Watching Casablanca: realizing we’re all kind of “performing”
At first, I thought Casablanca was just a classic love story. But the more I watched it, the more it felt… real. Not because of the plot, but because of how the characters behave. It actually reminded me of ideas from Erving Goffman—especially the idea that in everyday life, people are always “performing” in front of others. 1. Is Rick really cold, or just acting? Rick Blaine appears as someone who doesn’t care about anything—no politics, no emotions, just business. But is that really true? Not really. When Ilsa shows up again, everything changes. You can clearly see that he still cares a lot. So it feels like his “cold” personality is actually something he puts on in public.Kind of like how we sometimes act indifferent in front of others, even when we’re not. This reminds me of Goffman’s idea of the “front stage”—the version of ourselves we show to people. 2. Everyone is managing their image No one in the film is completely open or honest all the time. Rick hides his feelings, I...