other significant female roles in the film. To recap, the only roles were a French woman being used for sex, a Romanian woman being used for sex, and a woman with beauty and no discernible skills who abdicates the single decision in her life.
This movie blows. I don't know why anyone thinks it's romantic.
Yes, it is touching how Rick puts aside his relationship with Ilsa in order to help the world, because his problems don't amount to a hill of beans. That part is good.
But otherwise it's ridiculous to say that one of the "greatest love stories of all time" is one that represses women to this extreme. Why don't you just say that "one of the best stories about ideal racial relations" is 12 Years a Slave?
Let's review the female characters in this film:
1. Yvonne is being passed around from man to man, who take her home for sex and then treat her like garbage the next day. We know basically nothing else about her.
2. The young Romanian woman is preparing to have sex with the police chief, in exchange for a visa. We know basically nothing else about her.
3. Ilsa's beauty is praised continually. She doesn't seem to have ambitions of her own, other than following her husband around or following Rick around. Her only decision is which man to follow around. But even that decision is too hard for her. She tells Rick, "I don't know what's right any longer. You'll have to do the thinking for both of us."
There were no other significant female roles in the film. To recap, the only roles were a French woman being used for sex, a Romanian woman being used for sex, and a woman with beauty and no discernible skills who abdicates the single decision in her life.
This movie blows. I don't know why anyone thinks it's romantic.
Yes, it is touching how Rick puts aside his relationship with Ilsa in order to help the world, because his problems don't amount to a hill of beans. That part is good.
But otherwise it's ridiculous to say that one of the "greatest love stories of all time" is one that represses women to this extreme. Why don't you just say that "one of the best stories about ideal racial relations" is 12 Years a Slave?
3 comments:
Oh so funny!!!
However, once you've ever been in at relationship w a guy's guy, a man who takes care of and protect you. Who is smarter, richer, more powerful than you, you would be totally spoiled and wouldn't want it any other way!
Ouch! I haven't seen it in a long time, but if your summary's accurate, that's pretty painful...
At the beginning of the movie, Ilsa says to Rick he must secure tickets to America for her and her husband because it is really important. At the end of the movie Rick says you need to go with your husband it's more important than us. So it took a whole movie for Rick to think it was his idea in the first place. Seems pretty sexist to me.
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