An American in Paris Analysis Paper

David C. Vales September 27, 2012 American Genre Film Film Analysis An American in Paris Vincente Minnelli “An American in Paris” is about an American man named Jerry Mulligan living in Paris with his friend Adam Cook. The two are in need of jobs. Jerry is an artist who comes across a wealthy woman named Milo Roberts, who takes interest, in not only his art work, but in Jerry himself.

Through Milo, out of coincidence, Jerry sees and meets Lice Bouvier and his feelings spark for her, creating a love triangle. When Jerry decides he wants to marry Lice, Adam learns about a conflict and another love triangle forms.

Both of his friends love one woman. Henri Baurel, being that other man, is set on marrying Lice. Lice then must explain to Jerry that she has to marry Henri.

Once Jerry’s feelings are broken he turns to Milo and they go to a New Year’s party. Here Milo and Henri find out that Jerry loves Lice and that they are getting married as soon as they get to America. The film ends after Lice returns moments after leaving to be with Jerry. The opening of “An American in Paris” by Vincente Minnelli started with a scene of art and a view of Paris. Paris is the perfect representation of art.

Jerry who is the main character of this film started the narration. The audience first learns a little bit about the characters; Jerry, Adam and Henri. The audience gets up close to the characters personally. Jerry is a talented artist who can not only paint, but tap-dance and sing. Adam, and also a friend of Jerry’s, is a pianist who dreams of participating in a concert and Henri, who is a good friend of Adam’s, is a wealthy man who host’s musical concerts.

The film then takes its course from there. What made the film interesting was that it was very narrow. An American in Paris” can easily be defined as the relationships and talents of art in Paris, one of the most famous symbols of art. The film didn’t include doctors, accountants, lawyers or anyone of any high standard. It showed the audience that wealth could be made from pure creativity in many different forms.

All it took was the attention of a greater source, such as a well-known performer or the eyes and ears of an audience. The fact that the film’s focus was so narrow kept the movie and audience’s attention simple, but suspenseful.

Not to mention the power it uses in comparing musical’s with emotion. The film showed a huge number of patterns that came up throughout the movie. There was a tie between Paris and the multiple arts performed, the two wealthy characters, Henri and Milo, the similar talents each character had dealing with art, and how the musicals tied with the feelings of mainly Jerry.

Every character that the audience learned about had talent. In other words, there were several different forms of art in the film that the movie focused on.

Painting art, the art of ballet dance, tap-dance, the art of music, and the art of song. 1. The musical art of piano for example was played by Adam Cook. When Jerry returned to the apartment after finally getting a chance to know Lice, Adam played a musical for Jerry that helped express Jerry’s feelings.

Adam also had a day-dream of performing music for his own audience. 2. Henri is another example. He performed musical concerts for audiences. This is learned in the beginning and middle of the film.

He can dance, sing, and his talents were performed as his career. . Jerry’s talent was the center of all the talent played in the film. What made Jerry special was that he could paint, tap-dance, sing and perform. Jerry, being the main character in “An American in Paris” had the most talent and popularity on his street.

Another pattern that really stuck out was how that talent was used to express emotions between characters. 1. The music Adam played for Jerry after the success of getting a date with Lice showed a feeling of excitement and happiness. Jerry tap-danced to the rhythm of Adam’s piano. .

Henri and Adam had an interesting musical number together. Only Adam knew that his two friends were planning on marrying the same woman. Adam, on the other hand kept that a secret causing Jerry and Henri to sing and dance amorously about the same girl they both loved. They both sang and danced happily together. 3. A third musical, and one of my favorites, was when Jerry danced for the children on the street.

Getting a crowd together, he was singing about America that originally started from the children wanting American bubblegum.

The pattern shows an excellent similarity in the film of how music and dance correspond to how the characters feel in the film. 4. At the end of the film when Jerry learns that Lice chose Henri to marry in America, Jerry’s feelings become overwhelmed. A musical is replaced with how Jerry feels when he finds out that he couldn’t have the girl he loved.

Watching the film, I felt like I knew everything that was going on during most of it. From the beginning, I knew equally to what the characters knew. Milo had feelings for Jerry, who had feelings for Lice.

Jerry and Adam were close friends, just like Adam and Henri were close friends. I found the film to be mostly restricted than unrestricted.

The audience was constantly updated throughout the course of the movie. 1. From the beginning of the movie, the audience got a personal insight on three of the characters. The first three characters were introduced with their own words to the audience and a friendship triangle was formed at the start of this film. Adam was friends with two people who later fell into conflict for the love of Lice.

. The audience only knew what the characters knew until we found out that Jerry and Henri loved the same woman; which by the way was soon resolved by Lice choosing Henri. Before that moment, the audience knew that Jerry and Henri were unaware of each other marrying the same woman. The only character to know was Adam, aside from the audience, who came off as confused and put in the middle of the situation. 3. The only scene that the audience knows more is at the end when Henri eavesdrops on the conversation between Jerry and Lice.

Here Henri learns that Jerry and Lice did know each other and that she chooses Henri. With that as the case, the audience is generally restricted, knowing only as much as the characters knew. We knew that Jerry had feelings for Lice, and only once did the audience see Henri and Lice together before we knew they were to marry. There was a pattern between a love triangle and a friendship triangle, whereas, Adam became the middleman. The playing of the film in chronological order caused the story and its plot to run smoothly with the audience.

The film was probably put in this approach to avoid any confusion and obvious assumptions among the audience.

If the audience knew everything that was going on in the film, then the audience would be able to anticipate what would happen next. This would probably kill the suspense in the film. Overall, I thought the film was interesting and it grabbed my attention in different areas. From the dry humor in the beginning to the breaking of Jerry’s feelings, all that resolved to a happy ending. I felt that the movie was very powerful. It contained love, art, and suspense that captured the curiosity of the film.