BT 15: Casablanca and We'll Always Have Paris

BackTrekking returns again to look back at the real-world inspirations of classic Trek episodes in an episode chosen by you!

Some works of art are unassailable in their perfection . . . the Sistine Chapel, the Starry Night, the KFC Double Down. Criticism of them goes beyond merely evaluating their construction and extends instead into the effect they've had on society and culture itself. If theater is life, cinema is art, and television is furniture, the movie "Casablanca" would undoubtedly be film's Mona Lisa or, at the very least, Sunflowers. The question, "Is it good?", has been answered by time. The question, "Is it still relevant?", is possibly apter; it is, after all, nearly 80 years old. But the positive evidence of the film's endurance is present in its countless cultural homages and its familiarity to people who have never even sat through it.

On its surface, the desperate and war-weary world of "Casablanca" doesn't look much like the world of Star Trek. DS9, maybe, but certainly not TNG. The titular city of the film (and real-life WWII) is haunted by a panoply of refugees, displaced by the war and by the Nazis who move among them, discussing over drinks who to conquer next. It's a city divided between the hopeful and those who sell hope at the market price. Where the characters of Star Trek are noble and uncompromising, Casablanca's heroes live ignobly, victims of despair and their own convictions.
Star Trek embodies humanity's aspirations, but films like "Casablanca" remind us of the cruel realities of war and the acts of both injustice and heroism that happen in every century.

We go all-out again this week in an episode almost as long as the war itself, comparing "Casablanca" with TNG's take on the classic film, "We'll Always Have Paris". During the episode, we discuss the film's modern pace and sensibility, its origins as a stage play, how Michael Curtiz was the Spielberg of his day, the living world of Casablanca, making all the right choices, the problem with pure characters, and the personal stakes of the film's immigrant cast. We also talk playing chess with yourself, escaping Nazis just to play them in movies, the questionable lyrics of La Marseillaise, sketchy Tinder, getting "The Contest" past the censors, Barb Wire "doing a 'Casablanca'", passionate towel whacking, menus of the future, Kal's ready to protest The Irishman, and Gooey just wants to make peace!

This one's for you, Low IQ Canadian!

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