Gunning’s “Cinema of Attractions” in “Citizen Kane” and “Casablanca”

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Cinematography is one of the most popular entertainment acts in the world. Over the course of its history, the filmmaking industry has survived several important milestones that helped directors to shape movies in the way they are known nowadays. At each of such significant turning points, there were films that were remembered by the audience not only for their plot and characters but also for the innovative effect they brought about for the whole industry. The present paper aims at analysing two cult movies that were created at the beginning of the 1940s: Casablanca (1942) and Citizen Kane (1941). The essay is based on the approach presented by Gunning (2006) ─ the theory of attractions. The thesis of the paper is that Citizen Kane and Casablanca demonstrate the evolution of the cinema from a narrative form into an audio-visual spectacle. In particular, the emphasis will be put on the two films’ sound effects. With the help of scholarly sources and the movies, it will be possible to prove the thesis statement mentioned above.

In Gunning’s (2006, p. 381) theory of the cinema of attractions, it is stated that it is time to reject the traditionally established opinion that films should serve as “storytelling medium[s].” The author emphasises that films should be series of “magical attractions” rather than “a primitive sketch of narrative continuity (Gunning 2006, p. 383). Therefore, the theorist notes that in early filmmakers’ works, there was a lack of concern “with creating a self-sufficient narrative world” on the screen (Gunning 2006, p. 383). According to Gunning (2006), early filmmakers’ exhibition modes had much control over the shows presented by them. Frequently, they merely re-edited the movies they had bought and added some “offscreen” supplements such as spoken commentary or sound effects (Gunning 2006, p. 383). Summing up his theory, Gunning (2006, p. 384) mentions that the cinema of attractions promotes the audience’s attention by provoking visual and audio curiosity and giving viewers pleasure through an “exciting spectacle ─ a unique event, whether fictional or documentary” that presents an interest.

The success of filmmaking is considered to be in the direct address of spectators. Narration by itself is not as exciting as the element of attraction. As Gunning (2006, p. 384) mentions, the cinema of attractions spends fewer efforts on creating characters “with psychological motivations or individual personality” than on making up engaging elements. In this kind of cinema, non-fictional and fictional attractions are combined with moving the energy towards an acknowledged spectator instead of directing it at the character-based situations prevailing in classic narratives. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that Gunning’s (2006) idea of the cinema of attractions pertains to the films Casablanca (1942) and Citizen Kane (1941) since these movies have been highly estimated for their audio effects.

Created in 1942, Casablanca became widely recognised as the film industry breakthrough of its decade. The film’s popularity was immense, and it had justly acquired the reputation of a cult movie. As Klinger (2015) notes, there is a story behind every cult film. In the case of Casablanca (1942), there was recognition accompanied by prominence and mass popularity. One of the ways of “discovering” cult films is during the reintroduction at various venues such as repertory houses or television reruns (Klinger 2015, p. 45). Such circumstances inspire spectators to engage with the film passionately, watch it repeatedly, and memorise it. That was exactly what Casablanca (1942) did. Moreover, it became an important part of viewers’ lives, and they even inculcated some special meaning into it for themselves (Klinger 2015).

One of the reasons why Casablanca (1942) made such an impression on spectators was its audio effects. In particular, the movie’s music was what thrilled the audience and produced an unforgettable impact effect on the people. Indeed, the film is not a “storytelling medium” but, rather, a true representation of the cinema of attractions described by Gunning (2006, p. 381). As Hoeckner and Nusbaum (2013) remark, music, along with other sound effects, is what has created the special atmosphere of the film. According to scholars, music helps to create the artistic representation of memory in Casablanca (Hoeckner & Nusbaum 2013). For instance, in the scenes where Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and Rick (Humphrey Bogart) listen to “their” song, it is obvious that characters are thinking about some events from the past (Hoeckner & Nusbaum 2013, p. 235). In fact, the sound effects of the movie made it so popular that it was even adapted into a radio play (Klinger 2015).

Apart from its music, Casablanca (1942) also has a variety of dialogues and sound effects. Among the most prominent ones is the sound of rain used in several scenes. The use of this effect helps to emphasise and complete the ideas conveyed by visual images. The director employs rain in two highly important scenes. The first one is when Ilsa and her husband Victor (Paul Henreid) are leaving (Casablanca 1942). The second time is when Ilsa and Rick are running away from the guards. On both of these occasions, the sound of rain intensifies the ultimate sadness of the events.

One more sound effect used in the film is a variety of tones. Characters speak differently in various situations, and the tone of their dialogues helps to distinguish between calmness, anxiety, anger, and other emotions. For instance, changing the tone from low- to high-pitched signifies that Ilsa is stressed out. Another example is Humphrey’s voice ─ it is always calm and low-pitched, which describes his serene and reserved personality (Casablanca 1942). Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the variety of sound effects in the movie brought it success and recognition that it still boasts nowadays.

Another 1940s’ film, the fame of which can compete with Casablanca (1942), is Citizen Kane (1941). This is one more example of a cult movie that can be considered as the cinema of attractions in accordance with Gunning’s (2006) theory. Altman (1994) remarks that to understand the sound effects of Citizen Kane (1941) to the full extent, it is necessary to realise the connection between sound and space. Altman (1994, pp. 4-5) distinguishes several principles of sound aesthetics in the movie: “overdetermined book-ends,” “early spatial realism,” “sustaining level-volume dialogue,” “later spatial inconsistencies,” and “overall narrative-discursive drift.” These effects characterise the audio effect of the movie and its radio adaptation and help the director to manipulate the audience’s reaction (Altman 1994).

Apart from the film’s music, scholars define other significant audio effects in Citizen Kane (1941). Jackson (2008) marks the importance of spoken language in the movies’ story. Thomas (2004, p. 162) notes that the director of Citizen Kane (1941) left “as little room as possible for silence.” Brophy (2008, p. 1) describes the movie as a “sonic, acoustic, vocal text.” The scholar emphasises that Citizen Kane (1941) is full of “sonorous atmospheres” and “melodic flows” that attract the audience (Brophy 2008, p. 1). Citizen Kane (1941) is regarded as a powerful “world of film sound” (Brophy 2008, p. 1). Whatever is missing from the storyline is reflected in the characters’ voices. Through the power and musicality, through breath and presence of the voice, viewers grasp much more than they can see on the screen.

Both films under analysis exemplify Gunning’s (2006) theory of the cinema of attractions. Scholars and critics remark that a variety of sound effects in Citizen Kane (1941) and Casablanca (1942) has helped to make such a profound effect on many generations of viewers. With the help of voice tones, music, nature’s elements, the speed of dialogues, and other methods, directors of both movies were able to create truly unforgettable pieces of cinematography. Indeed, Casablanca (1942) and Citizen Kane (1941) are not merely narrative pieces. On the contrary, they attract people’s attention with a variety of audio effects that leave a trace in spectators’ memory and make people watch these cult movies again and again. The use of such effects allowed directors to put aside the dominance of the narration and bring about audio-visual effects as the main storytellers of the new epoch in the film industry.

The argument of the paper related to the metamorphosis which occurred in the cinema that led to shifting the focus from the films’ narrative perspective to their being audio-visual spectacles. The films are chosen for the study ─ Casablanca (1942) and Citizen Kane (1941) ─ perfectly reflect the thesis and help to develop its concept by providing sufficient material for the analysis. The outcomes of the argument indicate that Gunning’s (2006) theory of the cinema of attractions is the right approach to creating movies.

Reference List

Altman, R 1994, ‘Deep-focus sound: Citizen Kane and the radio aesthetic’, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 1-33.

Brophy, P 2008, ‘Citizen Kane: the sound of the look of a “visual masterpiece”‘, Music and the Moving Image, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 1-12.

Casablanca 1942, video recording, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Citizen Kane 1941, video recording, Mercury Productions.

Gunning, T 2006, ‘The cinema of attraction[s]: early film, its spectator and avant-garde’, in W Strauven (ed), The cinema of attractions reloaded, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, pp. 381-388.

Hoeckner, B & Nusbaum, HC 2013 ‘Music and memory in film and other multimedia: the Casablanca effect’, in S-L Tan, AJ Cohen, SD Lipscomb & RA Kendall (eds), The psychology of music in multimedia, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 235-266.

Jackson, T 2008, ‘Writing, orality, cinema: the ‘story’ of Citizen Kane’, Narrative, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 29-45.

Klinger, B 2015, ‘Pre-cult: Casablanca, radio adaptation, and transmedia in the 1940s’, New Review of Film and Television Studies, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 45-62.

Thomas, F 2004, ‘Citizen Kane: the sound track’, in J Naremore (ed), Orson Weller’s Citizen Kane: a casebook, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 161-183.

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Gunning’s “Cinema of Attractions” in “Citizen Kane” and “Casablanca”

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