Dog Day AfternonSidney Lumet, 1975

Dog Day Afternoon

Drama based on fact

“disastrously planned bank robbery”

written by Lumet and Frank Pierson (President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). [August 2001 - August 2005])

Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men (1957)

Serpico (1973)

Network (1976)

The Wiz (1978)

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead (2007)

Dog Day Afternoon 1975

The movie only says this is what happened nothing more

Doesn’t attempt to do more

Manages to become a fascinating character study regardless of this fact

During the course of the day more is revealed about Sonny’s character

In that respect I disagree with Vincent Canby’s point that the film lacks emotional impact due to the immediacy of the form

Fredric Jameson

disappearance of class

the difference between older industrial systems and what now is called post-industrial society

Identity Politics Play a role as well

Terminology

Lumpenproletariat: Raggedy Proletariat Marxian and even some non-Marxist sociologists now use the term to refer to those they see as the victims of modern society, who exist outside the wage-labor system.

proletariat (from Latin proles, "offspring") is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is proletarian. Originally it was identified as those people who had no wealth other than their sons; the term was initially used in a derogatory sense, until Karl Marx used it as a sociological term to refer to the working class.

petit bourgeoisie: shop keepers and professionals

Daniel Bell 1973 work The Coming of Post-Industrial Society.

Within this work he describes the U.S.S.R. and the United States as the only two industrialized nations.

The dichotomy between the two was the capitalist and the collectivist mindsets.

He correctly predicted the attributes of the post-industrial capitalist society, such as the global diffusion of capital, the imbalance of international trade, and the decline of the manufacturing sector on the U.S. domestic front. [3]

Cultural aspect of post-industrial society

Bell emphasized the changes to post-industrial society are not merely socially structural and economic; the values and norms within the post-industrial society are changed as well.

Rationality and efficiency become the paramount values within the post-industrial society.

Eventually, according to Bell, these values cause a disconnect between social structures and culture.

Most of today's unique modern problems can be generally attributed to the effects of the post-industrial society. These problems are particularly pronounced where the free market dominates. They can include economic inequality, the outsourcing of domestic jobs, etc

Disappearance of ClassWhen Industry becomes decentralized and more complicated the Marxist paradigm of class structure no longer applies

Class structure leaves the vernacular

transformation of both the bourgeois and worker into a new grey organization/person known as the consumer

service economy

Identity Politics

Feminism

Civil Rights Movement

Anti-authoritarian

subversive, but took focus away from class politics

If class isn’t perceived by society then the problems brought about by power differentials will be invisible

Overtly Political Film

Jameson suggests that political content is present in many “contemporary dramas”

He seems to be suggesting that the political elements in this type of film are commonplace

He refers to the less overt political subject matter in the film

Film based on a true story: Sonny Wortzik August 22, 1972 (Final nominating convention of Nixon/Agnew

Three Novelties distinguish this robbery from others

the crowd sympathized with the viewer

bank robber turns out to be homosexual

media event

“set of circumstances too unique to have any generalizable meaning

works towards the reassurance of suburban movie-goers

According to Jamesonwhat is good about the film is bad about the film from a political standpoint

Class articulationis not the most obvious political reading of the film

Contradiction

raises some basic issues about the direction of contemporary social reality

vs. existential paradigm (the good old days when all we had to worry about were psychological problems)

Pacino’s performance by its brilliance thrusts the film further into the above paradigm (the anti-hero and method actor)

There is something different: His rage isn’t impotent--it makes sense

Watergate

Inflation

Viet Nam

The system no longer makes sense

suburban audiences supported Sonny as well

“unlike the audience of the Bogart films who had to stand by and watch the outcasts mercilessly destroyed by the monolithic and omnipotent institution of society this audience has witnessed the collapse of the system’s legitimacy”

change in those protestant values, of law and order, property, and institutions that allows a middle class audience to root for Sonny

Brecht once said, “What kind of crime is the robbing of a bank compared to the opening of a bank?”

And it is clear that for the citizens of some multinational stage of capitalism it seems the practical side of daily life is a test of ingenuity and a game of wits waged between the consumer and the giant faceless corporation

Ghettoization of the older urban neighborhoods1949 housing act

federal assistance for private development of inner cities

big corporations moved in

housing developments moved out

working class dispersed

inner city left for extremely poor and somewhat affluent

cars, washing machines, one family houses began to absorb an increasing amount of workers’ incomes and had an impact on work

destruction of inner city and the rise of shopping center culture

Dog Day Afternoon explores the space where these transformations have taken place

circuit of communications (of police) takes place at a local mom and pop store

the original bank robbed by Sonny was Chase Manhattan

characters (secondary) are second class, underpaid women who are employees of an invisible multinational corporation

their structurally marginal system is not unlike Sonny’s

Dichotomy

Jameson suggests that viewers should let go of the individual story of Sonny (the anti-hero)

Think of him within this colonized corporate space

Film’s representation

FBI>Maretti>Sonny

TV>Character Actor>Hollywood Stars

Proletariat>Lumpens>petty bourgeoise

multinationals---nationals