Saturday, February 11, 2017
Innocents Abroad?
In Top Hat the American dancer Jerry Travers and the American socialite Dale Tremont waltz and fall in the love in the European cities of London and Venice. Along the way they meet Europeans embodied in the members of the stuffy Enlgish social club, Beddini, the Italian fashion designer, Bates the valet, hotel clerks in both cities, and even an Italian carabinieri that arrests Bates (Horace Hardwick, Jerry's producer, is played by an American actor but he could be English). The settings are European, but the actual sets reveal an idealized version of Europe. What does this film tell us about Americans views of Europeans? What do Americans think of themselves? How do Americans view themselves on the world's stage?
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ReplyDeleteThe movie Top Hat, an American-made movie, depicts Americans couples as superior to European couples, which are dysfunctional. Jerry and Dale are the only couple that seems at all functional, which is saying a lot as they spent most of the movie thinking one of them was married and utterly confused due to miscommunications. Madge and Horace, the other couple in the movie, could be Americans, but as they spend most of their time in Europe, even if they are Americans, they can be considered Europeans. In contrast to the deep love that is evident between Jerry and Dale, shown through their dances, especially “Cheek to Cheek,” the European couple seems emotionless and dysfunctional. Horace is having an affair with Violet, and his wife Marge does not know about it, but thinks that she does know about his attentions to Dale, although it was actually Jerry who Dale describes as pursuing her. Jerry plays an important role in their relationship by telling Horace to inform his wife of his affair so that they can have a good marriage. Horace tries, but never actually ends up telling Madge. Madge says that she doesn’t care about the affair with Dale that she thinks he is having, but later punches him, showing that she actually does care. At one point in the movie however, Madge alludes to the fact that Horace has had many affairs, as she tells Dale that he forgets about women he has been with, which is why Dale goes to try and catch Jerry (who she thinks is Horace) by telling him about the time they spent in Paris. Throughout all of this drama, their miscommunications, like with Dale and Jerry, keep them apart and show how dysfunctional they are as a couple. Unlike Dale and Jerry, they do not seem to have as strong feelings about each other, as Horace is not even faithful to his wife. Although both couples have miscommunications, the American couple is the only one that works out well in the end, and they seem to have a happy life ahead of them, while the European couple is still dysfunctional and dishonest, as Horace has not yet even told his wife about his real affair.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is a classic representation of what Americans saw Europe and Europeans in the 1930’s. Every single person in the movie is a living stereotype of his or her country. For instance, Beddini, the Italian man seems not very smart and has a very heavy accent while acting very cocky about himself saying that he is the prettiest man and he is the best dress designer. The “invaluable man servant” Bates was also a stereotypical representation of what Americans thought of British men and women. He was very polite and talking like royalty but in a very snooty or snobby way. Americans saw British as very high class and like they thought they were better than us. The setting of London and especially Venice were not really like what they were truly like but as Americans thought of them. Venice in particular was very fake. There were clean rivers throughout all of these marble buildings with people swimming in the water. While in reality, people don’t actually do that because the water is dirty. It also showed Venice like a very rich and luxury resort but all of it isn’t good. Finally, the representation of Americans in this movie is portrayed by Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont. They are shown as very smart but polite without being snobby. They are showing us as if we are all very nice people and smart but just like the other countries we aren’t all that good, but what is true is that it shows that Americans think we are better than every other country which is an actual representation of what we think we are.
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