It Happened One Night

1.      1.   Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

In class, we talked about screwball comedies and how they have very specific roles for women.  This movie premiered right before the catholic church started running censorship, but it still deals with roles of women that the catholic censorship committee were interested in.  in this time, women had roles of power.  It was an extremely feminist time in cinema, which is a good thing.  Even in these days, women are seen as sex symbols in literally almost any movie you go see, even if the protagonist is a strong women, there is still sexuality in their characters, most often in the way that theyre dressed and the way their hair and makeup is done.  In it happened one night, ellie is a sort of strong independent woman, even though I don’t remember much about the movie. 

2.      

 2. Find a related article and summarize the content.

The article I found was about Clark Gable and his numerous love affairs.  One of the things that stuck with me was that his biological mother died shortly after his birth, and that is something that is sometimes associated with a lot of sexual relationships.  He was married to a woman who was quite a bit older than him, and he said that it was more about the paperwork than anything.  The no mother thing also stuck with me since he is in all these screwball comedies because from what I have noticed from Charlie Chaplin is that a dark past in certain situations makes you a comedian.  Since there is so much darkness in someone’s past, they have no choice but to look for the good things in life.  I think that had a lot to do with his sense of humor and his aura on stage. 

3.       3.  Apply the article to the film screened in class.

I think that his upbringing in this kind of less than perfect family had a giant contribution to his personality, including the type of personality that he brings onto the camera.  When I think of comedians, I automatically think of this broken type of person, and he isn’t an exception.  While watching It Happened One Night, Clark Gable is sort of sharp witted in this film, which I think is contributed to his upbringing.  

http://library.kean.edu:2075/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e65d2588-735f-48a0-b70e-b92a768532f1%40sessionmgr4002&vid=6&hid=4109

4.       4.  Write a critical analysis of the film.

This film seemed extremely censored.  Whenever the woman in the film and the man were in the same room, he made sure to put up a curtain, which is obviously symbolic in the movie and also for the time.  I think that the curtain was really important because it shows that even though he was this journalist type.  I thought it was interesting that he is straight up with his intentions.  He told her that he was a journalist and that he just wanted a story upfront.  In today’s movies, the entire plot would be about how he is a journalist and that he never told her.  I’m surprised about how genuinely interested I am in these movies that are nearly 100 years old.