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    Ricci & Lukow - The Audience Goes Public

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    Vasiliki Petsa

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    ON FILM ISSUE /SPRING 1984 CRIMINAL PRETEXTS FOC SO IS THIS ECHOES IN AN IVORY 1 PLOT SNOW TALK IC CRIMINAL PRETEXTS SO IS THIS $2.50 6 Lander N_FIL ISSUE #12/SPRING 1984 EDITORS CONTENTS foward Dats Souriau and the Institute of Filmology we 3 Steve Roberts ea Looy Frank Tomasulo A Profile of ftienne Souriau Janet Walker Christian Metz 5 reptige Ziolows is Focus as Plot: Michael Snow's Wavelength Natasa Durovitova .. 9 SOA TEEDIOR: Snow Talk, An Interview with Michael Snow Scott C eee Fabrice Zialkowski: UCLA FACULTY ADVISOR This is the Title of this Film: So Is This Janet Bergstrom Michael Snow ADVISORY BOARD able Technology and the Utopian subject Dudiley Andrew Richard DeCordova 23 Nick Browne The “Audience” Goes “Public”: ine reatcally, Sandy Flitterman Genre, and the Responsibilities of Film Literacy Maureen Turim Gregory Lukow and Steven Ricci - 29 Marc Vernet Peter Wollen FESTIVALS AND CONFERENCES ADDRESS : ON FILM Echoes in an Ivory Tower: : College of Fine Arts Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture UCLA Scott Cooper: 37 405 Hilgard Ave. The SCS in Pittsburgh Los Angeles, CA 90024 Chris Berry and Lynn Spigel Sibling Rivalry: Wollen at the AFI ‘This issue of ON FILM was funded bya grant Howard Davis 45 Oniecadcadtarmssendbyre The Passion According to Jean-Luc Graduate Studens Association: special thanks Fabrice Ziolkowski 48 {0 Cindy Ive, Publications Commsionr, and Jan Bardsley Single ses: individuals $2.50, institutions BOOKS $5.00; Subscription or Tnee aves: 5750; ison $15.0; Foreign Rate $1.00 Hitchcock's Dark Side more per se’ Back sues Available or Nos Howard Davis. 50 10,11; Back Isues $3.00 ‘Copyright 1984. All Rights Reserved, Women’s Pictures TSSN-0160-1585. Printed inthe USA. Mary Desjardins. THE “AUDIENCE” GOES “PUBLIC”: INTER-TEXTUALITY, GENRE, AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILM LITERACY Gregory Lukow & Steven Ricci thas become a cliche to characterize the state of contemporary {im study as being at an “impassa” New interventions into the ld ‘acknowledge the titaions of singe-ext centered investigations bolore joinng the movement to rewrite the histories of cinematic institutions. Despite these attempts to realign the object and range (lfm scholarship, the original source ofthe impasse persists: the ‘ability of textual analysis to account for subjectivity from a truly fistorical perspective. Thus, we continue fo confront the dificult integrating peychoanalyic modols of te subject (centered inthe {ox and materaist models of history (based on social, economic ‘ang poltial determinants) ‘Much ofthe problom stoms from the lack of a theory of mediation In textual hermeneutics, attempts fo bridge the gap between text anghisiory are often expressed by a proferation of terms that seek ‘expand what can be said historically about a single object-txt, but whose inieracton is soldom explored: txt, sub-oxt, pre-text, inter-text,exra-toxt, cont. At the same time, new revisionist his: tories reach toward theoretical horizons by erecting, and 1 easily Imerchanging, such Terms as: classical cinema, studio system, industry, institution, agency, apparatus, and even discourse ite tin this context, the word “audience” nas been resurrected and Given new scholastic legitmacy. No longer considered merely a ‘Vulgar, empirical generalization, the term continual reappears i atiompts to articulate relaionships between textual and historical ‘mades of production. To “account” for this audience has become the Holy Gall of contemporary fim historytheory, the solution to the impasse. The quests turing fm study away from is previous Interestin the more abstract meta-psychology of spectaorshi, and toward a new sll vaguely defined, archeology tha is reiscovering the audience as a factor In various periods of fim history. ‘But the classical cinema's audience was figured not only by indvid- Lal firs on the one hand, or by industry sponsored surveys onthe ‘other, but through an overall ensemble of textaltes. These other “texts” range from adverising campaigns, participatory publicity ‘mmicks, consumer tous, posters, fan magazines, and popular Feviews, to the modes of address found in theater architectures, marquees, triers, newsree's, carioons, and even tes and open ing cedt Sequences. Study ofthese practices wil ench an account of spoctatorship as socaly defined, given especialy thal the viow- ing event itself was never centered around the single feature fi, 2 fact largely forgotten by contemporary textual exegesis. Rather it was consttuted by @ network of ciscourses—sometimes called the inr-text—which addressed and recrulted an audience, act valed ils anticipation, pulled ‘and ushered it ino the {heater along what we propose to cal “rely' of textualiies. Thus, ‘our paper reorents the question of “audience” by asking: how did the stuso systom recrut, construct. integrate, regulate and ensure the return ofits audience along this inter-textval relay? ‘The concept of inter-texualty” itself needs 1o be historcized. Pre- ‘ious uses ofthe term in post-strucuraist terry thoory have often ‘been limited to essential formalist discussions of semiotic expan ‘Siveness of excess. The idea of an inter-textual relay makes the Concept more dynamic, evoking a heritage of spectatorship passed ‘on fom Fim o fm. This relay conctons knowledge, enews mer- ‘ony, lgns desire and impels response along a traectry that arrives. ‘at and engages the viewing moment. I also reemerges from each Viewing event into a continual ccui of xchange in which the return lthe spectators already contracted. Within this relay we can begin to redefine and expand both the “subject” (audience) and “object” (Cox) of recent theory by approaching the question of spectaorship| snot only a mattor ofeach momentary textual positon, bu also (Of a more systematic and generative industrial recrutment. Io.a ‘ery real sense, Hollwoods oft-repeated slogan "Coming Soon to 1 Theater Near You" refers not to the fim, but io the audience is. (other more commonly stucied industial mediaions, such as genre, the star system, or the biographical legends of individual auteurs, ‘must also be seen as eloments within the larger ensemble of his- ‘orca intr-toxtualtes. Of tose, we enlist genre analysis as arev- tlatory approach wit the framework of our study. The relation of (genre to inter-text and, by extension, to audience, wil be discussed By examining the shiting relationships between the Warnes Broth 2f5 gangster fim ana its audience from 1930 to 1939. We wil look at four fims: Litle Cassar (1930, Mervyn Leroy), The Public Enemy (1931, Wiliam Wear), Bulets or Balots (1996, Wika Keighy) and The Roaring Twenties (1898, Raoul Walsh. These are classic txts inthe genro pila in ts orthodox histories. Yet the vary fact that so much has been sald about them highlights the ways in which \wadional understanding is revised when ineriaced with discus ‘sons of audience and inlertext ‘With these fms we will demonstrate how the intial encoding of ‘gonerie conventions ‘and expectations provides audiences wih {eterminant signals for any subsequent reading of the gangster ‘ycle. Then, By Teveaing how successive fms continually recall, ‘rose-reteronce, and develop these expectations, we can observe the translormation of the audience-genterelaion as @ whole. Texts transform genres in several key ways. There are fms which modty ‘or agjst or even reform previous codes under the pressure of new ideological mperatwes, Some texs drecty answer or respond 10 previous texts in a genre, standing as defense or rebuttal. Other firms summarize and consolidate the trms of an entire genre, often providing sell-etiecton or judgement Finally, there are those texts, tirich terminate or discontinue @ genre, delvering an epitaph for a {ycl thathas, temporal atleast, run ts course. Such termination films can retire a gonre’s deteriorating problemas, placing them atest. Orit can reorient hem, passing them on othe new projects ‘and genres that le ahead ‘Audiences are implicated in these stages of development. With tis inmind, we can then begin to conront the question of how an entre {genre constructs and shapes subjectivity fling ts role within the institutional relay along which auciences are embedded, cond ‘ioned and reclaimed. These are process oriented conceptualza- tons, evoking the nobon of “audience” wihin an historical conti Unebainabla in single-xt cantare investigations. They contrast lth the more orthodox inguistis tropes used to describe possii- ities for subjectivity within a soltary txt, fr example: subject “post tons’ (asta construct) in a textual rhetoric that “addresses” the spectator (a passive relationship). Moreover, the strategies of attraction and satisfaction deployed by the Holywood 6ystom fo acknowledge and retieveits audience are not stable. They are refined over time. We argue, in fact, tha the Spectators return to a genre isnot only implied within each new fm, but even relied upon to advance the genve. That i, an audience’ incoming generic understanding is relied upon to inau ‘urate the terms of a particular narrative problematic, might it not so be a base for the ongoing transformation ofthat problematic ‘withina genre, as that genre evolves beyond inal expectations? LITTLE CAESAR Utimately, we want to furthrhistorcize the idea of fim teracy. The ‘entre network of supportive discourses operating along the clas- ‘ical cinema’ inter-txtval relay materaly mediates an audionce’s Understanding ofits own relationship tothe cinema. Any ciscussion ‘of “audience” In relation to thearies of "reading" fim texts must ‘consider these patterns of iter textual production Hf hopes to ie {over the context out of which cinemalssoco-istoicaltoacy arises. But fm iteracy changes. What is essentials thatthe audience is addressed very specticaly as a fim lerato subject procsoly a8 fn inducement to Ks return to the cinema, to is “coming soon? again. This fim iterate audience is assumed overtime to bo ever ‘mor iterale, ever more responsibie tothe terms ofits involvement. ‘The gangster fm, as we wil demonstate, is an example ofthe Holywood insttuton showing clear signs of "aking Into account” its audionco as a gorvo transforms. As we wil see, his process {generates an even more intresting dynamic: the transformation of the audhence tae (Our anaisis privileges three “sites” of textual enunciation in wich relations between the insttuton and lis audience are continually foregrounded. First: direct figurations ofthe audience, whether rep- resentatonal, verbal or writen (rare in the earliest fims othe gen, bbecorring more pronounced later on): second: bracketing mota: scours (ition roiogues, omniscient narrators, et) which betray Signs of institutional seretlction on the genre usually non-de- {getic, but not always; third: the “beginnings” offs, which bring st the point along the pretextual relay where the force andar: tion ofa rir elements in the system (posters, tals, tes et) have already served to usher the audience into the thoater. ino a reacquaintance with is pleasures. Even though a “begining” is ‘tin the text prope, tis nonetheless a moment that hangs inthe Balance, projecting forward and dispersed into the fm, and yet referring back to the promises ofthat relay thos in that eicut space between text and system, between subjectivity and insu tion, an overdetermined port of entry at which the spectator’ arrival Is oten acknowedged ‘The story of Litle Caesar (1830) begins out of nowhere. In one imiy Itong shot a gas station robber is joined in progress wit {unshots fred by unseen outlaws. Oni later do we fst meet the Perpettators, yet even then, no background is provided Tor tht ‘racers and no reasons given for their crime. In this dark, open Ing space, where generic conventions are in the process of being ‘lchod in, the lack of any contaxtualzing exposition is notable. There |S no historical backdrop for the gangster’ rise, ofr his appear lance as a social type. No return to his childhood environment of Crowded city streets and tenements, as became common in later fis, including Public Enemy. No relerence to World War I a5 & source of unemployment for displaced veterans, as in both Pubic Enemy and The Roaring Twenties. Even Prohibition, so often relied ‘upon to offer at least some minimal economic rationale for the phe ‘omenon ofthe gangster, is absent In this sense then, Lite Cae Sar, perhaps the frst gangster fim to generate social contioversy, presumes ite prior historical or gone Iteracy. Yet the text isnot all that open. The range of attitudes an audience Can take toward the fim is cosed down by another important ee ‘ment rom is “beginning” Following the credits and just pio othe ‘robbery, there appears on tho screen, inscribed on frayed parch ‘her, the folowing passage: "forall they that take the Sword shall perish withthe sword. Matthew 26:32" [As a cipher forthe text, this Bibicl pronouncement intrvenes in {an attempt to influence is reading. The Holywood gangsters career |S usually spoken of n terms of the classic "ise an fall” The pas- ‘sage from Matthew clearly butresses this figure by reference to a higher” author, Even before we see the power-hungry ise ofthe ruthless, narcissistic and regressively nfantie Litle Caesar, is ‘downfall already otfred as a fac, a glen. The immediate tran- stton from the Scnpture to the gangster’ taking up the sword in {he gas station robbery seals in reading. The fim’ final ques tion—"Mother of mercy. is this the end of Fico?”—has already been anowored by the dictates of an earlier religious quotation. Litle Caesar represents the gangster at a brute level, witha sim plete delingation of good and evi. For most of the fim the audianos |S alowed the atvacton of seeing tradtiona avenues of social mobil Subverteg, of seeing the gangster get away with robbery and mut er Buti the end we “lear the moral lessons that were already ‘resumed from the sar. This points important, not only because deserbes a lamilar made o! ideological vecugeraion (ie,, the Classic interpretations of the genre that emphasize either ts 90 minutes o glonitying the gangster or the one minute of his condom: aon, but also bocause the fm i offering a ited, passive and forthe most part hetorcaly unmediated poston forthe audience. Despite the range of possible identifications wih he gangster art hero within the context ofthe depression era, the fim nonetheless assumes an open and shut response to that which already had bbeon writen “in the beginning The gangster image is not yet fg luted textually as a socal probiom, fr this would imply that also figured possibie audience postions for socal response, indeed, or social fesponsibliy. The spectator is not yet accountable, not inscribed textualy as the source ofthe genre's continuation The Public Enemy (1931) is another of the genre's foundational tos, yeti signiicanty airs the generic precepts found in Lite Cassar. Awriten "Forward folows the fs eredis and states: 'S'the ambition ofthe authors of Public Enemy to honestly depict {an environment that exists today in a certain strata of American ie, father than goty the hoodlum athe criminal” tis signee: "Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc “This declaration is as obvious as iis evasive. Whether these fms id or cid not glory their protagonists was precisely the issue in the controversy surtounding the gangster fim in the eary 1930s, and cannot be so easly disavowed. But the Forward #8 Yue toils ‘word on other counts, Puble Enemy does depict the social env onment of James Cagney's charactor in ways Utie Caesar never atterpted. The fim starts with is nero chidhood in New York City in 1909, thon moves forward through the years 1915, 1917 ang 1920, making dul reference tothe historical impact of Wor Wa land Prohibition In ation to announcing the fms environmental determiner, the Forward serves another function. Inthe Warner Brothers signature there ae authoral traces ofthe studio system itself attempting {0 etlect (no doubt Tully any reading ofthe fim tat might entertain the possiblity of “glottying” the criminal. Mace than just ocking the text into a desired reading, as did the scriptural quotation in Litto Caesar, Public Enemy's prfatory dictate actually foregrounds an iterative response (oloriicaion) only to negate . The Word of the brothers Warner may not have the sacred nally of the Book of Matthow. butts precisely this aterpted disavow that is com poling. The Forward is, fist and foremost, a disclaimer. Coming from the mouth ofthe fm institution tse umately impli that ideological stakes are now involved, tat the genre % boing held Accountable to something or someone. In this particular proogue, itis as yet oly the studio, and not yet the audience, which imped Edward G. Robinson In LITTLE CAESAR as accountable, which implicates ite as accountable through the Very nature os attempt To reluse responsibilty Tor what il const 78 an inappropriate interpretation of its product When the fim was re-released later in the decade, yet another whiten pretace was added. It appears in front of the credits on the prints of both Pubic Enemy and Litle Caesar that we viewed for this study. I reads perhaps the toughest ofthe gangster fms, Pubic Enemy land Lite Caesar had a great effect on public opinion ‘They brought home violenty the evis associated with Prohiotion ane suggested the necessity of a nation-wide house clearing. om Powers in Pubic Enemy and Rico in Lite Caesar are rot two men, nor are they moroly Characters —tey are a problem that sooner 0° later we, the publi, must solve. ‘This commentary adds @ new level of accountability: that of “tho puoi" implies a dalesc of mutual infuence, not only between the audionce and the historical gangster as a social phenomenon, but also between the audience and the cinematic gangater as & generic phenomenon, Thus, to repeat the Key phrases, gangstor a 2 ‘movies “had a great effect on public opinion: while the criminals themselves “are @ problem that. .we, the public, must solve’ With tis reference o “we, the publi” the studio goes beyond is oxiginal Forward and pulls the spectator into line alongside itself here both now share the burden of responsibly. As the gangster {genre moved into the mid-1890s, came under increasing prossure from various reform-inded civic, religious and educational oa nizations. And given the “great effect” tha the hms were having on the urban, working-class, efinic and immigrant poor who found themselves vicariously figured in these texts, we should remember {that such reformist pressures were crected not only toward movies, but utimatoly foward poopie “in a cortain strata of American Ife (lo quote again trom Public Enemy’s original Forward). Once we locate the textual and pre-ixtualsratogies thatthe genre uses 10 recrut the spectator nto a positon of accountability, we also begin to locate the way cinema regulates the spectators cortinual return ‘and involvement within Bults or Balots is striking in the way it mirors the plot of Lite Caesar, while atthe same time answering and totaly restructuring ‘many ofits problematic. In bot ms, Edward G. Robinson pushes Fis way up through the ranks of the underworié to a positon of ‘power. Bu in Bufets or Bats ho has Deon converted to the side OF the law, an ex-policeman working as an undercover agent and Secretly betraying the gangsters’ codes of camaraderie. The socio ‘economic world ofthe gangster, now renamed the racketoer” has ‘also boon radicaly allered. The brual, social Darwinst pecking Order of Lite Caesar has been superseded by the blase, mana (eral ethic offinance capital and its upper-class bankers. The hide ‘tn back of the nightelb has Been replaced by an ofice wih the \words "Metropolitan Business Improvement Associaton, in” writ {en onthe door. ‘This shit is not just a change of face. It also represents a clear reevaluation of earlier attudes Inthe genre. The gangster figure is ‘ow under a pincers-tko attack trom both sides of th law: while Robinson speaks biter, right-wing critques ofthe Roeral coding of eriminals, the racketeer executives are trying to change the ol, ‘stong;arm habits of thoi underlings. "Stop playing cops and rob bers they say. “That strong-arm stu wont out with Prohb tion. we're Businessmen now, we dont carry guns Bullets or Baits begins with yt anther bracketing discourse, one more compleny mediated than those previously encountered and Starting ints implications. As the fm opens, two racketeers (Hum phtey Bogert and Barton McLane) enter a movie theater and watch an ant-crime newsreel eniled The Syndicate of Crime. This news- feel uses documentary footage an a voice-over narrsioro depict ‘the operations of nation-wide racketeering, i concludes wih anon ‘camera denunciation ofthe syndicate by a crusading publisher and fim producer named Bryant, who speaks in a Grect address tothe ‘ua ayered audience ofthe fim ("we, the public") and the tim within the fim (Bogart and MeLane). ‘This clegotic newsreel represents @ more direc intervention into tne gone than eh the extra-ciegeic ween statements nthe eect ‘sequences of ear fms. By embedding te fms ant-cime mes sage within the newsreel the fiction gives it even oreater authority asa reality claim, an authonty now far removed from the genres. fate etance on Bolcal versa. lead the ims beginning neerises its spectator in a teal reenactment ofthe cinematic relay expert fence by a 30s audience. The frst image ofthe fm is of a movie ‘marquee naming both feature and shor subject. What time does the rime picture star?” isthe fm’ fist ine of alogue, spoken bythe racketeers as they purchase their tickets to enter he theater, where the ight rom the newsreel Tickers across thee faces In addition, this beginning represents a greater, more direct involve ‘ment inthe fight against cme by the medium of fim ise. The de {calaton of he power and atracion ofthe gangster and tho re Tegitimation of the forces of law and ordar and socal contol are ‘ow being generically paralleled by the restoration of a reformist Immediately after exting the theater, one of the gangsters (Bogart) hunts down Sryant, the ant-crime crusader, ané murders him. Is Appropriate that this act, the gangland kiling of afin producer, ‘should spur the intonsifed war on the racketoers by loading local Offical, The cinema is under attack and thus the socal well-being, ‘The tioget-happy Bogart is the tim’ only character who stil rep resents an anachronstc leftover from a fim ike Lite Caesar. ‘Whereas betore the kling of a prominent civic fiqure would have hoped advance the kilor up the criminal hierarchy, now it only serves to further marginalize him. AS the fm would have it, the ‘death of Bryant triggers not the ise ofthe gangster but the fall of ‘gangstersm. But itis also @ supreme irony that Bryant moralizng anti-crime ‘message and his bref, subsequent penetration into te fiction are ‘what preciptate the texts volence. They provide the opportunty for the transgression that allows the narrative to unfold. As the ‘audience might have i the death of Bryant skgnals the end of his Dreachy admonishmenis and polemics, andthe beginning ol their Story. Tus, the shooting of Bryant a crucial event for the fm, for the gemre. It's a lnchpin on which turn the twin impulsos of lransaressionpleasure and reformesponsibiy In carter tims inthe gonro, the term “the public” was suppressed or barely suggested. in Bullets or Baflors its constantly evoked, Impiying soetal arena for tho audience that hovers continual the background. Gut the evocations of the pubic as a factor to be reckoned with are presented in highly contradictory ways. On the ‘one hand, the pubis at mes set up as the only hope for any final ‘tadication of the gangster problem, a force to be informed and {activated for the goneral good. For instance, the newsredl states {hat twas produced for the American pubic asa warning, to arouse them against a growing national menace” In is impassioned direct ‘address, Bryant sternly observes tht the rackotoors “rule bythe {ear of toi bullets... they must be smashed by the power of your ballots” (On the other hand, this choice between bullets or ballots, despite Bryants speech and the fms tie, never really Becomes an issue, Indged, the appeal to the publics ballot a a solution to the problem turns out to be a complate red herring. Ite undercut in several ways. First, what nally proves effective n smashing the rackets is Robinson's duplicitous subversion of the syndieate from within, strategy kept secret even trom the audience untl near the end of the fim. Further, the public is often presented as the biggest hindr- {ance to the effectivity of Robinson's covert operation. Throughout the fim, law enforcement officials show a distinct lack of ath inthe Public. Juries are scolded for ther laxity in punishing criminal, Evian potice commissions are accused! corruption, ahd the rack: teers themselves time and again speak o he pubic in a conde soending manner. As one puts it: “The publi’s Been played for a sucker for $0 lang theyll never wake up’ Thus, a fundamental tension dominates the fm. The text holds the public accountable asthe main source of hope for achieving its own Fetormist tendencies, even asi inds together both caps and rab- bers in resent oppostion to the public as the agency of social responsibilty and generic reform. Earlier in the gore we saw how Changing atudes toward the audience could be decuced trom shits wihin and between toxs. Bulets or Ballots goes a step furtner by ‘recty uring wit tho firs contort both he mpactol he gangster {genre and the role ofthe public's relation tothe gangster. The Roaring Twenties (1999) is considered the last significant ‘gangster fim inthe gonro’s classical period. Despte a host of cha ctor, iconographic and pot citaons from previous Time, ts the- atic and social precceupations share ite with those fret carved (ut nine years before in Litte Caesar. James Cagney again stars {as a young gangster, Eddie Bartlet, whose career rise and fall's articulated, asin Public Enemy, within a spectc historical chro- ‘ology. The fm is concerned throughout with the methods and Gecistons involved in pursuing a ite of crime a8 a growth-oriented business. The text dutifully traces the various stages of Cagnoys ‘economic ascendency: om unemployed vetran atthe end of Wor ‘War | to smal-time neighborhood hoodlum, to conglomerate chiet- tain inthe bootegging rackets, and ending with his gangland murdor In he eary years of the Depression. Yet espe iis, Tne Roaring Twenties bypasses almost entrely the resuitant narrative and social confit produced by outlaw capitalism that previously wee so much at issue. Inthe caries ms these conficis dorived from the unre- strained dive toward status, power and social mobil, while inthe {genres transtional mid-perod they wore depicted inthe tension Between enizepreneurial and monopolistic modes of operation, Whatever residue is left of these ideological problematic, once €0 crucial to the genre, now seems almost incidental Instead, what The Roaring Twontios does render problematic are the foundational premises ofthe genre as @ whole, laying lo rest {he very terms upon which the gangster fim was bul. Certain basic codes fall by the wayside, wih no signiicance given tothe” loss For instance, the demise of Cagney’ criminal domain snot brought ‘bout by ary tractional denouement, which would reassert the nor- ‘mal, correct social order and fram which the proper moral lessons Could drawn. Heis not done by his own flawed, sol-destructive ‘ves, nary the righteous violence ofthe alice, nor by any emerg- ing vie consciousness, nor even by new tactics of centralized law ‘enforcement. instead, his “Talis caused by his Inabily to cover ‘Slock Investment loses inthe Great Crash of 1929. Silay, the fim strains to remain tatu ts orignal inscription ofthe Cagney persona. AI several poins in the narrative, exchanges between Characters read Ike epiaphs for a now anachronistic hero, The {allowing ialogue between Eddie (Cagney) and one o his tends (an ex parner is typical! aii: be up there again! Friend: Eddie, you're kidding yoursll. The race is over We've both finished out of the money... I's over or allof us... Eddie, some- {Hing new is happening. Something you dont understand (empha: sis ade), In such passages the fm accepts the gangsters destiny wih sub- ued resignation. In the end, the tex delvers its famous, eral ‘epitaph for Cagney: "He used to be a big shot ‘But even more remarkable than these insistent calogue reerences ‘are the many exra-diegeicbracuetng devices which su"TounG and penetrate the txt and which mark las ane ofthe most complaxly ‘mediated fms inthe genre. These brackotng discourses include: ‘2 writen "Forward" by Mark Helinger, author of he story; an inro- uctory psoudo-nowsroel hat eats he gangster erato word events; {an omniscient, offscreen narrator who oversees the progression ‘ofthe entire fiction; a series of "Holywood montage" transitons \which continually nterupt the story and Bracke the low of history In the narrative: and a chronological suacession of superimposed dates that segment the fiction and periodize its major shits. This ‘excessive ensemble of rephrasings invites tho audience to both ‘emember the genre andto place thstorically within alargerframe- \work. Thay contain some extraordinary structures of Pistoia ig- Uration which sew the fim into the genre's hertage while atthe ‘same ime distancing irom that genre. Coming immediately after the credit sequence, Holingers Forward iiates the proceedings: ‘tmay come to pass that at some aistant date, we wil be confronted with another period similar tothe one depictod in this photopay. that happens, | pray tha the evens, {35 cramatized here, wil be temembered ... Biter or ‘sweet, most memories become precious aa the years ‘move on. This fm is a memory ~ and | am grateful fr « |Whatisinteresting here i he vacation between remembered past ‘and implied tute, The “Forward” Is itraln that Hellngers open- ing words speculate about a prospective time that may have sore Felatonship, some identity with the story that folows. The fms ‘charactors anc events are then foregrounded as a personal reco lection, a memory’ that presumably wil hold lessons fr that vaguely intod at ature, ‘This wistl preface abruply gives way fo the rapide pace ofthe newsreel" montage and the assertive, less discreet tone of the narrator tat accompanios I Whereas the fake newsteal in Bulls ‘or Ballots was enirely degeticized (Le., embedded inthe fiction) to the degree that characters rom the siory could goto see ft, the fake newsreel rom The Roaring Twenties 's now made completely ‘on-diegetic. That's, tis distanced yet another step fram the tion, placed on an even higher level as an authoriyiealy claim. The frstimage in this newsreet inthe fim sel, remarkably, the date "1840" superimposed over a globe of the word, then the U.S. Cap- ‘ol. Abit of overapping mages folows, associating tho cato “1938 with Hitler, marching boots, and Czechoslovakia, then doing the ‘Same for"1935" Mussolini, and Ethiopia. Pictures of FDR, "1820" the Depression, Hoover, 1924” Coolidge and Wilson take us back to the dato "1918" and another globe, which suddenly explodes, |augurating a montage of Word War I battle acon thst segues Into the faon. Over these images, the voice-over stridenty pro- claims, with an edge of warning Today, while the earth shakes beneath the heels of ‘marching troops, while a great portion of the word tem- bles before the threas of acquisitive, power-mad men, we ot America have itl ime to remember an astounding ‘ran our own recent Fistor, an era which wil grow more. and more incredible with each passing generation, unt someday people wil say itnover could have happened at all Apri, 1918, Almost a millon men are engaged in 8 struggle which they have been toi wil make the Word Sato for democracy. Hece agai isthe awleward but distinct association between the past ‘of the gangster and the presentfuture world marching around us Now, however, the threatening faces of international fascism imply ‘tha the stakes of not remembering are high. They imply the danger ‘of forgetting. Yet there is an odd inflection to the narrators words we of America have litle time to remember...” almost as i this wore proper and nota lapse to be rected. Indeed, the voice-over takes the frst stops toward tho mythologzing of the roaring wen ties, the decade that will “grow more and more incredible” unl "someday people wil say i never could have happened at al” BY clovaing the genre 10 te status of empty myth In the face of & ‘ore important world realy, the narration renders irelevart Hel: lingers melancholy plea to"temember" the logend forts own sake, Unike Helinger, this “objoctive” narrator has no personalized bond with the fiction. He echoes Helinger’s desire to recall a bygone er, ‘ut presents images which wil overwhelm the gangsto’s past. He aggressively insists thatthe genre's heritage must surrender io a ‘Rew way of contexualzing the fection, implying that the story that {allows wil be the teling of History proper. The contrast betwen ‘these two approaches to the ton foregrounds the projet of The ‘Roaring Twentes: to place the gangster n the past, as something ‘tom the past, thereby rolegaung fim to a History already ives, ‘already irrelevant, Just asthe many inter-textual cations inthe fm ‘activate the Cagney persona, so wil ths narration stratogy sev- Tit its range. “The reshutfing of history in these opening sequences complicates ‘ho tadlonal structure of he Nashback. Moving momentary “or ‘ward the flm actually "begins" 1940, then works backware, date by date, to 1918, then forward again within he sory rope (1919, '¥820, 1822, 1924, 1929, an lasy 1932). At each date, whenever ‘something signifcant happens in Gagney's career the narrator intervenes to historicize it and to refer to it asthe efoct of a larger social process. For example, n 1920, when the underworld moves. into bootegging to captalize on Prohibit, the narrationa accounting of Cagney is collectvized: "Ana go the Ede ofthis stor joins the thousands an thousands of other Eddies throughout America he becomes a part ofa criminal army: In this way, history isnot ‘nly being reorganized, It's Being rewriten, This contiwal Brack feting of the fiction emulates the syle o the newsreel as the formal basis o its authority. It treats Cagney as an abstracted, generic leon, trapoing him within a retecton upon tho development of & gonre now explcity determined by History. The gangster story Is. “contained both formally within the newsreel structure, and Ris: ‘ortcaly within the boundaries of is continual reeontextuaizations, {As prototypical gangster, Cagney is thus embedded in an historical {eleoiogy in which the "good old days" so often refered to are ateady over before the fiction of the text ever begins ‘Another central attibute of the fis historical figuration is its generic ‘reusionim. It gives the gangster cycle new historeal coordinates. ‘One instance has already been mentioned: Cagney’ undoing in $929 brought about not by the genres usual means of moral rt bution, but by the economic fact ofthe stock market collapes. Cag- ney’ ‘ise, indeed, history ise, peaks In 1829 when "the dizzy ‘decade comes to an end Boolleggers and the mob are the fst feel the “taling of ot profits” Cagney’ personal nttatves to reas: sett his power prove tulle, and he comes to accept his reduced Stature as socal misfit In i932 te narrate inalzes the situation by declaring the gangstor “out of date no longer an active social concer. Thus the historical arc ofthe gangster in The Foaring Twenties ends ctronoiogicaly where the cinema's generic trajec tory began: with the coming of the Depression and the decade of the 30s. Yotit was during this speci historical conjuncture (the ‘arly 30s) that the new genre was accused of validating anti-social behavior as an escapist vision curing the hardships of he Depres sion. Now, however, the gangsor isthe first io succumb. The text thus revises the historical debate that had surrounded its contro- versial generic heritage. For the film, the early 30s are excess, a time forthe characters to settle personal accounts ad forthe text to begin formulating a new agenda. Further, not only does the fm’s meta-iscursive structure rewrite the history ofthe genres evolution t also provides its own version ofthe audience's respanse to that evolution. Revises the calectve ‘memory of the gangster fim and the history of ts reception. Ret- ferences to "the publ” are again conspicuous. Early in the fm (1920), when Cagney begins his rise to power, the narrator provides {he aucience with an ideal response: “The puble Is beginning 10 ok upon the boctlogger as something of an adventuresome hero, ‘8 modern crusader who deals in botes, not bales” This pro- ‘nouncement clealy acknowledges and re-inscrives the gemre’s ‘possiblities for denttying withthe gangster as a romanticized out- aw. Yo later (1932), when the rackets have disintograted, wo, the publi, are given ful retroactive credit “After thirteen years Proh- bition is dead, leaving out of date the criminal element unable to ope with the new determination by an aroused publc that law and forder should once more reign” These comment mark a sting Shift rom Bulets or Bafots, where the public had beon “played fr a suck In this way The Roaring Twenties avoids the genre's previous ten sion betwoen the publi portrayed, on the one hand, 2s the only Salvation rom the gangster problem and, onthe other, as an object (of resentment for is hypocritical reformism, for ts dampening of the gonre’s pleasures. This issue ls now a moot point. given thet the gangster n history and the gangster in cinema have been tx tualy disarmed. inthe process, the audience's basic terms of read ership have been transformed. An original “pleasure” has been evoked but the sastactions of "responsibilty" nave been subs tuted. "Responsblity” Is no longer a burden that the institution demands is public share, I's instead a matter of ging retroactive Cred for ajo well done. The text invites its audience Yo partake 9 ‘a now pleasure: the achievements of fim ieracy More important this ausionce revisionism also sets an ideological agenda forthe placement ofthe publi in relation tothe future. The lescans of history to be found in The Rosring Twenties ein this rection. The made of Pistorical figuration at work inthe text Is Ubmately not that of nosalgla, despite traces of ths in Halinger’s Forwaré Nor it hat of decadence, which implies not only dectine, but also the lack of any vision of the future Instead, the fim te. minaies one stage of the genre, emphasi2ing the closure ofthe past. At the same time it appears anxious to move on, keeping an {eye out for what les ahead. It hypostaizes the break between its ‘own decade othe 208 and the date 1940" when te fim “begins” The new project beyond 1999, of course, World War I. The globe that explodes apocalyptcally ino the chaos of World War | atthe tendo! he opening neweresl was also superimposed under the date 1040" A linkage between international events ten and “now Is clearly implied, assisting the fms teleology in-reverse. The vi ‘ages of Hier and Mussolini are dominating Icons that hover over the tet, sting up the gangster as metaphor forthe cetator. From the opening narration, domestic vilains and international vais, ‘genre and police, memory and history, are woven inextricably {ogether At the end ofthe fim, atler the gangsters cowntal, “duty "Gommuty” and "sacrites” bacome Keywords in Cagney repen: tant reevaluation of his new social conctions. For the audience ‘addressed by The Roaring Twenties, these words point ahead to the transformation of colecve roles within a changing global con- text. The text tales pubic fo no longer expect the genres Wad tional pleasures, tele tthet enjoying the shoot outs between rival ‘hugs is inappropriate when preparations fr the shoot-out between tval political systems (reac: rival imperalisms) may be necessary, ‘The original, ransgressive pleasure affordes the audience inthe regressive violence ofthe gangsters being rechanneled into the “matured” social violence ofthe wat fim, Indeed iti nota violation ofthe text to suggest that The Roaring Twenties is ore a war fim than a gangster fim. The gangster cycle has not simply “declined” shoe Lite Caesar, becoming eiflused or

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