Casablanca and "Change"
Something horrible happened to me tonight. I was showing Casablanca to my cousin who had never seen it before. I can recite every line. So I knew exactly what was going to come out of Ingrid Bergman’s mouth when she said, “I wish I didn’t love you so much.” But something shattered and I thought, “Wait a minute, I don’t believe her.” I’ve believed her every single time and suddenly I doubted her. I doubted her and the whole movie was ruined. Forever. Not since I woke up to find my dad putting tooth fairy money under my pillow have I felt so viscerally that I’d been swindled and betrayed. And then it occurred to me: so this is disillusionment.
I’m a cynic and not prone to hope. Reality rarely takes me by surprise. So I’ve been curious to understand what strange fire must burn within all these embittered Americans. Now I know.
All this time I assumed that we are in control of our expectations, that we should know better than to anticipate benefits from a government that could never pay for it even if it were right for it to do so, that we shouldn’t assume that everything must be fair and equal for us all to be free.
Yet some ideas of entitlement happen because we’ve been told over and over that it’s a logical and rational thing to demand. Why wouldn’t characters in a movie do exactly the same thing with every single viewing? They’re trapped in black-and-white for a ninety-minute existence, what else are they going to do? Human behavior creates a much more complex world for us, however, and even people reading a script can do the unexpected. If Rick and Ilsa can suddenly start doing new things, then anything in our environment can shift.
So here’s the problem with disillusioned progressives: they believe in “change” but there are a lot of things they firmly resist changing. (Some giant unfunded programs come to mind.) They believe in “change” but only insofar as it is the correct change (odd considering how they don’t keep track of the money they spend, heyo!). They want fair change, clean change, everyone-gets-the-same change. That’s not how it works, though.
I was upset that a favorite movie was altered. My disenchanted fury comes from the fact that something was different this time. Their malcontent isn’t because things are being altered, they’re just being altered in the “wrong” way. It’s not that it’s different, it’s that it’s not “their” different. Their true disillusionment is with the reality that change is not a phenomenon that only comes from one direction.
The task for us then is not to let change be co-opted again. The task for you specifically is to reassure me that Ilsa did still have feelings for Rick. Comments section, go.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Jun '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Maura Pennington
There are just as many things we'd like to change.
Mostly we would like to change them back.
Sep '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
EJHill
· 6 minutes ago
"I am shocked, shocked to find that there are individual mandates being discussed here."
Jul '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
"Well, there are certain sections of the Republican Party, Governor, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade."
May '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Pseudodionysius, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...
Sep '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
I came to Ricochet for the waters.
Sep '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Voter: "Is this mandate honest?"
Ricochet member: "As honest as the day is long."
May '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
In an updated version, Rick would be seeking out Captain Renault for a health care waiver for Rick's Café Américain. The Health Nazi, Major Sebilius, would try to trap Rick into providing Sam and his wife with insurance, including free abortions and contraceptive choice.
Enter Signor Ben Nelson Ugarte, who has the waivers he stole from HHS couriers outside the Senate Chamber, waivers for everyone inside Cornhuskerblanca... And then Mitt, I mean, Rick, would see Ilsa, his ex-lover who flirted with others back in Iowa and South Carolina...
Edited on January 31, 2012 at 9:29pmSep '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
EJHill: In an updated version, Rick would be seeking out Captain Renault for a health care waiver for Rick's Café Américain. The Health Nazi, Major Sebilius, would try to trap Rick into providing Sam and his wife with insurance, including free abortions and contraceptive choice.
Enter Signor Ben Nelson Ugarte, who has the waivers he stole from HHS couriers outside the Senate Chamber, waivers for everyone inside Corhuskerblanca... And then Mitt, I mean, Rick, would see Ilsa, his ex-lover who flirted with others back in Iowa and South Carolina... · 6 minutes ago
Cut. Print it!
Nov '11
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
I will never be able to watch this movie again without causing friends distress by laughing at all the wrong parts and not being able to explain why.
May '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
The GOP base is unhappy because we don't have a Victor Lazlo. We don't have a Rick either.
Rick gave up everything he had to go fight. So did Renault. Victor had done that over and over, but being the perfect one, he still got the girl in the end.
Romney could play the Renault part, if he would just toss the Vichy water that is Romneycare into the trash. Alas, he won't and the Usual Suspects won't be rounded up: They will be given seats at the table.
May '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
BTW, I am still very distressed Maura, that the movie is ruined for you. This is my favorite movie. Rick is the perfect flawed hero. He is both strong and vulnerable. Wounded he lashes out at Ilsa, and regrets it as soon as he does it. Later, he has the chance to keep his life of means and get the woman back he loves, but he rejects that for a greater calling.
Rick is a man who has lost faith and hope, and by the end of the movie he has that back.
May '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Rick loses material things, even the woman he loved, but he finds his soul.
Sep '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Its the gift that keeps on giving.
Jul '11
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Ilsa: A franc for your thoughts.
Rick: In America they'd bring only a penny, and, huh, I guess that's about all they're worth.
Ilsa: Well, I'm willing to be overcharged. Tell me.
Rick: Well, I was wondering...
Ilsa: Yes?
Rick: Why I'm so lucky. Why I should find you waiting for me to come along.
Ilsa: Why there is no other man in my life?
Rick: Uh-huh.
Ilsa: That's easy: there was. And he's dead.
And here
Ilsa: Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.
She loves him. No question.
Dec '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Maura Pennington:
Yet some ideas of entitlement happen because we’ve been told over and over that it’s a logical and rational thing to demand. Why wouldn’t characters in a movie do exactly the same thing with every single viewing? They’re trapped in black-and-white for a ninety-minute existence, what else are they going to do? Human behavior creates a much more complex world for us, however, and even people reading a script can do the unexpected. If Rick and Ilsa can suddenly start doing new things, then anything in our environment can shift.
Are you familiar with Coppola's The Conversation? The entire plot hinges on whether voices on a tape are saying one thing when one listens in one way, and something entirely different when one's own expectations and biases change.
As for Ilsa, she and Rick both know that their personal happiness lies with each other, but that their personal happiness is a casualty of the war and that they each must do what they can to defeat the Nazi scourge. For Rick, that means joining the Resistance; for Ilsa, that means supporting Viktor in his essential work.
Dec '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
You were misinformed.
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Stuart Creque
Are you familiar with Coppola's The Conversation?
I have but..........I fell asleep during it.
Dec '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Maura Pennington
Stuart Creque
Are you familiar with Coppola's The Conversation?
I have but..........I fell asleep during it. · 2 hours ago
If that was a long time ago, try it again. The entire plot hinges on Harry the Private Eye's recording of a young man saying to his female companion, "He'd kill us if he had the chance."
Nov '10
Re: Casablanca and "Change"
Well that settles it for me - movie night this friday is a trip back to Casablanca.