"The Philadelphia Story"

Paper Summary:

The cultural relevance of the film, "The Philadelphia Story", can be found in the way the play achieved renown in the theater, in the translation of the play to film, in the way the story reflected the social order of the time, and in the way the film has spoken to generations since. The writer explains how the play was produced in 1939, the film in 1940, and at the time, the United States was emerging from the Great Depression and on the brink of World War II. It explains that the story is an escapist tale about the wealthy class, allowing the audience members to look in on a way of life they do not know directly. It also points out that the story takes place in a pre-feminist age, though it also has a feminist underpinning in the way it expresses ideas about the equality of the sexes and about the particular role for career women in the social order.

From the Paper:

"In any case, Philip Barry wrote many plays which were ?glittering champagne comedies about the rich and sophisticated that managed at the same time to probe such weightier themes as the relations between men and women, rich and poor.? The Philadelphia Story tells the story of a wealthy family and the marital fortunes of the eldest daughter. The long-term appeal of the story is explained by Laura Mulvey in Freudian terms, and she offers an analysis of elements of the film on the basis of the pleasure principle. Mulvey carries her Freudian-based analysis into a different conception of the underlying tensions of the film and the themes elucidated by the interplay of characters in the structure of the story. Mulvey especially sees the film as appealing to the unconscious of the audience in terms of male/female contrasts and dichotomies, an idea extending beyond the immediate film to express a conception of the mythic nature of film as a continuing expression of male and female roles, stereotypes, and psychological states in a social setting. The characters in The Philadelphia Story can thus be seen as carrying into dramatic form the psychological tensions explained by Freudian analysis and perceived as having power as icons in society at large. In the film, the pairing of C.K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Lord contrasts with that of Connor and Elizabeth to illustrate societal expectations regarding male and female roles and the potential for women to represent castration for the male."

More papers on "The Philadelphia Story":

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• Book Review # 103005 : "Steven Lopez's "Third and Indiana"

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