Sacrifices in Love and War

Sacrifices in Love and War

Casablanca is one of the best films produced by the World War II Hollywood propaganda machine. During this period of time, in 1943, the movie was among one of the one hundred war films that represents the Office of War Information’s early intentions of truthfully representing the war. The Motion Picture was filmed to educate the public about the issues surrounding the war as well as the causes of and reasons for the war. Casablanca is one of the greatest propaganda films ever written, the film's message of self-sacrifice and of a love lost and found has communicated to several cultures and made an immediate impact to its core American audience.

In the years leading to the World War II, most Americans believed that U.S. foreign policy should have promoted isolationism and neutrality. The early 1940s was a time in which millions of Americans were unable to explain the reasons for the United States' intervention in World War II beyond the shocking fact of the attack on Pearl Harbor . Americans knew who they were fighting but could not explain why they were fighting. American popular opinion was clearly isolationist during the 1930s . This isolationism continued into the early war years. An American society that had opposed any participation in a foreign war for a generation at the end of 1941 was suddenly forced to face the reality that the United States was fully engaged in defeating foreign enemies in both Europe and the Pacific. It therefore quickly became in the best interests of the government and of mass media to exploit public obsessions to try to justify intervention. Attempts to explain to the American citizens why the United States was fighting soon began to appear in mass circulation magazines and the movies . Casablanca was produced to support U.S. participation in the Allied Forces' struggle for global justice and democracy.

Casablanca's biggest message is the necessity of self-sacrifice for the sake of a greater good. From the beginning of the movie, the audience watch Rick progress from cynical businessman to resistance fighter: “Listen, even if you are not particularly nationalist. Even if you are not particularly moral or just or political. Even if, mostly, what you want from life is a beautiful girl and a full wallet – under today's circumstances, whether you're American or Czech or French, you can only remain a decent human