Austria in Hollywood:  Immigrants in the Movie Machine
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Film Précis 1:

Stereotypes of Austria in Third Man and Sound of Music


HEADER: Include your name and the date; the film titles, directors, dates, countries, and studios (in the form: Title. Dir. NAME. Country: studio, date.)

FOCUS: What the image of "Austria" is for the Hollywood audiences. These two films lie about twenty years apart; both deal with individuals implicated in Austria's political situation around World War II. Both how [film x] represents [conflict, situation] for its audience, and what those choices tell the audience about its content -- what case is being made about the justification for, conduct of, success or failure of, or the importance of the event for a particular audience.

LOGIC and GOAL: By comparing [some sets of facts] from each film, the biases of the film and the audience toward which it is directed reveal themselves. The contrast shows [what about the US audience's expectations about "Europe" and its sameness/difference to the US]

First Incarnation:
The Third Man
Second Incarnation:
The Sound of Music

   EXAMPLE 1: classes and types of people:
  • foreigners (Harry Lime)
  • Austrians with no families
  • . . .

   EXAMPLE 1:
  • army/navy officers
  • upper class Austrians (the VON Trapps) and Germans (the countess)
  • lower class Austrians (Rolf, Nazis)
  • . . .

ADD TWO OR THREE OTHER EXAMPLES:
be sure to refer to specifics in the film (scenes, names, framing, lighting . . . ; see the class handout on how to read films)


 

IMPLICATION
(address in 1-2 paragraphs what these choices tell us about the filmmakers' possible political agendas and his/her assessment of the audience)

(HINT: Address issues like: What kind of place is Austria in each film? What images of Europe does each film want to convey to its audience? Who looks like they're "in charge"; who are victims of circumstance? What values drive their actions; what is the audience supposed to think about those "values"? Remember that Third Man was made right after the Second World War, and that The Sound of Music was made in an era of "family values" and when the country was moving into the Vietnam War, out of the "war" we lost in Korea.)


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