The Great Dictator and the Power of Film
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Author Archives: Mollie Bowman
The Impact of Entertainment
While I did watch a lot of movies and TV shows before COVID-19 hit, my habits have definitely changed these past few weeks. When I was still at school, I would sometimes watch a film or an episode of a show before bed on a school night and always watch something on the weekends. Now at home, I do try to do as much school work as I was doing when actually at school, but my screen time has unsurprisingly increased. I have not been watching many TV shows – I watched Tiger King with my family and just started Euphoria – but I have been watching a lot of movies. I made a watchlist full of movies that I have been meaning to watch for a long time that I have slowly been working my way through. Some movies I have watched from it are Come and See, Memories of Murder, and The Passion of Joan of Arc. For me, having a watchlist gives me something to do, as well as creating a goal for myself to watch all these movies. It makes me feel as if I’m accomplishing something while I’m basically stuck in my home. I have also been rewatching some of my favorite movies, like Little Miss Sunshine, It, Napoleon Dynamite, and The Great Dictator. I believe that rewatching these films that mean a lot to me gives a form of comfort and stability in a time where everything seems off balance.
I still watch most of these before bed, but much more frequently than I was at school. Sometimes I’ll watch three movies in one day just because I have the time to. I do try to keep a somewhat normal schedule (like doing my schoolwork at the times I would normally be doing them), so that is why most of the films I watch are at night. However, once classes end I know that my schedule will basically fall apart. I watch these across many platforms: Netflix, Hulu, Kanopy, my own copies of the films, and more. As of right now I believe that film, and all forms of entertainment, are keeping people sane as they are quarantined and that many people are starting to understand just how much film and TV can impact their lives. Personally, I have enjoyed exposing myself to new films, but I also love being able to find comfort in my old favorites.
The Power of the Camera
What Is Real?
Human or Animal?
A Film About Films
German or Turk?
In Almanya, there are many instances where Hüseyin’s fears about completely assimilating into German culture shine through. The GIF above is from a nightmare that he has about his wife and himself getting their German passports and then immediately looking and acting just as a stereotypical German would. In this shot, Hüseyin sees his reflection, now with a “Hitler mustache” and not his full beard. Fatma is also shown eating a gigantic drumstick, and in the shot previous to this one, she is in traditional German clothes. This shot in the GIF really highlights how afraid Hüseyin is of losing his Turkish identity. He believes that once they fully commit to being legal Germans, they will completely assimilate and have no connection to their Turkish identity. This is the main driving force behind what Hüseyin does in the framing plot; his fears of identity loss push him to take his family back to Turkey. However, this also asks the question: what makes someone of a certain nationality? Just because Hüseyin and Fatma are legally Germans, does that mean that they are no longer Turkish? Despite Hüseyin’s fears, they cannot be defined as just German or Turkish; they are something new that cannot be boxed into one nationality.
May I Smoke My Pipe as Well?
In Inglorious Basterds, there is a plethora of examples of phallic imagery used to show the power imbalance in different scenes. The scene that the meme above is from is perhaps the most well known instance of phallic imagery in the film. This meme is attempting to exaggerate the phallic imagery in this scene to show how the two men are exerting control over each other. During this scene, Landa is speaking to LaPadite in an uncomfortably calm manner, as he knows that he is about to massacre the Jewish family hiding underneath the floor boards. When LaPadite begins to smoke his pipe, he is attempting to take control of the situation, being the first man to take out his phallic item. During this period, he believes that he can convince Landa that he is not hiding anyone and that he has shifted the power over to himself. However, once Landa asks if he can smoke and brings out his ridiculously large phallic pipe, he shows that he has always had the power in this situation; they are “comparing sizes” and Landa has come out on top. Both of them use their pipes to convince the other that they are in control, but in the end, the man with the biggest pipe wins.
Welcome to Rick’s
In this clip from Casablanca, the viewer is introduced to Rick’s Cafe Americain, which is where the majority of the film takes place. The scene begins with a tracking shot that first shows what the cafe is called, and then moves through the door and into the Cafe. By using a tracking shot in this manner, it makes the viewer feel as if they are going into Rick’s themselves and allows them to be in the shoes of all the people that find themselves stuck in Casablanca. It then cuts to a tracking shot moving through Rick’s that lands on Sam in a medium close up as he sings. From this, the viewer can see the vast amount of people who find themselves at Rick’s. After these two tracking shots, the camera cuts to a man lamenting about never being able to leave Casablanca, then to a two shot of a woman trying to sell her diamonds to another man, and then to another two shot of men speaking who seem frightened by someone talking in a different language. It then cuts to another two shot with two men speaking about buying a ticket out of Casablanca. The camera then follows a waiter in the middle ground, tracking past two men speaking in a different language, and then stopping on the bartender serving a man a drink. The bartender seems almost offended as the customer thanks him by saying “Cheerio.” All of these shots represent the many different types of people who find themselves seeking a better life.
This introduction to Rick’s is vastly important to contextualize the rest of the film. From this clip alone, the viewer understands exactly what Casablanca is: a place of transit that no one can seem to get out of. There is a mix of people from all over the world with the same goal, yet they are still distanced from one another through language and cultural barriers. Showing this disconnect makes moments later in the film have much more of an impact, such as when everyone in Rick’s joins together to sing the French national anthem to spite the Nazis in the bar. Despite all of the refugee’s differences, they are all fleeing from the same regime and can band together against the Nazis. From this short clip, the viewer is able to understand the mindset of those trapped in Casablanca, fully understand the actions that take place for the rest of the film, as well as recognize the vast amount of people who are trapped in this place of transit.
The Man Without the Mustache
The scene that I chose to screenshot was when Hitler enters the theatre near the end of the film. Before this shot, Hitler himself is not actually shown on screen, and is only visually represented by others dressed as him. What I found so interesting about this was that up to this point in the film, Hitler has been referred to and defined by his “little mustache,” and yet when we finally see the actual man, his mustache is nowhere to be seen. In class, we talked about how this film asks what exactly Hitler is, and we discussed the major role that facial hair plays in that. However, the viewer does not ever get to actually see Hitler’s defining feature, so in this shot, we have to draw from everything else in the scene to define who or what Hitler is.
In this shot alone, Hitler’s power and influence is evident by all of the people in the background heiling him and focusing all of their attention on his presence in the foreground. His power is also illustrated by the use of a high angle shot, belittling all of his subordinates and highlighting the idea that he has full control over all of those who follow him. However, this camera position also belittles Hitler himself, just not as drastically as it does his followers. The camera is not immune to critiquing Hitler; it recognizes his power as well as his absurdity by placing him below the eye-line of the camera. Also, in not showing Hitler’s face, the film shows that he has more power as a symbol than just a man; the idea of him is more frightening than he himself is. Like earlier in the film when the portrait of Hitler looses its power once the director realizes that it is just Bronski dressed as him, Hitler as an anonymous symbol of his ideals is more threatening and imposing than Hitler the person. I just find this shot interesting due to the idea that the viewer now has to see Hitler not just as a “man with a mustache,” but is forced to confront the reality of what he stands for and the total control that he has over his followers.