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DAVID THORBURN: Welcome people.

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I'm glad to see
you this afternoon.

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00:00:30,290 --> 00:00:33,690
We finally make our
transition to sound film.

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I hope that you endured the
silent era with good spirits.

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I think you'll find, as
the semester goes on,

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that even some of the
silent films you found less

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00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,080
compelling when you began
will resonate for you

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00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:47,570
and become more valuable.

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00:00:47,570 --> 00:00:49,550
And my expectation
is that some of you

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will decide, after the fact,
that Keaton and Chaplain,

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00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,060
and perhaps even for some
of you Murnau, presented you

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00:00:56,060 --> 00:00:59,130
with films that were at least
as memorable as the most

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00:00:59,130 --> 00:01:02,280
memorable sound films.

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00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:04,349
But we now move into a
segment of the course

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in which every object has more
than merely artifactual a art

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value, although the artifactual
value of these remarkable films

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is very great.

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And as I indicated
earlier in the semester,

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my hope is to toggle back
and forth in some ways,

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00:01:19,530 --> 00:01:23,220
in each of our conversations
about these films

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00:01:23,220 --> 00:01:25,160
on our syllabus.

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00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,300
To toggle back and
forth between what

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00:01:28,300 --> 00:01:32,530
we might think of as an
aesthetic perspective, talking

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00:01:32,530 --> 00:01:34,210
about the qualities
in these texts that

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00:01:34,210 --> 00:01:39,740
make them artful, memorable,
long lasting, worth

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00:01:39,740 --> 00:01:41,690
something even beyond
the eras in which they

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00:01:41,690 --> 00:01:43,610
were created on the one side.

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00:01:43,610 --> 00:01:46,290
And then on the other side,
more an anthropological kind

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00:01:46,290 --> 00:01:48,400
of perspective rather
than an aesthetic one.

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00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,920
What do these texts tell
us about the culture

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00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:52,110
from which they come?

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00:01:52,110 --> 00:01:54,490
In what ways do the
social, and moral,

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00:01:54,490 --> 00:01:57,050
and political mythologies
of the society

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00:01:57,050 --> 00:02:01,240
find complex articulation
in these texts?

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00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,610
So those are the two
sort of perspectives

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00:02:05,610 --> 00:02:08,750
between which we oscillate.

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00:02:08,750 --> 00:02:11,340
We now turn to the
kind of film that

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00:02:11,340 --> 00:02:15,530
emerges after the
advent of sound in 1927.

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00:02:15,530 --> 00:02:21,230
And we can say that the
period, roughly between 1927,

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00:02:21,230 --> 00:02:25,060
1928-- when the first
sound films began

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00:02:25,060 --> 00:02:30,180
to be made-- and the
era into the 1950s,

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00:02:30,180 --> 00:02:34,880
briefly after the advent of
television, that era is often

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00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,700
thought of as-- often called
by some film historians

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00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:40,510
the golden age of Hollywood.

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And it was in some respects,
maybe in many respects,

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a golden age.

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00:02:44,020 --> 00:02:46,150
It was certainly a
golden age in terms

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of the size and loyalty of the
audience for American movies.

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00:02:51,030 --> 00:02:53,800
And I'll come back
to that in a moment.

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00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,910
What happened of
course in the sound era

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was that an industry emerged.

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A more neutral term for
the golden age of Hollywood

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might just be the studio era.

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Because what happened
in the sound era

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was a fortification
and extension

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of the system that
had already emerged,

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and which we've discussed-- and
which David Cook catalogs very

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fully in the required reading--
a fortification, an extension

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of the system that had
emerged in the silent era.

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The mass production
system that was already

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in place in the silent era
was perfected and extended.

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The principle of the
specialization of labor

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became even more complex
and effectively deployed

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in the production
of motion pictures.

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And in this period, in the
period between 1928 and 1930

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00:03:43,820 --> 00:03:45,750
for example,
Hollywood spent what

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was then a tremendous amount
of money-- $500 million--

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in gearing up for the
transition to sound.

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It was almost as if silent
films became obsolete

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almost instantly.

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Almost instantly.

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And the famous
line from-- what's

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the title of the
first sound film?

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The Jazz Singer.

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Who's the star?

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The theater singer
Al Jolson, right.

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And there isn't very much
dialogue in that film,

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although there are some
8 interpolated songs.

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There's very little synchronous
dialogue, but there's a little.

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And one of the most
famous lines-- maybe

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the most famous line in the
film-- comes at a certain point

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where someone says "You
ain't heard nothing yet",

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00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,660
and the implication is you
ain't seen nothing yet either.

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And it is certainly the
case that within three years

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00:04:43,130 --> 00:04:47,460
there were no sound
films really being made.

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As I've suggested earlier, a
comic and still illuminating

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perspective on this process
of Hollywood adjusting

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to the advent of the
new technology of sound

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is dramatized for us in
the wonderful musical

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we're going to see in a few
weeks, Singing In The Rain.

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So in this era then,
after the advent of sound,

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the movies become America's
dominant entertainment form.

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And in the period
between 1930 and 1945,

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7,500 films are made by
the Hollywood production

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00:05:18,050 --> 00:05:21,500
system, approximately--
almost exactly in fact--

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00:05:21,500 --> 00:05:23,620
500 films a year.

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00:05:23,620 --> 00:05:28,050
Think about the confidence
that this production system

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needed to have in its capacity
to get a return on the number

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00:05:33,630 --> 00:05:34,810
of films that it turned out.

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00:05:34,810 --> 00:05:38,320
And think about what it meant
that the entire society was now

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00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:41,150
geared toward this mass
form of entertainment.

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We can get some measure of
the tremendous popularity

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00:05:43,870 --> 00:05:47,490
of the movies, the centrality
that the movies assumed

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by the end of the silent
era and into the sound era,

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00:05:50,470 --> 00:05:52,280
if we think of some numbers.

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00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:54,790
In 1938, for example,
what we might

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00:05:54,790 --> 00:05:59,410
think of as the central, the
height, the apex of the studio

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00:05:59,410 --> 00:06:02,500
system, of the sound
era, there were

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a total of 80 million
admissions per week

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00:06:05,660 --> 00:06:06,920
in the American movies.

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That comes to something
like 67% of the population.

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Now I'm sure some people
were going to the movies

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00:06:12,700 --> 00:06:14,880
more than once a week,
so it isn't literally

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00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,410
as if 70% of the
population was attending

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00:06:17,410 --> 00:06:19,970
the movies every week, but
it's something close to that.

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00:06:19,970 --> 00:06:22,430
Far more than half
the population

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00:06:22,430 --> 00:06:26,250
had an intimate, weekly,
habitual relationship

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00:06:26,250 --> 00:06:27,540
to the movies.

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00:06:27,540 --> 00:06:30,750
And the form that the
Hollywood system took on

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00:06:30,750 --> 00:06:32,810
was surely, in
part, a reflection

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00:06:32,810 --> 00:06:37,040
of this increasingly intimate
and knowledgeable connection

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00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,900
between a mass
audience and the kinds

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00:06:39,900 --> 00:06:45,030
of movies, the kinds of stories
that Hollywood was pumping out.

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Can you think, for example,
why the broad attributes

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of the system that I've
already described, can you

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00:06:53,350 --> 00:06:56,310
think about why those broad
attributes would encourage

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the development of what we would
call a system based on stars,

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00:07:01,350 --> 00:07:04,270
in which, movie stars, the
names of particular actresses

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00:07:04,270 --> 00:07:08,260
and actresses become so well
known that their names carry

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the film.

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00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:10,176
And people go to
the movies to see

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Gable, or Colbert, or whatever
famous performer, famous actor.

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And there were
dozens of such films,

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00:07:17,390 --> 00:07:18,840
in a tiering system
in which there

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00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:22,350
were great stars at the top,
B level stars below them,

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00:07:22,350 --> 00:07:25,030
C level actors and
actresses below them.

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00:07:25,030 --> 00:07:29,690
And the border between those
were somewhat permeable.

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And an extraordinary number
of people in the society

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00:07:33,670 --> 00:07:38,080
were familiar not
only with these stars

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00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,830
and the particular films they
had made, and would follow them

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00:07:40,830 --> 00:07:43,820
from film to film, but
were all so familiar

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00:07:43,820 --> 00:07:46,490
with what was a partly
mythological and fictional

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00:07:46,490 --> 00:07:50,000
story about their private lives
that the Hollywood publicity

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00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,820
system kept pumping out about
the stars and performers.

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00:07:53,820 --> 00:07:56,100
And what was essentially
created was a kind

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of mythological system in which
the stars were literally--

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for the audience-- characters
or creatures who are literally

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00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:03,680
larger than life.

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00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:07,100
And something, some vestigial
form of that star system

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00:08:07,100 --> 00:08:10,680
still survives today in the
great celebrity stars, rock

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00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:13,070
stars, and some of the
great movie stars of today,

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00:08:13,070 --> 00:08:15,070
but it's on very
different scale.

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And the number of such
recognizable figures

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is much smaller
today than it was

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in the heyday of
the Hollywood era,

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when there were dozens and
dozens of actors and actresses

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whose entire careers were known
intimately by the audience

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and whose work from film
to film was something

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that particular
members of the audience

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would follow religiously, would
follow as if they were members

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of a kind of fan club.

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00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,640
And then the second
aspect of the star system

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was-- coupled to it and
linked to it-- was what

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00:08:47,150 --> 00:08:49,100
we might call a genre system.

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What's a genre?

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A category or a kind of story.

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So the elegy is a poetic
genre, and the western

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is a narrative genre.

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And as soon as we mention
western, or elegy,

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00:09:02,020 --> 00:09:05,340
or situation comedy-- to talk
about a dominant television

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00:09:05,340 --> 00:09:08,730
genre-- as soon as we say
that, a set of expectations

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00:09:08,730 --> 00:09:10,500
immediately enters
our mind, right?

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00:09:10,500 --> 00:09:13,612
We know that there are certain
features that westerns have.

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00:09:13,612 --> 00:09:15,320
We immediately know
when we hear the word

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western what historical
era the story is set in.

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00:09:18,310 --> 00:09:20,340
We know what the
costumes will be like.

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00:09:20,340 --> 00:09:22,120
We can predict what
kinds of animals

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we're likely to see in the film.

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00:09:23,740 --> 00:09:26,310
We can even, if we know
the western genre well,

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00:09:26,310 --> 00:09:30,230
we could even predict pretty
accurately what kind of story

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00:09:30,230 --> 00:09:34,420
we're likely to be told, and
what the rhythms or trajectory

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00:09:34,420 --> 00:09:35,910
of that story might be.

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00:09:35,910 --> 00:09:38,220
Not because we know
the particular western,

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00:09:38,220 --> 00:09:40,330
but because we
know the category.

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00:09:40,330 --> 00:09:42,860
And every western that
calls itself a western

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00:09:42,860 --> 00:09:47,050
is in some sense in conversation
with every previous western.

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00:09:47,050 --> 00:09:48,960
What we're talking
about here, in part,

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00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,380
is a new form of literacy.

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00:09:50,380 --> 00:09:52,300
Or at least not
exactly a new form,

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00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:54,190
but a central form of literacy.

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00:09:54,190 --> 00:09:57,380
A form of literacy that
emerges in popular art

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00:09:57,380 --> 00:09:59,560
when a mass audience
becomes more and more

200
00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:02,280
knowledgeable about the
conventions, and operations,

201
00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,340
and formulas on which
the system depends.

202
00:10:06,340 --> 00:10:09,430
By the middle of the 1930s,
virtually the whole history

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00:10:09,430 --> 00:10:12,570
of the silent era and
all the new genres that

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00:10:12,570 --> 00:10:16,630
were elaborated and fulfilling
themselves in the sound era,

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00:10:16,630 --> 00:10:19,470
were now intimately
known by segments, if not

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00:10:19,470 --> 00:10:23,070
the entire American audience.

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00:10:23,070 --> 00:10:24,940
So to come back to
my question, why

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00:10:24,940 --> 00:10:28,660
would a system that emphasized
the repetition of stars

209
00:10:28,660 --> 00:10:32,000
and the repetition of
genres across experiences

210
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,150
be a particularly appropriate
or useful one for the kind

211
00:10:36,150 --> 00:10:38,460
of system I've described?

212
00:10:38,460 --> 00:10:39,860
What's the answer?

213
00:10:39,860 --> 00:10:41,510
If it's a mass
production system.

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00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:48,460
The alternative would be, to
clarify my question, why would

215
00:10:48,460 --> 00:10:50,940
we not have a system in
which every movie was

216
00:10:50,940 --> 00:10:52,510
a unique experience?

217
00:10:52,510 --> 00:10:56,160
Did not make gestures toward
a whole class of other stories

218
00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,470
to which it belongs in,
which it wants the audience

219
00:10:58,470 --> 00:11:00,000
to compare it.

220
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:01,794
Or that a series of
stars would emerge,

221
00:11:01,794 --> 00:11:03,460
so that every time
you see a Clark Gable

222
00:11:03,460 --> 00:11:05,980
movie, or a Claudette
Colbert movie,

223
00:11:05,980 --> 00:11:11,500
or a Barbara Stanwyck movie,
you associate those performances

224
00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:14,460
in those films with all
the earlier performances

225
00:11:14,460 --> 00:11:16,510
in which you've see-- why
does that system work?

226
00:11:16,510 --> 00:11:17,560
What's the answer?

227
00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:18,350
All right.

228
00:11:18,350 --> 00:11:19,200
That's right.

229
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,650
Because it familiar,
you know what to expect.

230
00:11:21,650 --> 00:11:23,172
It's a branding.

231
00:11:23,172 --> 00:11:24,630
And in fact, if
you think about it,

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00:11:24,630 --> 00:11:27,470
if you want people to shell
out money every single week,

233
00:11:27,470 --> 00:11:29,710
you can understand why the
notion that they should

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00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:32,770
be getting something familiar
might work, might be important.

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00:11:32,770 --> 00:11:34,770
It's possible that
you could get people

236
00:11:34,770 --> 00:11:37,049
to spend all of a
significant amount of money,

237
00:11:37,049 --> 00:11:38,590
or at least a small
amount of money--

238
00:11:38,590 --> 00:11:40,410
in the early days
admissions we're not

239
00:11:40,410 --> 00:11:45,650
that expensive--
for one experience,

240
00:11:45,650 --> 00:11:49,070
but if you expect them to do
it week after week after week,

241
00:11:49,070 --> 00:11:51,070
it's natural that
you would expect

242
00:11:51,070 --> 00:11:53,680
that the system
that would develop

243
00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:58,300
would offer the audience
certain familiar landmarks.

244
00:11:58,300 --> 00:11:59,735
In other words,
the answer-- and I

245
00:11:59,735 --> 00:12:01,610
think it's a very good
answer-- the answer is

246
00:12:01,610 --> 00:12:03,770
that a mass production
system lends itself

247
00:12:03,770 --> 00:12:08,000
to principles of repetition
and economies of scale.

248
00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,130
What's an obvious thing,
if you're a studio

249
00:12:10,130 --> 00:12:13,460
and you make a lot of Westerns,
how can you save money?

250
00:12:13,460 --> 00:12:16,330
Do you have to hire
the horses every time?

251
00:12:16,330 --> 00:12:17,900
Maybe you have your own stable.

252
00:12:17,900 --> 00:12:20,494
Not only that, maybe if you
have a scene of a stampede,

253
00:12:20,494 --> 00:12:22,160
you could use it in
more than one movie,

254
00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:23,630
you don't have to film it again.

255
00:12:23,630 --> 00:12:25,450
And in fact, a lot
of early Westerns

256
00:12:25,450 --> 00:12:27,980
have stock footage
that were put in.

257
00:12:27,980 --> 00:12:31,642
They would film a tremendously
exciting cattle stampede

258
00:12:31,642 --> 00:12:34,100
and they would use it in four
or five different movies that

259
00:12:34,100 --> 00:12:35,420
needed stampedes.

260
00:12:35,420 --> 00:12:36,686
The same with the sets.

261
00:12:36,686 --> 00:12:38,560
They don't have to tear
down the Western town

262
00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:40,250
and rebuild it for every movie.

263
00:12:40,250 --> 00:12:42,390
So in other words, one
could say that there

264
00:12:42,390 --> 00:12:46,420
are economic incentives
that encourage this system.

265
00:12:46,420 --> 00:12:49,680
But this is another example
of that magnificent paradox

266
00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:51,170
that I spoke to
you about earlier

267
00:12:51,170 --> 00:12:54,540
in the term, the paradox that
the crassest of alliances

268
00:12:54,540 --> 00:12:56,940
between commerce and
technology should

269
00:12:56,940 --> 00:12:59,710
be the enabling conditions
of a narrative art.

270
00:12:59,710 --> 00:13:00,300
Why?

271
00:13:00,300 --> 00:13:04,550
Because even though the
origins of these strategies

272
00:13:04,550 --> 00:13:07,300
may very well have been
totally commercial, as they

273
00:13:07,300 --> 00:13:09,400
begin to elaborate
themselves, they inevitably

274
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:10,810
become more complex.

275
00:13:10,810 --> 00:13:13,326
The audiences begin to
generate expectations.

276
00:13:13,326 --> 00:13:14,950
The people who are
repeating themselves

277
00:13:14,950 --> 00:13:17,460
begin to repeat
themselves with variation.

278
00:13:17,460 --> 00:13:19,600
Even if they never
intended to get better,

279
00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:20,520
they would get better.

280
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,490
And of course some of them
are excellent professionals

281
00:13:23,490 --> 00:13:25,890
and they do want to do
a better and better job.

282
00:13:25,890 --> 00:13:28,860
So what happens is the system
begins to refine itself,

283
00:13:28,860 --> 00:13:32,110
even if it begins in the
crassest of intentions.

284
00:13:32,110 --> 00:13:34,650
Figure out a way to save
money and make as much money

285
00:13:34,650 --> 00:13:36,249
as we can, by
giving the audience

286
00:13:36,249 --> 00:13:37,540
the same thing again and again.

287
00:13:37,540 --> 00:13:41,200
If the audience would buy the
same story over and over again,

288
00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:43,310
no doubt Hollywood
would give it to them.

289
00:13:43,310 --> 00:13:46,130
But of course, they have to
introduce variations just

290
00:13:46,130 --> 00:13:47,100
to make a living.

291
00:13:47,100 --> 00:13:48,450
Just to make people come back.

292
00:13:48,450 --> 00:13:52,290
And then as these variations
begin to elaborate themselves,

293
00:13:52,290 --> 00:13:55,800
something complex and
rich begins to emerge.

294
00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:57,730
And this knowledge
that the audience has

295
00:13:57,730 --> 00:14:00,890
becomes what we might
call a form of literacy,

296
00:14:00,890 --> 00:14:02,710
a form of popular literacy.

297
00:14:02,710 --> 00:14:05,160
So there's much more one
could say about this,

298
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:11,530
and I'm being very
abrupt and overly brief

299
00:14:11,530 --> 00:14:13,810
about the way this
system elaborated.

300
00:14:13,810 --> 00:14:18,020
Suffice it to say that
there emerged in this era

301
00:14:18,020 --> 00:14:21,310
a series of recognizable
separate categories of movie

302
00:14:21,310 --> 00:14:21,810
making.

303
00:14:21,810 --> 00:14:29,450
Westerns, gangster films,
various forms of comedy,

304
00:14:29,450 --> 00:14:32,190
various forms of social
realism, certain forms

305
00:14:32,190 --> 00:14:34,610
of historical spectacle.

306
00:14:34,610 --> 00:14:39,490
And other smaller genres like
the newspaper picture, which

307
00:14:39,490 --> 00:14:41,920
is a kind of smaller sub genre.

308
00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:43,920
We're going to see one
example of that tonight.

309
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,392
And so that what
I'm trying to do

310
00:14:45,392 --> 00:14:47,850
over the next couple of weeks,
and especially in this week,

311
00:14:47,850 --> 00:14:51,480
is trying to demonstrate
these principles in small,

312
00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:55,280
by talking today especially
about certain aspects

313
00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:56,490
of screwball comedy.

314
00:14:56,490 --> 00:14:59,460
And by placing that
particular central Hollywood

315
00:14:59,460 --> 00:15:04,090
genre in the larger context
of this manufacturing system,

316
00:15:04,090 --> 00:15:07,630
this mythological system
that we've been describing.

317
00:15:07,630 --> 00:15:11,430
One way of explaining
what I'm trying to get out

318
00:15:11,430 --> 00:15:13,700
when I talk about
these stars and genres,

319
00:15:13,700 --> 00:15:16,190
and the purely
commercial origins

320
00:15:16,190 --> 00:15:20,580
of what becomes a rich set
of narrative expectations,

321
00:15:20,580 --> 00:15:24,830
is to say that what I'm
really implicitly dealing with

322
00:15:24,830 --> 00:15:25,800
is a problem.

323
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:27,862
It will seem less of a
problem to your generation

324
00:15:27,862 --> 00:15:29,320
than it did to
generations earlier.

325
00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:33,260
But it took a long time
before the American Society

326
00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:36,710
began to recognize that the
movies were a signature art

327
00:15:36,710 --> 00:15:40,610
form of American society, and
that if American society was

328
00:15:40,610 --> 00:15:43,210
going to be remembered for
its artistic achievements

329
00:15:43,210 --> 00:15:45,360
in the 20th century,
the movies were going

330
00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:51,100
to be one of the prime instances
of its artistic identity

331
00:15:51,100 --> 00:15:53,090
as a society.

332
00:15:53,090 --> 00:15:55,510
It took a long time for
Americans to recognize this.

333
00:15:55,510 --> 00:15:57,010
In fact, the Europeans
recognized it

334
00:15:57,010 --> 00:15:58,450
before the Americans did.

335
00:15:58,450 --> 00:16:00,270
And one of the fundamental
reasons for that

336
00:16:00,270 --> 00:16:02,190
is that our ideas
about what art is

337
00:16:02,190 --> 00:16:06,070
were inherited notions
that came essentially

338
00:16:06,070 --> 00:16:09,030
from the traditions of
romanticism and modernism,

339
00:16:09,030 --> 00:16:12,340
which lead tremendous
emphasis on pure originality.

340
00:16:12,340 --> 00:16:15,390
On the idea that the work of
art has to be sui generis,

341
00:16:15,390 --> 00:16:16,810
unique to itself.

342
00:16:16,810 --> 00:16:19,090
That it has to grow out only
of the individual genius

343
00:16:19,090 --> 00:16:20,230
of the artist.

344
00:16:20,230 --> 00:16:23,820
Well, this notion of art is
actually a very time-bound one.

345
00:16:23,820 --> 00:16:26,812
It's not really a universal
notion of art at all.

346
00:16:26,812 --> 00:16:28,770
The notion of art that
I want to suggest to you

347
00:16:28,770 --> 00:16:30,080
was a more populist one.

348
00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:34,130
It goes back to Homer and
to the various forms of Epic

349
00:16:34,130 --> 00:16:36,580
Performance, and this
notion of artisan

350
00:16:36,580 --> 00:16:39,160
work-- a communal one,
in which the artist is

351
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,939
a singer or a speaker to the
main parts of the community,

352
00:16:42,939 --> 00:16:44,980
to the whole of the
community, or to a large part

353
00:16:44,980 --> 00:16:45,730
of the community.

354
00:16:45,730 --> 00:16:47,690
And in order to do
that kind of singing,

355
00:16:47,690 --> 00:16:51,590
to do that kind of address,
the singer, the poet,

356
00:16:51,590 --> 00:16:56,390
the storyteller needs to use the
categories and the story forms,

357
00:16:56,390 --> 00:17:00,592
and the language that
is known by the majority

358
00:17:00,592 --> 00:17:01,300
of the community.

359
00:17:04,950 --> 00:17:06,890
The aesthetic for
this kind of art

360
00:17:06,890 --> 00:17:11,109
is an aesthetic of
familiarity, in which meaning

361
00:17:11,109 --> 00:17:14,260
and significance
is generated not

362
00:17:14,260 --> 00:17:17,359
by a shock of total
recognition of everything

363
00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,181
in the text being new or
innovative, but by something

364
00:17:20,181 --> 00:17:20,680
else.

365
00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,819
By the fact that certain
very familiar strategies

366
00:17:23,819 --> 00:17:25,619
are suddenly very,
very slightly.

367
00:17:25,619 --> 00:17:28,500
And it's the slight
variation from the familiar

368
00:17:28,500 --> 00:17:31,540
that generates the significance.

369
00:17:31,540 --> 00:17:34,840
And I'm going to try to
demonstrate these principles.

370
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:36,997
In fact, all of
the clips and films

371
00:17:36,997 --> 00:17:39,080
that you're going to see
over the next few weeks--

372
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,950
and especially in today's
viewing and lectures--

373
00:17:42,950 --> 00:17:46,650
are embodiments or
instances of this principle,

374
00:17:46,650 --> 00:17:47,700
as I hope you will see.

375
00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:49,640
What we're talking
about here, to borrow

376
00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,780
a phrase from the film
scholar Leo Brody, whose

377
00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:55,440
essay An Aesthetics
of Connection

378
00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,610
is required reading
in the course,

379
00:17:57,610 --> 00:18:00,880
we might say that what we're
trying to identify here

380
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:04,320
is an aesthetics of
connection, in which the links

381
00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:06,540
and connections
amongst different texts

382
00:18:06,540 --> 00:18:08,910
or amongst different
performances, are emphasized.

383
00:18:08,910 --> 00:18:12,300
In which the familiar
is a central element

384
00:18:12,300 --> 00:18:13,870
in artistic experience.

385
00:18:13,870 --> 00:18:16,180
Most people love to
recognize the familiar.

386
00:18:16,180 --> 00:18:18,440
It is not the case
that art always

387
00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:20,670
must continually surprise you.

388
00:18:20,670 --> 00:18:23,010
In fact, art that is
constantly surprising,

389
00:18:23,010 --> 00:18:25,170
that makes no assumptions
that you can share,

390
00:18:25,170 --> 00:18:30,670
or that allude to
or refer to earlier

391
00:18:30,670 --> 00:18:34,730
forms of the experience,
probably such a text

392
00:18:34,730 --> 00:18:36,850
doesn't even exist.

393
00:18:36,850 --> 00:18:39,820
Even if the allusion or
reference to ancestors

394
00:18:39,820 --> 00:18:42,440
is one of antagonism in
which the text is saying

395
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:44,700
look how different I
am from my ancestors,

396
00:18:44,700 --> 00:18:46,990
it still needs its
ancestors in some way.

397
00:18:46,990 --> 00:18:51,670
So the notion that a text can
be entirely creatively original

398
00:18:51,670 --> 00:18:55,110
is itself a kind of modernist
and romantic fallacy.

399
00:18:55,110 --> 00:18:57,480
In any case, the
artistic principles

400
00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:58,980
on which the Hollywood
film is based

401
00:18:58,980 --> 00:19:01,190
are artistic principles
we could identify

402
00:19:01,190 --> 00:19:03,700
as populist or democratic.

403
00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:05,050
Democratist.

404
00:19:05,050 --> 00:19:07,490
And they're based on the idea
that the familiar and the

405
00:19:07,490 --> 00:19:10,210
every day can be
transmuted into something

406
00:19:10,210 --> 00:19:13,980
more complex by good
performances, by good writing,

407
00:19:13,980 --> 00:19:16,850
by the creation of
a compelling story.

408
00:19:16,850 --> 00:19:21,220
And that meaning is created
not by a single unique creative

409
00:19:21,220 --> 00:19:24,380
act, but essentially
by a conversation

410
00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:27,510
on communal process, in
which a particular perception

411
00:19:27,510 --> 00:19:30,940
or sense of the world is
juxtaposed against older

412
00:19:30,940 --> 00:19:32,260
instances of the same thing.

413
00:19:32,260 --> 00:19:36,180
And by comparison, one learns
something about where one

414
00:19:36,180 --> 00:19:39,510
is in the particular new text.

415
00:19:39,510 --> 00:19:41,800
An Aesthetic of Connection.

416
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,100
It's one measure
of the complexity

417
00:19:44,100 --> 00:19:48,600
and social centrality of the
movies in the 1930s, '40s,

418
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,705
and early '50s, that we
can find in the system

419
00:19:52,705 --> 00:19:55,280
three separate kinds of comedy.

420
00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,630
It's a measure of its
maturity, by not just one

421
00:19:57,630 --> 00:20:01,650
but three fairly robust
separate strains of comedy.

422
00:20:01,650 --> 00:20:04,690
And this even excludes musical
comedy, the musical film,

423
00:20:04,690 --> 00:20:08,600
which could be said to be
even yet a fourth strain.

424
00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:10,710
Not just one form
then, but three.

425
00:20:10,710 --> 00:20:13,387
And the form of comedy
we're focusing on today

426
00:20:13,387 --> 00:20:14,970
is screwball comedy,
but I want to say

427
00:20:14,970 --> 00:20:16,830
a word about the
other two strains

428
00:20:16,830 --> 00:20:19,820
to give you at least some sense
of where we're coming from.

429
00:20:19,820 --> 00:20:24,940
The first significant
strain that I

430
00:20:24,940 --> 00:20:30,280
would like to mention to you
is what I call anarchic comedy.

431
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,180
It mobilizes something
that's elemental.

432
00:20:33,180 --> 00:20:37,120
An elemental impulse in many
comedies and maybe in the comic

433
00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:40,530
impulse itself at
some very deep level,

434
00:20:40,530 --> 00:20:43,500
which is an impulse toward
anarchic destruction.

435
00:20:43,500 --> 00:20:45,780
There's always, hidden
in comedy, at least

436
00:20:45,780 --> 00:20:48,220
a kind of skepticism
or suspicion

437
00:20:48,220 --> 00:20:50,470
or hostility toward
the established

438
00:20:50,470 --> 00:20:53,110
and the respectable.

439
00:20:53,110 --> 00:20:56,660
And one form that that
can take in comedies

440
00:20:56,660 --> 00:21:00,640
is a kind of systematic
anarchy, in which

441
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:06,730
the large respected
structures of a culture

442
00:21:06,730 --> 00:21:09,620
are systematically-- or
sometimes unsystematically--

443
00:21:09,620 --> 00:21:12,120
disabled or dismembered.

444
00:21:12,120 --> 00:21:15,240
And over and over again, in the
comedies of the Marx brothers,

445
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,860
something like this happens.

446
00:21:18,860 --> 00:21:21,120
I won't mention
titles, but there

447
00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:25,490
are a number of titles-- I
think I mentioned one of them

448
00:21:25,490 --> 00:21:29,680
last week or the week
before-- A Night at the Opera,

449
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,180
which concludes with the entire
set of the opera falling apart,

450
00:21:33,180 --> 00:21:34,060
breaking down.

451
00:21:34,060 --> 00:21:36,590
And that kind of
destructive-- there's

452
00:21:36,590 --> 00:21:38,900
another film that
the Marx brothers

453
00:21:38,900 --> 00:21:42,810
made in which they are
on a football team,

454
00:21:42,810 --> 00:21:45,320
and we see one of the things
that Groucho does in that film

455
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,225
is he gets the ball and
he runs the wrong way.

456
00:21:48,225 --> 00:21:50,100
And he scores a touchdown
for the other team,

457
00:21:50,100 --> 00:21:51,766
but then he keeps
running, and he starts

458
00:21:51,766 --> 00:21:53,000
running out of the stadium.

459
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,990
It was a sense that, the
rules of this games are silly,

460
00:21:56,990 --> 00:21:57,950
let's ignore them.

461
00:21:57,950 --> 00:22:01,290
And so this sense of the
dissolution of boundaries

462
00:22:01,290 --> 00:22:05,610
and the anarchic chaos that
follows from the breaking

463
00:22:05,610 --> 00:22:09,340
down of established
categories and edifices

464
00:22:09,340 --> 00:22:12,510
is part of the pleasure of
these Marx brothers' comedy.

465
00:22:12,510 --> 00:22:14,260
And it even extends,
in some way,

466
00:22:14,260 --> 00:22:17,600
to a kind of deconstructive
attitude toward language

467
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:18,460
itself.

468
00:22:18,460 --> 00:22:21,560
And many times the dialogue
in a Marx brothers film

469
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:26,040
will go nowhere, it will be
able end up making no sense.

470
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:27,780
So even language
itself is reduced

471
00:22:27,780 --> 00:22:30,590
to a kind of anarchic
nonsense at times,

472
00:22:30,590 --> 00:22:34,055
in the Marx brothers films.

473
00:22:34,055 --> 00:22:38,230
An even cruder version of this
would be in The Three Stooges.

474
00:22:38,230 --> 00:22:40,120
The Three Stooges are
a version of this kind

475
00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:41,180
of anarchic comedy.

476
00:22:41,180 --> 00:22:43,320
And there's a final
version I should mention,

477
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,220
a rather distinguished
one in it's own way, films

478
00:22:46,220 --> 00:22:50,170
that are associated with
the actor W.C. Fields,

479
00:22:50,170 --> 00:22:53,090
a gravelly voiced comedian
who often portrayed

480
00:22:53,090 --> 00:22:55,520
people who were
half drunk and were

481
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,610
very hostile toward children,
very anti-sentimental.

482
00:22:58,610 --> 00:23:01,200
He would kick children,
or spit at them,

483
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,910
act as if children were
smelly, annoying things who

484
00:23:03,910 --> 00:23:07,350
should get out of his way so we
could keep drinking his scotch,

485
00:23:07,350 --> 00:23:08,314
that sort of thing.

486
00:23:08,314 --> 00:23:09,980
So there was both an
anarchic and a kind

487
00:23:09,980 --> 00:23:12,820
of subversive element
to this kind of comedy.

488
00:23:12,820 --> 00:23:16,150
A second strain of comedy, even
more powerful and artistically

489
00:23:16,150 --> 00:23:17,055
more valuable.

490
00:23:17,055 --> 00:23:19,700
A very, very
interesting one, which

491
00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:23,090
continues to be influential.

492
00:23:23,090 --> 00:23:26,350
Films from this tradition
have been remade recently

493
00:23:26,350 --> 00:23:30,380
in American cinema.

494
00:23:30,380 --> 00:23:34,250
And this is the strain of
comedy we would call worldly,

495
00:23:34,250 --> 00:23:37,580
that other scholars have
called, it's not my label.

496
00:23:37,580 --> 00:23:40,060
And one thing that the
label intends to acknowledge

497
00:23:40,060 --> 00:23:43,000
is that many of these
directors in this tradition

498
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:44,210
were Europeans.

499
00:23:44,210 --> 00:23:47,800
And they brought a European
attitude, especially

500
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:49,260
toward sexuality.

501
00:23:49,260 --> 00:23:53,360
They were much more amused than
shocked by sexual shenanigans.

502
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:56,150
So one measure of
worldly comedy was

503
00:23:56,150 --> 00:23:59,280
it had a more generous
and a less puritanical

504
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,270
attitude toward infidelity,
toward the body itself,

505
00:24:03,270 --> 00:24:06,920
toward sexual allusion,
and sexual by-play.

506
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,320
They still were not explicit
by today's standards.

507
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:10,980
You didn't see nudity
in these films.

508
00:24:10,980 --> 00:24:12,660
But they were more
open about the fact

509
00:24:12,660 --> 00:24:16,120
that men and women actually
engage in that behavior,

510
00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:19,860
and even sometimes
take pleasure in it.

511
00:24:19,860 --> 00:24:23,590
An acknowledgment that was more
difficult for non-worldly films

512
00:24:23,590 --> 00:24:24,180
to make.

513
00:24:24,180 --> 00:24:25,995
And the central director
of this tradition,

514
00:24:25,995 --> 00:24:28,970
although there were
others, was Ernst Lubitsch.

515
00:24:28,970 --> 00:24:30,910
I put his name up
on the board there.

516
00:24:30,910 --> 00:24:35,260
His dates are 1892 to 1947,
and he made a series of films,

517
00:24:35,260 --> 00:24:38,070
especially in the '30s
through the early '40s, that

518
00:24:38,070 --> 00:24:42,660
are still regarded as classics
of this kind of worldly comedy.

519
00:24:42,660 --> 00:24:45,650
Trouble In Paradise,
Design For Living,

520
00:24:45,650 --> 00:24:48,920
a film called Ninotchka in 1939.

521
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:54,570
A film called To Be or Not To Be
in 1942, an immensely bold film

522
00:24:54,570 --> 00:24:59,840
in which Jack Benny the comedian
plays an actor who impersonates

523
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:00,380
Hitler.

524
00:25:00,380 --> 00:25:04,980
The film is set in Berlin, and
he actually plays as a double

525
00:25:04,980 --> 00:25:05,830
of Hitler.

526
00:25:05,830 --> 00:25:10,300
A very bold film, on a
par-- and intellectually,

527
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:14,070
I think, and artistically
an even more powerful film

528
00:25:14,070 --> 00:25:15,660
than Chaplin's The
Great Dictator,

529
00:25:15,660 --> 00:25:20,390
although it shares
the same ambition.

530
00:25:20,390 --> 00:25:27,460
And these worldly comedies
often told infidelity stories,

531
00:25:27,460 --> 00:25:31,640
or stories, as I've
suggested, that took

532
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,470
a much more benign
and amused attitude

533
00:25:34,470 --> 00:25:38,046
toward our sexual
crimes and misdemeanors.

534
00:25:40,850 --> 00:25:44,760
Both these strains of comedy
are robust and deeply popular

535
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:45,570
in the era.

536
00:25:45,570 --> 00:25:48,900
But the form of comedy
that I want us to focus on,

537
00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:53,520
that we're centering on in this
week, is the most important

538
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,550
of all of these
strains of comedy,

539
00:25:55,550 --> 00:25:58,820
it's what has come to be
called screwball comedy.

540
00:25:58,820 --> 00:26:01,710
And let me say a few things
about screwball comedy

541
00:26:01,710 --> 00:26:05,230
as a category, describe
it a little bit,

542
00:26:05,230 --> 00:26:07,990
and then I want to
show you two clips that

543
00:26:07,990 --> 00:26:10,340
are intended to illustrate
many of the principles I'm

544
00:26:10,340 --> 00:26:12,080
trying to articulate here.

545
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,900
And we'll come back to
this idea of star and genre

546
00:26:14,900 --> 00:26:19,950
in these clips as well because
those elements are also

547
00:26:19,950 --> 00:26:23,120
at issue or embedded in
what I want you to look at.

548
00:26:27,882 --> 00:26:29,340
Maybe I should've
mentioned, if you

549
00:26:29,340 --> 00:26:35,420
were curious about the later
incarnations of worldly comedy,

550
00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:38,310
I meant to mention that
for example in 1998,

551
00:26:38,310 --> 00:26:40,612
Nora Ephron made a film
called You've Got Mail.

552
00:26:40,612 --> 00:26:41,820
How many of you have seen it?

553
00:26:41,820 --> 00:26:42,810
At least a couple.

554
00:26:42,810 --> 00:26:45,590
That's a remake of one
of Lubitsch's films.

555
00:26:45,590 --> 00:26:48,630
And in fact, the Lubitsch
film, A Shop Around The Corner,

556
00:26:48,630 --> 00:26:51,260
is a much more wonderful film.

557
00:26:51,260 --> 00:26:54,270
And it's a measure,
I think, in part

558
00:26:54,270 --> 00:26:56,800
of the power and authority
of Lubitsch's imagination

559
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,240
and the elegance of
his comedies that they

560
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:03,460
continue to inspire
imitation in that way.

561
00:27:03,460 --> 00:27:08,355
What screwball comedy is,
in some ways, a distinctive,

562
00:27:08,355 --> 00:27:11,560
a signature form
of American movies.

563
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,130
It's a unique equation of
Hollywood in the depression

564
00:27:14,130 --> 00:27:15,200
years.

565
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,540
It's derived in part from
Broadway farces of the 1920's,

566
00:27:19,540 --> 00:27:23,270
and also from the slap
stick physical comedy

567
00:27:23,270 --> 00:27:24,320
of the silent era.

568
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,130
It's a kind of
marriage or hybrid.

569
00:27:26,130 --> 00:27:28,010
And remember--
we've already said

570
00:27:28,010 --> 00:27:31,290
this but let me remind you--
one measure of a mature medium

571
00:27:31,290 --> 00:27:34,520
or of a medium that's coming
into maturity-- an expressive

572
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:36,990
medium, a communications
medium-- one

573
00:27:36,990 --> 00:27:39,730
measure of its maturity or
of its emerging maturity

574
00:27:39,730 --> 00:27:43,180
is that forms that used to be
thought to be separate, marry.

575
00:27:43,180 --> 00:27:46,229
Become hybridized.

576
00:27:46,229 --> 00:27:48,520
One of the things I was
suggesting about Chaplin's work

577
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:50,670
is it suggests a new
maturity in the film,

578
00:27:50,670 --> 00:27:54,060
in the cinema as an
institution because it's

579
00:27:54,060 --> 00:27:57,040
marrying comedy and
melodrama, because Chaplin

580
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,120
bring seriousness into comedy.

581
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:02,540
He slows it down, it's not
merely just slapstick anymore,

582
00:28:02,540 --> 00:28:05,510
it's also
psychologically resonant.

583
00:28:05,510 --> 00:28:08,700
Not only can it make you
laugh, it can move you.

584
00:28:08,700 --> 00:28:11,320
That marriage or hybridization
of two essentially

585
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,040
separate forms--
melodrama, comedy--

586
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,430
makes for a richer film.

587
00:28:16,430 --> 00:28:19,910
I'm saying the same kind of
thing about this particular

588
00:28:19,910 --> 00:28:25,630
form of comedy, this
merging of ancestor forms,

589
00:28:25,630 --> 00:28:29,040
of the slapstick comedy
of the silent era--

590
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,770
and of course the slapstick
comedy of the silent era has

591
00:28:31,770 --> 00:28:34,900
its ancestors in
stage slapstick--

592
00:28:34,900 --> 00:28:39,800
and fast dialogue and witty
repartee that was especially

593
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,280
characteristic of a
series of Broadway farces,

594
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:49,200
made in 19-teens and the 1920's.

595
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,520
But the particular
historical moment

596
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,240
in which this form
emerges is also

597
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,690
a shaping factor in
the kind of comedy

598
00:28:57,690 --> 00:29:00,070
and the subject matter
of these comedies.

599
00:29:00,070 --> 00:29:01,980
The key qualities
of screwball comedy

600
00:29:01,980 --> 00:29:05,880
were a kind of irreverent
humor, something

601
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,460
of the anarchic
subversive skepticism

602
00:29:08,460 --> 00:29:11,390
that's characteristic of
many comic perspectives,

603
00:29:11,390 --> 00:29:15,170
coupled with very fast
paced vernacular dialogue.

604
00:29:15,170 --> 00:29:16,900
One way to think
about screwball comedy

605
00:29:16,900 --> 00:29:18,780
is to say it's one
of the first forms,

606
00:29:18,780 --> 00:29:21,750
along with singing
movies, movies that

607
00:29:21,750 --> 00:29:24,060
have singing in-- I don't
want to call the musicals yet

608
00:29:24,060 --> 00:29:26,090
because sometimes they
weren't fully musicals,

609
00:29:26,090 --> 00:29:27,810
although musicals
do emerge at a very

610
00:29:27,810 --> 00:29:30,010
early time-- but any movie
that had singing in it,

611
00:29:30,010 --> 00:29:30,870
like some westerns.

612
00:29:30,870 --> 00:29:32,310
Early western's
had singing in it.

613
00:29:32,310 --> 00:29:32,810
Why?

614
00:29:32,810 --> 00:29:36,210
Because sound had just
come in, it was a novelty.

615
00:29:36,210 --> 00:29:38,090
The screwball comedy
is one of the forms

616
00:29:38,090 --> 00:29:42,930
that exploits sound in a really
expressive and powerful way,

617
00:29:42,930 --> 00:29:45,060
compelling way, because
it's full of dialogue.

618
00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:49,430
It's full of witty, rapid
dialogue, most often arguments

619
00:29:49,430 --> 00:29:52,010
or conflicts or quarrels
between men and women,

620
00:29:52,010 --> 00:29:56,340
dramatizing certain kinds
of conflicts of gender

621
00:29:56,340 --> 00:29:59,050
in the course of the film.

622
00:29:59,050 --> 00:30:00,560
So, key qualities.

623
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:04,390
Irreverent humor, a kind of
vernacular fast-paced dialogue,

624
00:30:04,390 --> 00:30:08,780
a fast physical pace as
well, full of slapstick.

625
00:30:08,780 --> 00:30:11,610
So a physical quick pace
and a verbal quick pace

626
00:30:11,610 --> 00:30:15,670
that are often in competition
with each other to see which

627
00:30:15,670 --> 00:30:19,740
can be more irreverent and
quick and fast and abrupt.

628
00:30:19,740 --> 00:30:24,000
Eccentric, often high born
characters, who are made fun of

629
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:24,970
and mocked.

630
00:30:24,970 --> 00:30:26,460
A lot of the
screwball comedy deals

631
00:30:26,460 --> 00:30:28,390
with the upper social
orders, but they're

632
00:30:28,390 --> 00:30:30,700
seen as clownish or
foolish in some way.

633
00:30:30,700 --> 00:30:33,540
And in many screwball comedies,
the wealthy characters

634
00:30:33,540 --> 00:30:36,640
need to be rescued
by their servants.

635
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:40,530
It's a very modest
form of class warfare,

636
00:30:40,530 --> 00:30:46,152
in which-- again, remember it's
the American capitalist system

637
00:30:46,152 --> 00:30:47,860
that's making these
stories, so we're not

638
00:30:47,860 --> 00:30:51,240
going to have a
Marxist comedy that

639
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,630
says that the government should
be overthrown by violence--

640
00:30:54,630 --> 00:30:59,500
but the comedy is constrained
in certain ways, what

641
00:30:59,500 --> 00:31:02,070
the story's able to say, what
the films are able to say.

642
00:31:02,070 --> 00:31:04,670
This is a matter to which
I'll return tonight and talk

643
00:31:04,670 --> 00:31:09,720
a little bit more fully about
the ideological and political

644
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,440
limits that are imposed
on the Hollywood system

645
00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:15,980
because it has to
appeal to everyone.

646
00:31:15,980 --> 00:31:19,970
I think what I have to say will
clarify these questions in ways

647
00:31:19,970 --> 00:31:22,440
that you'll find very helpful.

648
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:26,614
But for now, let's stick
with screwball comedy itself.

649
00:31:26,614 --> 00:31:28,280
These high born
characters then, they're

650
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,600
criticized and seen as
clownish, but they're never

651
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,380
seen as morally evil in
the way that a Marxist

652
00:31:33,380 --> 00:31:37,310
or a social historian
might regard them.

653
00:31:40,050 --> 00:31:43,470
The stories are often very
deeply improbable ones

654
00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:46,395
that are set among the
irresponsible wealthy,

655
00:31:46,395 --> 00:31:49,550
the irresponsibly
wealthy people.

656
00:31:49,550 --> 00:31:52,465
Often the aristocrats are very
spoiled and hard drinking.

657
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,530
In one of the most famous of
these, a film made in 1937

658
00:31:58,530 --> 00:32:03,110
titled My Man Godfrey, directed
by Gregory La Cava, Carole

659
00:32:03,110 --> 00:32:06,280
Lombard and William
Powell, two of the central

660
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:11,710
to screwball comedy
performers, are the stars.

661
00:32:11,710 --> 00:32:17,810
And there is a scene in a
shantytown by the river,

662
00:32:17,810 --> 00:32:20,140
in which the poor are located.

663
00:32:20,140 --> 00:32:23,690
And the film seems
to make some sort

664
00:32:23,690 --> 00:32:26,230
of an acknowledgement of the
fact that the poor are here.

665
00:32:26,230 --> 00:32:28,720
It's acknowledging the
horrors of the Depression.

666
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,490
But it solves the horrors
of the Depression in the end

667
00:32:31,490 --> 00:32:34,690
by having the wealthy people
build a nightclub on the river

668
00:32:34,690 --> 00:32:38,370
banks to create employment
for all the unemployed.

669
00:32:38,370 --> 00:32:41,530
And it's a very imposed-- and
rather foolish in some sense--

670
00:32:41,530 --> 00:32:42,410
happy ending.

671
00:32:42,410 --> 00:32:46,040
So that film
acknowledges more fully

672
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,830
than some screwball comedies
the actual existence

673
00:32:48,830 --> 00:32:52,830
of shanty towns and places where
homeless people, or people who

674
00:32:52,830 --> 00:32:55,870
have to live under canvas live.

675
00:32:55,870 --> 00:32:58,310
Many screwball comedies
didn't even go that far,

676
00:32:58,310 --> 00:33:02,260
but it solves the social
problem in a characteristically

677
00:33:02,260 --> 00:33:06,730
mythological and magical,
socially incredible way.

678
00:33:06,730 --> 00:33:10,150
Another aspect of these films
is that they foregrounded women,

679
00:33:10,150 --> 00:33:12,230
and this is a very
important aspect of it.

680
00:33:12,230 --> 00:33:15,370
This is partly a function of
the fact that in the 1920s,

681
00:33:15,370 --> 00:33:18,940
the era of the flappers,
a new kind of sexually

682
00:33:18,940 --> 00:33:22,334
liberated woman
begins to appear.

683
00:33:22,334 --> 00:33:24,250
Some of that is an
outgrowth of the fact that,

684
00:33:24,250 --> 00:33:30,120
during the First World War
when so many American men were

685
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:35,510
in uniform, women got new
jobs and were able to work,

686
00:33:35,510 --> 00:33:37,840
enter the workforce
for the first time.

687
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:39,860
And that created
moments of freedom

688
00:33:39,860 --> 00:33:43,080
for women that had never existed
in American society before.

689
00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,880
And some of that is reflected
in screwball comedy,

690
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,400
and in other films as well,
but especially in the screwball

691
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:49,600
comedies of the era.

692
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,200
So it foregrounds women.

693
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,660
And it shows women who often
have a great deal more energy

694
00:33:54,660 --> 00:33:59,530
and freedom than the females
in other films of the era.

695
00:33:59,530 --> 00:34:02,200
Very often in these
films, marriage

696
00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,587
is seen for the first time
as a partnership of equals.

697
00:34:05,587 --> 00:34:07,670
And as you'll see in It
Happened One Night, that's

698
00:34:07,670 --> 00:34:10,960
the ideal of marriage that's
dramatized in that film,

699
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:12,790
one of the two
screwball comedies

700
00:34:12,790 --> 00:34:15,150
we'll be looking
at this evening.

701
00:34:15,150 --> 00:34:19,900
So these films also reflected
the social disorientation

702
00:34:19,900 --> 00:34:24,050
of the '30s, the uncertain
values that were represented

703
00:34:24,050 --> 00:34:25,659
during the Depression.

704
00:34:25,659 --> 00:34:29,670
The fear, in some sense, that
the culture was breaking down

705
00:34:29,670 --> 00:34:33,449
or that the fabric of society
was tearing in some ways.

706
00:34:33,449 --> 00:34:36,100
And so these films
were ironically

707
00:34:36,100 --> 00:34:39,719
simultaneously escapist, because
they were screwball comedies

708
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,040
and they did zany
things, and they often

709
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,710
had ridiculous or improbable
plots and improbable

710
00:34:44,710 --> 00:34:47,080
characters, and yet
at the same time

711
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,270
the anxiety that
they also dramatize,

712
00:34:49,270 --> 00:34:52,409
the anxiety of things falling
apart, of the center not

713
00:34:52,409 --> 00:35:01,340
holding, of a kind
danger to the established

714
00:35:01,340 --> 00:35:05,910
structures and belief systems
of the society, underlay

715
00:35:05,910 --> 00:35:09,200
even the most apparently
escapist of these films.

716
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,340
So there's a subtext
of strong women,

717
00:35:12,340 --> 00:35:16,260
of quarreling and
manipulative men.

718
00:35:16,260 --> 00:35:18,600
And especially, of
course, one of the things

719
00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:21,140
this dramatized for
us were intelligent

720
00:35:21,140 --> 00:35:23,340
and witty women, like
Katharine Hepburn

721
00:35:23,340 --> 00:35:26,500
in Bringing Up
Baby, or Claudette

722
00:35:26,500 --> 00:35:28,960
Colbert in the film you're
going to see tonight,

723
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,540
It Happened One Night,
or Rosalind Russell,

724
00:35:32,540 --> 00:35:37,210
in the second screwball comedy
you're going to see tonight,

725
00:35:37,210 --> 00:35:37,880
His Girl Friday.

726
00:35:40,630 --> 00:35:44,170
And then finally, implicit
in what I've been saying

727
00:35:44,170 --> 00:35:47,060
is that there are
implicit in these stories,

728
00:35:47,060 --> 00:35:49,420
sometimes rising to
the surface, sometimes

729
00:35:49,420 --> 00:35:51,160
just beneath the
surface, but there

730
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:53,220
are as a kind of
hint or anxiety,

731
00:35:53,220 --> 00:35:56,420
are what we might call first
some form of class conflict.

732
00:35:56,420 --> 00:35:59,270
Some sense that the class
structure of the United States

733
00:35:59,270 --> 00:36:00,980
is a problem, that
the Depression is

734
00:36:00,980 --> 00:36:02,330
causing difficulties.

735
00:36:02,330 --> 00:36:04,860
And second, a form
of sexual warfare,

736
00:36:04,860 --> 00:36:07,200
in which the inequality
between men and women,

737
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,130
and the unequal relations
that men and women have

738
00:36:10,130 --> 00:36:14,440
in the society are put in
question, are quarreled with.

739
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,070
In some sense, even mocked.

740
00:36:16,070 --> 00:36:19,130
And in many of these films, the
actress is the dominant figure

741
00:36:19,130 --> 00:36:22,192
and the male character
is the secondary figure.

742
00:36:22,192 --> 00:36:24,650
And even in some of the films
where the male characters are

743
00:36:24,650 --> 00:36:29,040
even more powerful, the best one
can say is that they're equals.

744
00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:31,270
And that in itself, regardless
of what the plot does,

745
00:36:31,270 --> 00:36:33,580
was in some sense, not
exactly revolutionary,

746
00:36:33,580 --> 00:36:35,100
but transformative.

747
00:36:35,100 --> 00:36:36,279
Potentially transformative.

748
00:36:36,279 --> 00:36:38,320
Well, what I want to do
with the time I have left

749
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,420
is show you two
clips, and they're

750
00:36:40,420 --> 00:36:43,500
intended to dramatize
many of the principles

751
00:36:43,500 --> 00:36:44,500
I've been talking about.

752
00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:46,333
So let me rehearse them
very quickly to you.

753
00:36:46,333 --> 00:36:52,070
I'm going to show you two clips
from two separate screwball

754
00:36:52,070 --> 00:36:52,600
comedies.

755
00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:57,320
One, directed by Preston Sturges
in 1941, called The Lady Eve.

756
00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,720
A second, directed
by Howard Hawks,

757
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:01,330
the director of the
second film we're

758
00:37:01,330 --> 00:37:03,470
going to see tonight,
Ball of Fire.

759
00:37:03,470 --> 00:37:06,290
Hawks is probably, of all
the directors, the one most

760
00:37:06,290 --> 00:37:07,970
identified with
screwball comedy,

761
00:37:07,970 --> 00:37:10,200
although as you'll see
tonight when I talk a bit more

762
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,379
about him, he was a master
of other genres as well.

763
00:37:13,379 --> 00:37:15,420
But the reason I want you
look at these two clips

764
00:37:15,420 --> 00:37:19,630
is-- I have multiple reasons.

765
00:37:19,630 --> 00:37:22,750
It's the multiplicity
principle in criticism.

766
00:37:22,750 --> 00:37:25,110
What I want you to recognize
as you're looking at this,

767
00:37:25,110 --> 00:37:28,110
is first the power
of the star system.

768
00:37:28,110 --> 00:37:29,600
Because here's Barbara Stanwyck.

769
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:31,070
At this point in
her career, she's

770
00:37:31,070 --> 00:37:36,430
one of the dominant female
stars in the society, one

771
00:37:36,430 --> 00:37:38,520
of the biggest moneymakers
in the society.

772
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:42,180
And here we see her in two films
that are in the same genre.

773
00:37:42,180 --> 00:37:45,280
Two different versions
of screwball comedy.

774
00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,010
As you're watching,
think about the way

775
00:37:48,010 --> 00:37:51,060
in which the persona
that she established,

776
00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:54,940
the kind of character she
stood for in film to film,

777
00:37:54,940 --> 00:37:58,450
is both stable
but also changing.

778
00:37:58,450 --> 00:38:00,140
That is to say, the
pleasure you take

779
00:38:00,140 --> 00:38:03,360
in watching the two different
versions of Stanwyck

780
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:07,110
is an embodiment of the
principle I was talking about

781
00:38:07,110 --> 00:38:10,080
before, when I said that we
need an aesthetic of connection.

782
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,650
We need to recognize
that it's the familiar,

783
00:38:12,650 --> 00:38:15,420
rather than the completely
strange and new,

784
00:38:15,420 --> 00:38:18,500
that can generate
profound, complex sentence

785
00:38:18,500 --> 00:38:21,090
of artistic achievement.

786
00:38:21,090 --> 00:38:24,480
Because the Stanwyck we
see in these two films

787
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:26,490
is in many ways a radically
different character,

788
00:38:26,490 --> 00:38:28,394
but we can also see
certain continuities

789
00:38:28,394 --> 00:38:29,310
across her characters.

790
00:38:29,310 --> 00:38:33,310
And we can take pleasure both
in what is the same about her,

791
00:38:33,310 --> 00:38:36,260
but even more we can take
pleasure in the variations

792
00:38:36,260 --> 00:38:38,670
she's working on this persona.

793
00:38:38,670 --> 00:38:41,380
So one of things
that is embedded here

794
00:38:41,380 --> 00:38:47,360
is a notion of acting that
emerges in the studio era that

795
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,000
establishes American
acting as something

796
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,820
different from the classical
British theory of what

797
00:38:52,820 --> 00:38:54,040
an actor is.

798
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,090
The classical British
theory of what an actor is

799
00:38:56,090 --> 00:38:59,417
is that the actor submerges
herself in her role

800
00:38:59,417 --> 00:39:01,250
and becomes indistinguishable
from the role.

801
00:39:01,250 --> 00:39:03,430
And that you shouldn't
even be able to recognize

802
00:39:03,430 --> 00:39:04,920
the actor from role to role.

803
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:09,640
The American system that emerges
from Hollywood and from movies

804
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,410
is an opposite one,
in which you are not

805
00:39:11,410 --> 00:39:13,389
only are you supposed
to recognize the actor,

806
00:39:13,389 --> 00:39:15,180
you're supposed to take
pleasure in the way

807
00:39:15,180 --> 00:39:17,350
the actor-- it's
not really Barbara

808
00:39:17,350 --> 00:39:20,990
Stanwyck but the character that
Stanwyck plays, the persona

809
00:39:20,990 --> 00:39:24,620
Stanwyck established is in
film after film after film,

810
00:39:24,620 --> 00:39:27,760
how does that persona evolve?

811
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:31,046
Change in nuances, when
that persona is presented

812
00:39:31,046 --> 00:39:32,420
with different
sets of questions,

813
00:39:32,420 --> 00:39:33,545
different sets of problems.

814
00:39:33,545 --> 00:39:35,630
And what you can
feel-- and this isn't

815
00:39:35,630 --> 00:39:37,560
just true of the
actresses of course,

816
00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:40,944
it's even truer for the male
stars who had more freedom,

817
00:39:40,944 --> 00:39:42,610
there were more rules
available to them.

818
00:39:42,610 --> 00:39:45,880
So people who are interested in
Clark Gable or Humphrey Bogart

819
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,440
could watch these actors across
a range of films, each time

820
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:52,930
not getting the same
experience, but watching

821
00:39:52,930 --> 00:39:56,870
a variation on the persona
that the actor was setting up.

822
00:39:56,870 --> 00:39:59,970
So a new idea of acting,
a different conception

823
00:39:59,970 --> 00:40:04,070
of what an actors job might be
and of how the audience might

824
00:40:04,070 --> 00:40:06,550
have a kind of
literacy in performance

825
00:40:06,550 --> 00:40:08,520
that would enhance
and complicate

826
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:10,510
their sense of any
individual performance,

827
00:40:10,510 --> 00:40:12,490
emerges in this era as well.

828
00:40:12,490 --> 00:40:15,492
And the Stanwyck clips
demonstrate that.

829
00:40:15,492 --> 00:40:16,950
The second thing
I want you to see,

830
00:40:16,950 --> 00:40:19,920
again, same principle,
having to do with screwball

831
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:20,780
comedy itself.

832
00:40:20,780 --> 00:40:22,740
Here are two different
screwball comedies,

833
00:40:22,740 --> 00:40:24,110
look at the differences in tone.

834
00:40:24,110 --> 00:40:25,680
They belong to
the same genre, we

835
00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:28,580
can feel how much they
belong to the same category,

836
00:40:28,580 --> 00:40:31,320
but also how much variation
there is between them.

837
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,150
So the point is, it isn't
a simple form of repetition

838
00:40:34,150 --> 00:40:34,840
at all.

839
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:39,180
It's a form of very complex
elaboration and complication,

840
00:40:39,180 --> 00:40:42,570
in which the relation between
one text in the category

841
00:40:42,570 --> 00:40:45,880
and another text is far
more complex, artistically

842
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:47,990
satisfying, and
rich than we might

843
00:40:47,990 --> 00:40:53,060
imagine if we described this
system in too abstract a way.

844
00:40:53,060 --> 00:40:55,680
So here's the first
scene from The Lady Eve.

845
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:57,420
And let me set the scene.

846
00:40:57,420 --> 00:41:01,980
In this scene, Barbara
Stanwyck plays a con lady.

847
00:41:01,980 --> 00:41:06,360
She's on a ship loaded
with wealthy aristocrats,

848
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:09,740
wealthy American businessmen,
and she and her partner

849
00:41:09,740 --> 00:41:11,930
are trying to goal
them out of money.

850
00:41:11,930 --> 00:41:13,700
And she's sitting
at dinner trying

851
00:41:13,700 --> 00:41:16,700
to pick out a guy that is
going to become her mark,

852
00:41:16,700 --> 00:41:20,090
played by the great American
comic and serious actor

853
00:41:20,090 --> 00:41:20,910
Henry Fonda.

854
00:41:20,910 --> 00:41:23,802
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

855
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:34,410
DAVID THORBURN:
He's very wealthy.

856
00:41:34,410 --> 00:41:36,700
Everybody knows
he's very wealthy.

857
00:41:36,700 --> 00:41:40,520
He's the son of a beer
magnate, an ale magnate.

858
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:43,890
He's sitting down in the dining
hall of this cruise ship.

859
00:41:43,890 --> 00:41:49,110
And all the fortune
hunting women

860
00:41:49,110 --> 00:41:51,967
who are there wanting to marry
rich men are staring at him.

861
00:42:04,404 --> 00:42:05,856
-Not good enough.

862
00:42:05,856 --> 00:42:06,614
-What did you say?

863
00:42:06,614 --> 00:42:08,280
-I said they're not
good enough for him.

864
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:10,170
Every Jane is giving
him the thermometer,

865
00:42:10,170 --> 00:42:12,762
and he feels they're
just a waste of time.

866
00:42:12,762 --> 00:42:16,530
He's returning to his book,
he's deeply immersed in it.

867
00:42:16,530 --> 00:42:18,780
He sees no one except--
watch his head turn

868
00:42:18,780 --> 00:42:20,230
when that kid goes by.

869
00:42:20,230 --> 00:42:21,565
Won't do you any good, dear.

870
00:42:21,565 --> 00:42:23,580
He's a bookworm, but
swing them anyway.

871
00:42:23,580 --> 00:42:25,700
Oh, now how about this one?

872
00:42:25,700 --> 00:42:28,245
How would you like that
hanging on your Christmas tree?

873
00:42:28,245 --> 00:42:28,953
Oh, you wouldn't?

874
00:42:28,953 --> 00:42:32,057
Well, what is your
weakness brother?

875
00:42:32,057 --> 00:42:33,640
DAVID THORBURN: So
Stanwyck has become

876
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,134
the narrator of this scene.

877
00:42:36,134 --> 00:42:38,300
But see what intelligence
she shows, what knowledge.

878
00:42:42,248 --> 00:42:45,092
-Look at that girl
over to his left.

879
00:42:45,092 --> 00:42:47,310
Look over to your
left, bookworm.

880
00:42:47,310 --> 00:42:49,040
There's a girl pining for you.

881
00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:50,880
A little further.

882
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:52,730
Just a little further.

883
00:42:52,730 --> 00:42:53,590
There.

884
00:42:53,590 --> 00:42:54,870
Wasn't that worth looking for?

885
00:42:54,870 --> 00:42:56,828
See those nice store
teeth, all beaming at you.

886
00:42:56,828 --> 00:42:58,000
Well, she recognises you.

887
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:00,146
She up, she's down, she
can't make up her mind.

888
00:43:00,146 --> 00:43:00,770
She's up again.

889
00:43:00,770 --> 00:43:02,811
DAVID THORBURN: I hope
you see how brilliant this

890
00:43:02,811 --> 00:43:04,210
is because look
in her hand here,

891
00:43:04,210 --> 00:43:05,365
we're looking at this
through the mirror

892
00:43:05,365 --> 00:43:06,650
as she's narrating it to us.

893
00:43:06,650 --> 00:43:08,775
-Went to manual training
school with in Louisville?

894
00:43:08,775 --> 00:43:09,650
Oh, you're not?

895
00:43:09,650 --> 00:43:11,400
Well, you certainly
look exactly like him,

896
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:13,105
it's certainly a
remarkable resemblance.

897
00:43:13,105 --> 00:43:14,450
But if you're not going
to ask me to sit down,

898
00:43:14,450 --> 00:43:16,491
I suppose you're not going
to ask me to sit down.

899
00:43:16,491 --> 00:43:18,114
I'm very sorry, I
certainly hope I

900
00:43:18,114 --> 00:43:20,280
haven't caused you any
embarrassment, you so-and-so.

901
00:43:22,902 --> 00:43:24,830
I wonder if my
tie's on straight.

902
00:43:24,830 --> 00:43:26,890
I certainly upset them, don't I?

903
00:43:26,890 --> 00:43:28,850
Now who else is after me.

904
00:43:28,850 --> 00:43:30,820
Ah, the lady champion wrestler.

905
00:43:30,820 --> 00:43:32,530
Wouldn't she make a houseful?

906
00:43:32,530 --> 00:43:33,780
Oh, you don't like her either?

907
00:43:33,780 --> 00:43:35,360
Well, what are going
to do about it?

908
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:36,860
Oh, you just can't
stand it anymore.

909
00:43:36,860 --> 00:43:38,610
You're leaving, these
women don't give you

910
00:43:38,610 --> 00:43:39,750
a moment's peace, do they?

911
00:43:39,750 --> 00:43:40,500
Well, go ahead.

912
00:43:40,500 --> 00:43:41,930
Go sulk in your cabin.

913
00:43:41,930 --> 00:43:43,430
Go soak your head
and see if I care.

914
00:43:47,374 --> 00:43:48,360
-Very sorry, sir.

915
00:43:59,476 --> 00:44:01,100
-Why don't you look
where you're going?

916
00:44:01,100 --> 00:44:01,890
-Why don't I look?

917
00:44:01,890 --> 00:44:03,566
-Look what you did to my shoe,
you knocked the heel off.

918
00:44:03,566 --> 00:44:04,065
-Oh, I did?

919
00:44:04,065 --> 00:44:05,230
Well, I'm certainly sorry.

920
00:44:05,230 --> 00:44:07,120
-You did, and you can just
take me right down to my cabin

921
00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:08,328
for another pair of slippers.

922
00:44:08,328 --> 00:44:09,400
-Oh, well certainly.

923
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:10,070
It's the least I can do.

924
00:44:10,070 --> 00:44:11,200
By the way, my name's Pike.

925
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:12,160
-Oh, everybody knows that.

926
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:13,400
Nobody's talking
about anything else.

927
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:14,620
This is my father
Colonel Harrington.

928
00:44:14,620 --> 00:44:16,161
My name is Gene,
it's really Eugenia.

929
00:44:16,161 --> 00:44:17,992
Come on.

930
00:44:17,992 --> 00:44:19,800
[END PLAYBACK]

931
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,300
DAVID THORBURN: I
hope you recognize

932
00:44:21,300 --> 00:44:24,090
the tremendous
intelligence and wit that

933
00:44:24,090 --> 00:44:25,407
was embedded in that dialogue.

934
00:44:25,407 --> 00:44:26,490
That was a little too low.

935
00:44:26,490 --> 00:44:28,340
What is revealed
about that character,

936
00:44:28,340 --> 00:44:31,390
dramatized about that character,
in that opening scene,

937
00:44:31,390 --> 00:44:33,740
tells us almost everything
we need to know about her.

938
00:44:33,740 --> 00:44:36,320
Not everything, but
almost everything.

939
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:38,820
And you can feel
the energy, the wit.

940
00:44:38,820 --> 00:44:41,320
And of course, who's in
control of that scene?

941
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:43,410
Not the man, but the woman.

942
00:44:43,410 --> 00:44:47,570
Now let's look at another
scene from Howard Hawks

943
00:44:47,570 --> 00:44:49,110
film, Ball of Fire.

944
00:44:49,110 --> 00:44:52,120
The basic situation is Gary
Cooper, the man in the middle

945
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:55,640
here, this fellow Gary
Cooper is the head

946
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,640
of a consortium of
scholars who are compiling

947
00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:00,610
a dictionary of the
English language,

948
00:45:00,610 --> 00:45:05,620
with special emphasis on
colloquial or slang English.

949
00:45:05,620 --> 00:45:10,384
And earlier in the film, Gary
Cooper went to a nightclub.

950
00:45:10,384 --> 00:45:12,800
And he saw the Barbara Stanwyck
character, who is actually

951
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:18,030
the mistress of a mob boss,
do a song and dance number.

952
00:45:18,030 --> 00:45:19,990
He spoke to her,
he interviewed her,

953
00:45:19,990 --> 00:45:22,240
and he became very excited
by what she represented.

954
00:45:22,240 --> 00:45:26,640
By the linguistic resources,
the verbal realities

955
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:30,490
of the American language
that he'd been oblivious to.

956
00:45:30,490 --> 00:45:32,660
And he wants her to
contribute to his project.

957
00:45:32,660 --> 00:45:34,300
She's not interested.

958
00:45:34,300 --> 00:45:39,680
When she shows up at the lair
of the men of the scholars,

959
00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:44,120
when she invades the
nest of scholars,

960
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,640
she does it because--
although you don't know that

961
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:49,201
from seeing this clip,
but viewers of the film

962
00:45:49,201 --> 00:45:51,200
would know it-- because
she's really on the run.

963
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:54,160
She's afraid that her
boyfriend, the mob boss,

964
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:55,680
is going to bump her off.

965
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:57,030
So she needs to hide out.

966
00:45:57,030 --> 00:45:58,910
And that's really
why she's come here.

967
00:45:58,910 --> 00:45:59,430
All right.

968
00:45:59,430 --> 00:46:02,290
So here is this scene
from Ball of Fire.

969
00:46:02,290 --> 00:46:03,490
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]

970
00:46:03,490 --> 00:46:04,620
-Have I missed anything?

971
00:46:04,620 --> 00:46:06,820
-No, I was just
about to explain.

972
00:46:06,820 --> 00:46:09,090
You see the word
puss means face.

973
00:46:09,090 --> 00:46:12,590
As for instance, sour
puss, pickle puss.

974
00:46:12,590 --> 00:46:16,550
Sugar puss implies a certain
sweetness in her appearance.

975
00:46:16,550 --> 00:46:18,460
-Never mind the
etymology, was she--

976
00:46:18,460 --> 00:46:19,800
-Was she blonde or brunette?

977
00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:21,140
-Yes, which?

978
00:46:21,140 --> 00:46:22,710
-That I don't know,
I didn't notice.

979
00:46:22,710 --> 00:46:25,205
But her vocabulary, even
an ordinary conversation--

980
00:46:25,205 --> 00:46:26,840
-Oh, you spoke to her?

981
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:27,340
-Yes.

982
00:46:27,340 --> 00:46:27,705
In her dressing room--

983
00:46:27,705 --> 00:46:28,800
-In her dressing room?

984
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:29,300
-Backstage?

985
00:46:29,300 --> 00:46:31,820
-Yes.

986
00:46:31,820 --> 00:46:36,135
Unfortunately, she disclaimed
any interest in our project,

987
00:46:36,135 --> 00:46:39,030
in words so bizarre they
made my mouth water.

988
00:46:39,030 --> 00:46:40,885
Shove in your
clutch, for instance.

989
00:46:40,885 --> 00:46:42,020
-It's amazing.

990
00:46:42,020 --> 00:46:44,270
-Potts, could you tell us,
what was it like backstage?

991
00:46:44,270 --> 00:46:45,750
-Very vivacious, I imagine.

992
00:46:45,750 --> 00:46:52,070
-Perhaps ballerinas giggling
up and down iron stair cases?

993
00:46:52,070 --> 00:46:53,610
-Possibly wearing tights?

994
00:46:55,534 --> 00:46:57,200
DAVID THORBURN: I
hope you're picking up

995
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,530
the subtext that these
old men are revealing.

996
00:47:03,450 --> 00:47:05,476
-It's getting a
bit late gentlemen.

997
00:47:05,476 --> 00:47:07,408
Perhaps we had
better get to bed.

998
00:47:16,585 --> 00:47:18,340
-Someday I'll tell
you my experiences

999
00:47:18,340 --> 00:47:20,340
with a young actress
named Lillian Russel.

1000
00:47:20,340 --> 00:47:22,010
-Did you know her?

1001
00:47:22,010 --> 00:47:24,146
-I stood in the snow
four hours to get--

1002
00:47:24,146 --> 00:47:26,470
-Is that our doorbell?

1003
00:47:26,470 --> 00:47:27,910
But it's 12:25!

1004
00:47:27,910 --> 00:47:32,720
-Oh, must be the statistics
on San Salvador saltpeter.

1005
00:47:32,720 --> 00:47:33,950
I asked for it to be sent--

1006
00:47:33,950 --> 00:47:36,158
DAVID THORBURN: Did anyone
pick up on the joke there?

1007
00:47:36,158 --> 00:47:39,800
Why is there a joke in
reference to saltpeter?

1008
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:43,610
It's used in the army to keep
men from getting too horny.

1009
00:47:43,610 --> 00:47:45,800
It damps down your
sexual energies,

1010
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:48,150
and he's writing an
article about saltpeter.

1011
00:47:55,410 --> 00:47:58,240
-Hi-DE-ho!

1012
00:47:58,240 --> 00:48:00,584
Don't tell me I'm
too late for class.

1013
00:48:00,584 --> 00:48:03,024
-Oh my goodness gracious me.

1014
00:48:03,024 --> 00:48:04,839
-What is that?

1015
00:48:04,839 --> 00:48:06,880
DAVID THORBURN: I don't
know what scholar came up

1016
00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:09,410
with this brilliant
description, but there's

1017
00:48:09,410 --> 00:48:13,820
a kind of convention
now among Capra's fans,

1018
00:48:13,820 --> 00:48:17,412
and fans of this movie, to refer
to this scene as the Snow White

1019
00:48:17,412 --> 00:48:18,370
and Seven Dwarfs scene.

1020
00:48:21,660 --> 00:48:22,760
-Those are my colleagues.

1021
00:48:22,760 --> 00:48:24,200
-Oh!

1022
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:26,140
-I must apologize for
their lack of costume.

1023
00:48:26,140 --> 00:48:28,680
-Oh, that's all right professor.

1024
00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:29,990
-I haven't got my tie on.

1025
00:48:29,990 --> 00:48:34,840
-Oh, you know once I watched
my big brother shave.

1026
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:36,146
-Would you come in?

1027
00:48:36,146 --> 00:48:37,930
-Why not?

1028
00:48:37,930 --> 00:48:41,090
-Frankly, your coming here
was the last thing I expected.

1029
00:48:41,090 --> 00:48:42,345
Your no was so explicit.

1030
00:48:42,345 --> 00:48:44,555
-Well, I got thinking
it over, and I

1031
00:48:44,555 --> 00:48:46,680
said to myself, who am I
to give science the brush?

1032
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:48,255
-And I take it
you've reconsidered?

1033
00:48:48,255 --> 00:48:49,380
-Yeah, that's the big idea.

1034
00:48:52,747 --> 00:48:54,671
-Oh dear, oh dear.

1035
00:48:54,671 --> 00:48:57,570
-Look out.

1036
00:48:57,570 --> 00:48:59,180
-That was Professor Oddly.

1037
00:48:59,180 --> 00:49:00,920
-Anymore of them around?

1038
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:03,170
-I hope not.

1039
00:49:03,170 --> 00:49:05,080
-Hey, who decorated this place?

1040
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:07,470
The mug that shot Lincoln?

1041
00:49:07,470 --> 00:49:09,040
-This is our work room.

1042
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:11,290
The living quarters
are upstairs.

1043
00:49:11,290 --> 00:49:12,870
-Whee, that's a lot of books.

1044
00:49:12,870 --> 00:49:14,010
All of them different?

1045
00:49:14,010 --> 00:49:15,680
-I trust.

1046
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:16,660
May I have your coat?

1047
00:49:16,660 --> 00:49:17,400
-Yeah, thanks.

1048
00:49:23,510 --> 00:49:24,460
Oh, Greek philosophy.

1049
00:49:24,460 --> 00:49:27,660
I've got a set like this
with a radio inside.

1050
00:49:27,660 --> 00:49:29,430
-Are you sure you
don't want your coat?

1051
00:49:29,430 --> 00:49:30,820
-No, I'm fine.

1052
00:49:30,820 --> 00:49:33,055
Except I've got a
run in this stocking.

1053
00:49:33,055 --> 00:49:34,510
Well how do we start, professor?

1054
00:49:34,510 --> 00:49:36,134
You see, this is the
first time anybody

1055
00:49:36,134 --> 00:49:38,380
has moved in on
my brain Have you

1056
00:49:38,380 --> 00:49:41,490
got some kind of a machine, an
x-ray or a vacuum cleaner maybe

1057
00:49:41,490 --> 00:49:43,035
that's out the words you want?

1058
00:49:43,035 --> 00:49:44,930
What's your method, professor?

1059
00:49:44,930 --> 00:49:46,280
-Well, it's quite simple.

1060
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:48,654
If you'll be here tomorrow
morning, not later than 9:30--

1061
00:49:48,654 --> 00:49:49,510
-Tomorrow morning?

1062
00:49:49,510 --> 00:49:50,510
-Well, yes.

1063
00:49:50,510 --> 00:49:52,410
I've arranged a
roundtable discussion

1064
00:49:52,410 --> 00:49:55,510
with a few people of
various backgrounds.

1065
00:49:55,510 --> 00:49:59,934
-You, you don't think we could
begin the begin right now?

1066
00:49:59,934 --> 00:50:02,450
-Well, it's nearly
one o'clock Miss--

1067
00:50:02,450 --> 00:50:03,340
-Oh, fool professor.

1068
00:50:03,340 --> 00:50:05,410
Let's get ourselves a couple of
drinks, light the fire maybe,

1069
00:50:05,410 --> 00:50:07,300
and you can start
working on me right way.

1070
00:50:07,300 --> 00:50:10,100
-I wouldn't think of imposing
upon you at this hour.

1071
00:50:10,100 --> 00:50:13,700
-Listen, I figured
I'm working all night.

1072
00:50:13,700 --> 00:50:15,410
-Any hasty, random
discussion would

1073
00:50:15,410 --> 00:50:16,980
be of no scientific value.

1074
00:50:16,980 --> 00:50:19,200
You see, I have to have my
notes thoroughly prepared

1075
00:50:19,200 --> 00:50:21,890
for the seminar tomorrow.

1076
00:50:21,890 --> 00:50:22,390
-OK.

1077
00:50:22,390 --> 00:50:24,570
Where do I sleep?

1078
00:50:24,570 --> 00:50:26,070
-I don't know,
where do you live?

1079
00:50:26,070 --> 00:50:28,012
-Up on riverside, but
I'm going to sleep here.

1080
00:50:28,012 --> 00:50:29,338
-Here?

1081
00:50:29,338 --> 00:50:31,530
Oh, you don't
understand Ms. O'Shea.

1082
00:50:31,530 --> 00:50:34,200
We're all bachelors, with the
exception of Professor Oddly

1083
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:35,220
who is a widower.

1084
00:50:35,220 --> 00:50:38,620
Why, no woman ever--
even Ms Bragg,

1085
00:50:38,620 --> 00:50:42,450
who takes care of our needs--
goes home every night at 7:30.

1086
00:50:42,450 --> 00:50:44,500
-If you want me tomorrow
morning at 9:30--

1087
00:50:44,500 --> 00:50:46,330
-Oh, I do Ms. O'Shea.

1088
00:50:46,330 --> 00:50:53,860
But even the most free-thinking
people must respect the--

1089
00:50:53,860 --> 00:50:54,380
-All right.

1090
00:50:54,380 --> 00:50:55,820
Feel that.

1091
00:50:55,820 --> 00:50:59,530
Go on, feel that foot.

1092
00:50:59,530 --> 00:51:02,050
OK, tootsie bell,
what do you say?

1093
00:51:02,050 --> 00:51:02,645
-It's cold.

1094
00:51:02,645 --> 00:51:05,734
-It's cold and it's wet.

1095
00:51:05,734 --> 00:51:06,696
Now, come here.

1096
00:51:09,582 --> 00:51:10,544
Come here.

1097
00:51:13,930 --> 00:51:16,780
Closer.

1098
00:51:16,780 --> 00:51:18,700
Closer.

1099
00:51:18,700 --> 00:51:20,820
Oh, come on, give.

1100
00:51:20,820 --> 00:51:21,815
Hello kids.

1101
00:51:21,815 --> 00:51:23,430
Look down my throat.

1102
00:51:23,430 --> 00:51:25,030
Go on, look down.

1103
00:51:25,030 --> 00:51:27,050
All right. [MUMBLING]

1104
00:51:27,050 --> 00:51:28,845
-I don't know what to look for.

1105
00:51:28,845 --> 00:51:31,720
-There is possibly
a slight rosiness

1106
00:51:31,720 --> 00:51:33,300
in the laryngeal region.

1107
00:51:33,300 --> 00:51:34,840
-Slight rosiness?

1108
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:37,270
It is as red as the Daily
Worker and just as sore.

1109
00:51:37,270 --> 00:51:37,865
Who are you?

1110
00:51:37,865 --> 00:51:39,240
DAVID THORBURN:
The Daily Worker.

1111
00:51:39,240 --> 00:51:40,240
Red as the Daily Worker.

1112
00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:42,036
Did you get that?

1113
00:51:42,036 --> 00:51:42,892
No?

1114
00:51:42,892 --> 00:51:45,017
The Daily Worker is a
communist newspaper,

1115
00:51:45,017 --> 00:51:47,100
so when she says "it's as
red as The Daily Worker,

1116
00:51:47,100 --> 00:51:49,680
she's making a rather
witty joke, especially

1117
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:51,912
for a gunman's maul.

1118
00:51:51,912 --> 00:51:52,834
-Oh.

1119
00:51:52,834 --> 00:51:54,678
-Professor Robinson, Law.

1120
00:51:54,678 --> 00:51:55,570
Professor--

1121
00:51:55,570 --> 00:51:56,070
-Ah, ah, ah.

1122
00:51:56,070 --> 00:51:56,570
Not so fast.

1123
00:51:56,570 --> 00:51:58,700
Just let it creep up on me.

1124
00:51:58,700 --> 00:52:00,180
I'll get to know them.

1125
00:52:00,180 --> 00:52:02,430
Come here physiology, for
all I know I've got a fever.

1126
00:52:02,430 --> 00:52:03,490
Feel.

1127
00:52:03,490 --> 00:52:04,320
-It's possible.

1128
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:04,820
-Certainly.

1129
00:52:04,820 --> 00:52:07,410
And he wants to throw
me out on my tin.

1130
00:52:07,410 --> 00:52:09,970
There'll be no 9:30 for me if
you make me go out in the rain

1131
00:52:09,970 --> 00:52:10,470
now.

1132
00:52:10,470 --> 00:52:11,300
-Naturally not.

1133
00:52:11,300 --> 00:52:13,860
-With the streets cold, and the
subway hot and full of germs?

1134
00:52:13,860 --> 00:52:14,450
-Oh.

1135
00:52:14,450 --> 00:52:16,780
I'm a pushover
for streptococcus.

1136
00:52:16,780 --> 00:52:20,320
Can I have this now, kid?

1137
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:21,970
-We'll call you a
taxi, and furnish you

1138
00:52:21,970 --> 00:52:24,010
with woolen socks
and warm slippers.

1139
00:52:24,010 --> 00:52:25,930
-Really, I don't
understand you Potts.

1140
00:52:25,930 --> 00:52:28,410
Why take chance with
valuable material?

1141
00:52:28,410 --> 00:52:29,970
-Think of your article, Potts.

1142
00:52:29,970 --> 00:52:30,470
-See.

1143
00:52:30,470 --> 00:52:31,470
They get the point.

1144
00:52:31,470 --> 00:52:33,610
-If I might venture
a suggestion,

1145
00:52:33,610 --> 00:52:37,340
why couldn't the young
lady sleep in my room?

1146
00:52:37,340 --> 00:52:39,345
-Professor Peagram!

1147
00:52:39,345 --> 00:52:41,260
-I can bunk in with
Professor Robinson,

1148
00:52:41,260 --> 00:52:43,700
I sometimes do when
there's an electric storm.

1149
00:52:43,700 --> 00:52:45,430
-Yes, he's afraid of thunder.

1150
00:52:45,430 --> 00:52:47,880
-Well then, it's all settled.

1151
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:49,200
Well, I guess I'll turn in.

1152
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,140
Can I have my coat?

1153
00:52:52,140 --> 00:52:54,100
-Thank you.

1154
00:52:54,100 --> 00:52:57,050
Hi-DE-ho, fella!

1155
00:52:57,050 --> 00:52:58,220
-I'll show you to my room.

1156
00:52:58,220 --> 00:52:59,304
-Yes, we all will.

1157
00:52:59,304 --> 00:53:00,970
-I know where my own
room is, thank you,

1158
00:53:00,970 --> 00:53:02,968
without any help from you.

1159
00:53:02,968 --> 00:53:04,450
-I'll find it, don't bother.

1160
00:53:04,450 --> 00:53:05,840
Just rough out the directions.

1161
00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:08,470
-The top of the stairs, and
the third door on the left.

1162
00:53:08,470 --> 00:53:09,134
-Gentlemen.

1163
00:53:09,134 --> 00:53:10,050
Just a moment, please.

1164
00:53:10,050 --> 00:53:11,820
Gentlemen, this is
all highly irregular.

1165
00:53:11,820 --> 00:53:14,320
What if this should come to the
attention of the foundation?

1166
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:15,736
And what about Ms.
Bragg tomorrow?

1167
00:53:15,736 --> 00:53:16,910
-What are you talking about?

1168
00:53:16,910 --> 00:53:18,322
This is research, isn't it?

1169
00:53:18,322 --> 00:53:19,300
-Yes.

1170
00:53:19,300 --> 00:53:19,800
-Certainly.

1171
00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:20,820
Who was that guy
that learned so much

1172
00:53:20,820 --> 00:53:22,355
from watching an apple drop?

1173
00:53:22,355 --> 00:53:27,920
-Isaac Newton, 1642 to
1727, the law of gravity.

1174
00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:29,656
Yeah, that's him.

1175
00:53:29,656 --> 00:53:34,100
And I want you to look at me as
another apple, Professor Potts.

1176
00:53:34,100 --> 00:53:35,070
Just another apple.

1177
00:53:44,561 --> 00:53:46,117
[END PLAYBACK]

1178
00:53:46,117 --> 00:53:47,200
DAVID THORBURN: All right.

1179
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:50,890
So you can get an idea not
only for how richly comic

1180
00:53:50,890 --> 00:53:54,990
these films can be, but
also how rich the subtext,

1181
00:53:54,990 --> 00:53:57,180
the sexual subtext can become.

1182
00:53:57,180 --> 00:53:58,990
Even though, of
course, as you all

1183
00:53:58,990 --> 00:54:01,300
should know if you've
been reading Cook,

1184
00:54:01,300 --> 00:54:05,340
there was a production
code in force after 1934,

1185
00:54:05,340 --> 00:54:08,180
and there were all kinds of
very elaborate rules imposed

1186
00:54:08,180 --> 00:54:09,680
on American movies.

1187
00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:13,032
A form of self censorship
because the movies feared

1188
00:54:13,032 --> 00:54:14,990
censorship from the
government, so they came up

1189
00:54:14,990 --> 00:54:16,090
with their own system.

1190
00:54:16,090 --> 00:54:17,860
And until sometime
in the, I guess

1191
00:54:17,860 --> 00:54:23,610
it was the 1960's, the code
held and it had all kinds

1192
00:54:23,610 --> 00:54:25,140
of ridiculous elements in it.

1193
00:54:25,140 --> 00:54:27,660
One of the primary ones that
people always laugh about,

1194
00:54:27,660 --> 00:54:30,510
rightly I think, is that if
it showed a woman on a bed,

1195
00:54:30,510 --> 00:54:33,094
at least one of her feet
had to be on the floor.

1196
00:54:33,094 --> 00:54:35,510
You couldn't show a woman lying
with both feet on the bed,

1197
00:54:35,510 --> 00:54:37,260
it was too suggestive.

1198
00:54:37,260 --> 00:54:39,410
But you can see how
clever filmmakers

1199
00:54:39,410 --> 00:54:41,840
and powerful performers
were able to make

1200
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:44,760
a mockery of those
kinds of constraints,

1201
00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:49,300
because subtle and complex
and witty films are

1202
00:54:49,300 --> 00:54:51,120
able to do many,
many things that

1203
00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:54,760
are in a suggestive way,
that keep them from crossing

1204
00:54:54,760 --> 00:54:57,680
the boundaries set
up by the censors,

1205
00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:01,310
but nonetheless have a
powerful energy and sexuality.

1206
00:55:03,930 --> 00:55:08,120
So the similarities
between those two scenes,

1207
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,050
but also the differences
between them,

1208
00:55:10,050 --> 00:55:13,800
tell you something
about the way in which

1209
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:17,890
the aesthetic of connection,
this aesthetic of familiarity,

1210
00:55:17,890 --> 00:55:22,490
this popular aesthetic
operated in Hollywood movies.