Scholarly Introduction: Rope

My project will be focusing on the film Rope. I will attempt to reveal how the film responds as well as reflects the cultural ideologies of the time period. This will be achieved by first providing some background information as to what was going on at the time of the films release followed by relating specific supporting examples from the film to those cultural happenings.

During the release of the film, many people in American society retained anxieties regarding others and felt that no one could really be trusted be it a friend, colleague, or even a student. The film responds to this by demonstrating that two seemingly normal, successful men are capable of murder. During that time, any deviation from the cultural norm was considered to be reason for suspicion and the masses felt these individuals were more likely to commit treasonous or unlawful activities. This is reflected in the film Rope by Brandon and Phillip's homosexual relationship, which makes them social-deviants.

During the same time, a Senator named John McCarthy was promoting the idea of confessions during the post-war era. People during the time were forced to undergo through background checks and interviews which discussed their personal and past habits for any type of government position. This lead to the rise of people confessing their crimes and it seems many people were willing to incriminate themselves, betray their neighbors and willing to divulge their pasts. This can be witnessed in Phillip when he seems to constantly want to confess.

I also want to discuss the ideas of superiority and inferiority which are very prevalent in the film. Brandon and Rupert seemed to believe in these ideas and they also had a more pronounced effect on people in society during that time.

Class struggle is also displayed in this film and it can be related to the post-war era as well.