Jay Gatsby v. Charles Foster Kane

Most of us read The Great Gatsby in our sophomore Humanities class. Both Gatsby and Citizen Kane,produced about twenty years apart, focus on a man who some might say is the epitome of success. What similarities and differences do you see? Are these works celebrations or critiques of these men, or somewhere in between?  Or something else?  Do they tell us anything about the American Dream?

Jigsaw Narrative

Multiple narrators tell he story of Charles Foster Kane's life.  We see his life in a newsreel format, in Thatcher's memoirs, and as told by Bernstein, Leland, Susan Alexander, and even Raymond, the butler.  What is the point of telling the story in this way?  Does each narrator give a specific "spin" or have a particular bias?  Does each see a distinctive aspect of Kane's personality?  Is each section told in a different way, utilizing different techniques of filming (such as camera angles, deep focus, lighting, or even choice of music)?  What" bang for our buck" do we get from this jigsaw narration?  Is it equal to or greater than the sum of its parts?

Rosebud

Rosebud is perhaps the most famous symbol in movie history. What is the significance of the name "rosebud?" What is the significance of the sled? Is it the key to understanding Kane's life or just one missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle that does not explain much at all? A meaningful symbol or a MacGuffin? Are there other symbols in the film that are more meaningful or complement you reading of the sled (such as statues, jigsaw puzzles, Xanadu, etc)?

Is Eve a Feminist -- Or Adam's Rib?

The film The Lady Eve has a powerful female protagonist who dominates the action to get what she wants.  She is a successful professional who is good at her job.  She is sharp as a knife, tough as nails, and does not suffer fools gladly.  Some might argue these all point to a feminist viewpoint in the film. Yet, at the same time, Jean/Eve's career is as a grifter whose "professional" skill is to get men to fall in love with her.  She also lets her emotional life get entangled with (and undermine) her professional ambitions (she succeeds, after all, by marrying).  And the film plays with sexist stereotypes about "loose" women with "loose" morals.  Is this film feminist -- or at least sympathetic to feminist ideals -- or is it yet another example of sexist cinema? Or something in between?

Gold Diggers and Social Climbers

The Lady Eve portrays the ambitions and schemes of the lower classes to achieve their piece of the American Dream and the anxieties of the upper class to be hoodwinked and cheated by the lower classes.  Jean Harrington and her con artist partners will lie, cheat, and even feign love to get their piece of the pie.  Charles Pike and his family navigate in a rarified world of expeditions, ocean liners and suburban Connecticut mansions, free of mingling with the hoi polloi, and they flee any whiff of scandal.  Yet, somehow Jean and Charles fall in love and even are happily partnered at the end.  Is social mobility possible in this movie, at that time (1941)?  Can people from different classes find common ground?  Do the well-to-do have a reason to fear the lower classes? What is the movie telling us about the politics of class and wealth?

What You See Is What You Get?

The Lady Eve is a romantic fable. After spending a year "up the Amazon," Charles Pike is swept off his feet and falls head over heels in love with Jean, the sophisticated daughter of wealthy oilman Colonel Harrington.  Later in the film he also falls in love with the Lady Eve, the charming niece of English aristocrat Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith.  Yet, in both cases the woman of his dreams is really a grifter and con artist trying to fool and fleece the young brewing heir.  Does the film tells us about male romantic desire and ideals of the feminine?  Do we fall in love with a person or an illusion?  Can the divisions of class, education and values be crossed for love?  What is the film telling us about infatuation, lust and love? What is the connection between love and illusion?

A Little Bird Told Me

The gossip of the members of his community about his demotion, rather than the demotion itself, is the direct cause of the doorman's downfall in The Last Laugh.  Some of the most expressive images in the film demonstrate the spread of gossip and the resultant mockery of the neighbors: the camera moves to an outstretched ear, the camera follows the doorman along a walk of shame, grotesque and blurry heads superimposed on the neighborhood mock him with unabashed laughter.  What is the movie saying about gossip as a form of communication?  What is it saying about the community that listens to it?  How does what other people think of us influence how we think of ourselves?

Shiny, Happy People

The concluding scene of The Last Laugh depicts the incredible gluttony and generosity of the unnamed, demoted doorman after he miraculously inherits a fortune from a dying American millionaire. He feasts on mounds of food, eating caviar as if it were candy and drinking champagne as if it were water. A tracking shot of the "spread" emphasizes the opulence and indulgence of our hero. What is the point of this ending? Is is a happy ending or a parody of a happy ending? Is this supposed to be objective reality or a fantasy? Is this a cynical commercial ploy or is there deeper significance to the ending?

Tragedy of the Common Man?

When the unnamed doorman in The Last Laugh is demoted to bathroom attendant, his world collapses. At the end of the film he is estranged from his family, fellow workers and neighbors and only the night watchman gives him succor. Is this film a tragedy in the Aristotelian sense (that is, does he fall because of some tragic character flaw?)? Is it an indictment of the society of the time? A study of the inevitable effects of aging? Or, to put the point another way, whose fault is the doorman's downfall?