Casablanca †Hollywood Essay

It is certainly undeniable that â€Å"Casablanca† is one of the best known Hollywood classics of all time. But its illustrious reputation does not make it one of the best Hollywood classics in history. There are mainly two points to that claim, one is that Casablanca did not land a tasteful ending, and second is that the protagonist of the Richard â€Å"Rick† Blaine, considered as one of the greatest lovers in history, did not actually love Ilsa. The ending of Casablanca is obviously far from classic Hollywood endings, in which all the major conflicts are resolved. It is not that the ending was poorly written, as stated earlier, it is just lacking some elements of classic Hollywood endings. In the concluding part of the film, Rick and Ilsa had to part ways for second and final time. They had split up without the knowledge of what the other person truly feels. This particular aspect of the ending somehow creates a static noise in the readers because things remain unresolved, not to mention heart-wrenchingly tragic. Moreover, it is just ironic that event though Casablanca is one of the most loved love stories in film history, the protagonist of the story Richard â€Å"Rick† Blaine seems to be incapable of genuine love. There are several possible reasons why he had left Ilsa in the ending. One of which is that he had an insecurity that he cannot compete against someone like Laszlo for the affection of Ilsa. The second possible reason is much worse, he could have left Ilsa because he wanted to get back at her for leaving him in their first split up. Again, this paper does not state that Casablanca is bad film. It just does not fit the stereotypes of classic Hollywood films and love stories. Perhaps its unconventionality had made it one of the most popular films to be ever shown in the big screen. Moreover, the ending of the film and Rick’s inability to genuinely love makes the film realistic, thus less fictional.