"...we gotta get something different. Something unusual, something that's easy to say and hard to forget."

Josef von Sternberg’s classic independent film, Blonde Venus, incorporates the trials and tribulations of a woman who is caught up in the glamour of the cabaret stage. Marlene Dietrich portrays Helen Faraday. Helen starts off the film as a stay-at-home mother who has retired from show business to be with her family. However, when she returns to work, she is given the name Helen Jones. In addition to a new name, the club owner where she is employed gives her the stage persona, the Blonde Venus, the film’s namesake. Once she returns to the stage, she takes on the personas that were assigned to her at the beginning of the film. Even though she has a child, she does not constrain her identity to that role. Von Sternberg utilizes the motif of a jungle-like atmosphere to symbolize the chaos that ensues once Helen takes off as a fugitive on the run in addition to the trials and tribulations that she endures. Elements of the mise-en-scene in the scene when Helen hits rock bottom and goes to the women’s shelter reflect a sense of turmoil. The setting, costumes, acting, lighting, and space for this particular scene lend to this jungle motif is present throughout the entire film, establishing great significance for the main character and the storyline.the jungle motif is expressed though the mise-en-scene he creates in addition to giving the audience a look at how the Great Depression era damaged the soul of America. Von Sternberg was surprisingly insightful in creating this motif to signify the complexity of the plotline and the chaos that is evident in the film. He likens the film to that of a jungle-like mentality that is easy to relate and that to which the audience can comprehend.  Additionally, he compares the Great Depression to the jungle of reality in that people must trust their instincts to survive: Eat, or be eaten.

"Here's to lookin at you, kid."

When a person thinks about classical Hollywood films, there is always one film that stands out above the rest. One image, one scene, one movie that each and every individual (even if they haven’t seen the film) imagine if asked about iconic Hollywood filmography. That film is Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Academy Award winning film, Casablanca. The film was made during World War II and is set to begin right before America joins in the fight. This film was made popular strictly by the wartime culture and moral that was spreading throughout the nation.  However, the underlying themes and motivations behind the film make it a timeless film of a century. Even though Casablanca seems to be a world away from the war in Europe, the viewer is constantly reminded of the fragility of secrecy and the sensation of being watched at all times. The audience is constantly reminded of the war in Europe and the German occupation not only in Europe, but in the European territories in Africa as well. The director uses the African front in order to educate the American audience about that front of the war. It also creates a paradise-like atmosphere that somewhat produces an escape from the atrocities of war. Lighting, especially watchlights, are extremely significant to the entire mise-en-scene of each scene that is set at nighttime throughout the film. In the 1943 classic Hollywood film, Casablanca, Michael Curtis utilizes the spotlight and different aspects of harsh contrast to utilize the motif that everyone in the film is constantly being guarded and watched due to the overlying premise of war and the loss of freedoms that are associated with the occupation.

The scenes in which the spotlight is shown on the characters and scenes where low-key lighting is utilized demonstrate the cinematographer’s actions to express the Nazi’s constant evil eye glaring on the characters in the film. Lighting is an essential aspect of the mise-en-scene concept in that it creates atmosphere in a black-and-white film such as this. Casablanca’s use of different lighting techniques to create a warlike atmosphere really spooks the audience and makes them feel as though they are being watched…“Here’s to lookin at you, kid.”

"...What shall the history books read?"

“But in the pages of history, every once in a while, fate reaches out and extends its hand…What shall the history books read?” It seems that in this day and age, people cannot change the course of history. Ordinary, normal civilians lie in wait and watch the world change and evolve without their involvement in contributing to its success or failures. In September 2001, a faceless enemy attacked the United States. Planes were crashed into a tower, the tower collapsed, people died. And there was nothing Americans could do about it. The people did not know the enemy or understand why they wanted to kill innocent Americans. They could not comprehend the enemy that lay in wait across the sea hoping for its chance to attack. In October 2008, the American people watched in awe as the stock market crashed to numbers that haven’t been seen since the Great Crash of 1929. The reason for the plummeting economy? The decisions were made by a few high executives working for big Wall Street companies who took the bailout money from the government and used it to pay for the bonuses of the executives before the company let go thousands of its employees. The American people could not do anything but stand by and watch the country’s government officials decide their fate for them. The world has entered an era in which people feel as though they do not have control of their own destinies.

Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 Nazi-killer film Inglourious Basterds gives the people control of World War II, well in a cinematic realm anyways.  The movie chronicles the idea that ordinary people can change the course of history and change what the history books read. The film is about a group of vigilante American soldiers deep behind enemy lines whose job is to kill Nazis. Simultaneously, a young Jewish girl whose family was killed at the beginning of the film by Colonel Landa, plans to take down the entire Nazi high ranking officers by burning down her theatre. The Basterds also take part in the plan and both succeed in killing the four major Third Reich officers: Joseph Goebbals, Hermann Göring, Martin Bormann, and most importantly Adolf Hitler. This movie gives back to the cinematic audience the control that they need in a time that they do not have control in their own world. Hitler dies in a movie theatre. Tarantino rewrites history in which the girl whose family was tragically killed by Hitler, takes her revenge and kills Hitler and ends the war in one night. Quentin Tarantino’s blockbuster hit, Inglourious Basterds, allows the cinematic audience to rewrite history and control their own destinies when the modern world will not allow them to.   

Even though the events in the movie did not occur in reality, there is a reason for Tarantino’s odd interpretation of history. In this day and age, there is a situation in which people feel as though they have no control over themselves. They do not have control over their own destinies, due to lack of privacy and increasing dependency on social networking sites. September 11^th and these sites make people believe that there isn’t anything to be done. America is being involved in wars where it does not know or understand its enemies. In addition, Americans do not support the war they are fighting nor know the faceless enemies they are trying to win victory over. In a war against terror, Tarantino believes that people could escape on a cinematic realm and give control back to the people to rewrite history. So, let’s rewrite the history books. 

New Beginnings Come From Past Endings

New beginnings come from past endings.
The feelings of nostalgia are frequently prevalent in classic films. Nostalgia is a strategic tactic to get people to think back to the past and revisit good memories. For example, Forrest Gump is a phenomenal film that documents a young man's life throughout American history as he is incorporated into the historical events of the time period. I recently watched this movie and began to think about what makes movies great. And I started to think about what other classic movies used nostalgia to become great. Meet Me in St. Louis is one of the nostalgic classics that most people associate with good memories. The movie was made in 1944 and is set in 1905-06. It was a time period that audiences remembered fondly and through film, could live again. The early 1900's were a great time in American history and most people remembered the World's Fair in St. Louis. The movie was one of the best selling films of all time.

In addition, most films these days stem from historical events, for what reason I don't know. Is it because there are no new ORIGINAL plotlines to begin a screenplay? Or is it that we are entering an era that people don't want untold stories to be forgotten? Well, whatever the reason, historical/nostalgic movies seem to be among the classic films that have ever been made. You know a good movie when you can sit and rewatch it over and over again without getting sick of it. Nostalgia. It's a classic alright.