Singin’ In The Rain.

Everyone always has their own idea of how things in the world are. In Singin’ in the Rain, we can see a perspective of how different one’s own opinion of the world can be from the actually of what’s happening. Though this is not new to modern day movie watchers, or those of the past who watched this film during it’s debut, it is an often unnoticed aspect of both film and culture.

From the beginning, we see that Hollywood executives have created drama and story line purely to generate profit by claiming that stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont create such great onscreen chemistry because of their real life connection. They mention on more than one occasion that any change to the stage relationship Don and Lina are rumored to have would be detrimental to their stardom. This is paired with the notion that the newest technology, the talking picture, is both a disgraceful thing, and it is a fad that will go away. The audience is tricked once more when the movie “The Dancing Cavalier” first plays into thinking that Lina has a beautiful speaking and singing voice. From these three examples, we see how common it is to be of a firm belief, but to be quite wrong in that belief. It doesn’t have a large negative effect on most of the characters–Don and Kathy presumably go on to become big stars in the talkies, the studio started the transition to movies with sound and had a positive first outcome, and the public seems more excited by the actual love story of Don and Kathy, since it’s real, than with the fake one that was “forced” on them­. Indeed, it is only Lina, who was generally disliked by the rest, who was laughed out of the spotlight. This, however, could be caused by the fact that she not only buys into the studio’s fabricated romance between Don and herself, but also because she is an uncaring person who seeks to destroy Kathy’s career so that hers may continue to thrive.

This movie is also an interesting piece to look at in the context of ancestry of modern films. Though the musical has close to died out, with fewer and fewer being released on an annual basis, there remains the select few which still win the hearts of the masses. It is however more interesting and relevant to see where we have come with the romantic comedy. From film’s early beginnings, it was rather unclear the outcome it would have. Early films were similar to plays, couldn’t rely on dialogue, and were confined to small spaces due to the immobility of the cameras. With this film, we see how the narrative of film has changed, even the differences of over the top acting in “Cavaliers” compared to the more realistic approach of “Singin,’” this movie is almost historical in it’s documentation of film, and the industry wide transition from silent to talkie.

Ben Gross