SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN

The Meaning Change in “Singin’ in the Rain”

The goal of the book review assignment for this case study was to explore the theoretical approaches used to realize the meaning change in the most well-known movie, “Singin’ in the Rain,” and to show how it changed through time. Various groups perceive the movie differently based on the critical techniques used to support the movie. This movie was regarded as both a respectable piece of art in society and a means of preserving culture. It is still regarded as a classic and a universally accessible form of entertainment. Kathy describes the ‘silent film’ as unimpressive due to the fact that the characters, Don and Lina, neither talk nor act and she argues that they just make a dumb show. She compares the film with other films of that error and mocks it. Lina is delayed to say something in the film until she complains about being assumed as dumb or something else. Kathy emphasizes that though Lina has been performing films, her bad acting cannot transfer the mockery to the studio of recording (Cohan 49). Don and Kathy come together to perform the film ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, leaving Lina out of the game and it is assumed that any arising issue among them shall be resolved wisely and at once.

The Organizational Model of the Narrative

In the final shot, it is evident that the couple is seen to admire a billboard for advertising the new art with the name ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. According to the argument and the then status of the film, no disturbance is expected to arise in future since the film is now performed by a couple. The whole narrative is characterized by the illustration of organizational model and clearly shows how the two characters, Don and Kathy are different and of different personalities. Don is seen disturbing Kathy and double restrictions dominate the whole narrative, from the image/sound, body/voice among others.

The Narrative Style and Parallelism

The film’s oppositional structure is very recommendable whenever we think of other narratives performed before by famous stars such as Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Cosmo Brown, the best friend of Don. The numbers in the narrative give a combination of the body movements and the voice of the characters, their sounds, and images whenever they are seen singing and dancing in joyous ways. The style of the narrative is described by Rick Altman as obeying the principle of lateral parallelism where the couple is the main plot of the story. The male and female are matched to live potentially waiting for being a couple in future through future paired divisions as it was initially the case of Don and Lina.

The Male and Female Characters

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ associates the male with one category of values and behaviors and another to the female. Don and Lina marriage signifies bringing together of several secondary distinct sides, of opposite sex but mutually exclusive to each other. In other words, the couple has the obligation in a reduction of the counterintuitive conclusion which does not satisfactorily lead to more workable configurations as it is always thought of the opposites. Kathy portrays a lot of youthfulness in her character as opposed to Don who is characterized by maturity in all his doings. Comparison between Don and Kathy is done on various grounds such as the way they sing, dance, and the athletic body of Don versus the pure voice of Kathy as well as her overall criticism throughout the narrative.

The Interdependence of Couples

Although Kathy acts with a lot of youthfulness, she represents self-generated innovation and artlessness which Don totally doesn’t have professionally, as it is evidenced during the start of the film. Don also possesses certain characters that Kathy doesn’t have and brings the essence of interdependence among couples. The denial of romance between the male and female in the narrative represents the difference between innovation and the outmoded style of being, which should not be allowed in any society. According to Peter Wollen, Singin’ in the Rain values all the married couple and argues that the couple represents a finished product metaphorically. All the actions are done by Don and Kathy as watched from the screen summarize the life of a loving couple that should be followed by the upcoming members (Cohan 55).

The Structure and Polarity of the Narrative

The dubbing, dancing, and deconstruction witnessed in Singin’ in the Rain identify how a pair of people of different sex, with differing innovation versus obsolescence and sound versus image, can be brought together to work interdependently. The narrative could not be performed by one person from the level of its structure. Jacques Derrida argues that the structure of the narrative is contradicting and not firm on its own (Cohan 58). The binary combination of male and female is viewed as both advantageous and negative as well but there is the third in the film to authenticate the polarity of the situation.

Gender Roles and Discrimination

The singing of Don to Kathy is watched by a number of people who enjoy the native talent of the artist without application of much technology in his presentation. The presentations, in this case, are very important as they establish a clear comparison of the physical actions of Don and the silent performance watched in the films. The number calls for the attention of the listeners to capture what is being said in the film especially when Don sings ‘You were meant for me’ to his wife Kathy. Don describes the masculine as seeing, commanding, and looking voyeuristic and puts the feminine in the line of being lacking and passive and should always be taken care of, for they cannot sustain themselves (Cohan 61).

The Punishment and Silencing of the Female Character

The female gender in this narrative is punished, subject to investigation and not acknowledged to do things on their own. The responsibility of producing sound from an image is mandated to men rather than women. The narrative argues that men have to lack in order for the women to acquire as they typically depend on men. The reason as to why Lina was replaced by Kathy is because her (Lina) body did not match the sound and the female is always subjected to substitutions where Lina thinks that she is being disturbed and declares that the studio has been converted to change her voice (Cohan 65). The female character is therefore punished for no good reason and finally silenced in order to keep it a secret.

Sexual Representation and Assumptions

Sexual representation has remained an issue of concern since there is a lot of discrimination being witnessed from the issue of Lina. Mayne suggests that the audience should watch the film for the purpose of pleasure and assume that the gender, culture and sexual preferences of the characters are flexible (Cohan 69). The female can be identified in terms of body movements they make in performing films but for the male, they are identified by the commanding voice. Singin’ in the rain uses a lot of mythical assumptions to devalue the female.

The Misuse of the Female Gender

Instead of educating Lina on how to perform the film better, she is replaced by Kathy with immediate effect and in this, there exists a big gap between the artist’s values (labor) and in exchange value which portrays the image of the character. The movies produced during the era of Singin’ in the rain, historically shows a lot of stress for the female gender, creating a big gap between the male and female. The initial meaning of the narrative came to change when Lina was substituted for Kathy, which portrayed the misuse of the female gender.

Work cited

Steven Cohan “Singin’in the Rain.” (2015): 52-71.