Rush 6...

Meet Me In St. Louis - 
     My gram this week was Tootie's doll at the start of the film that she talked about having to bury soon because she is very sick.  Although this is the only time we actually see the doll in her hands, throughout the film Tootie mentions multiple times of the many dolls that she has previously buried in the backyard.  Tootie seems pleased with this, and her life thus far is a rather positive one and with each dolls burial, she seems to be planting her roots in St. Louis.  As the story line progresses and Tootie learns that her family will be moving to New York, she is immediately distressed saying that she will have to dig up her dolls to take with her.  Though, at the end of the film when her father says that they will not move to New York, Tootie's attitude immediately looks up, as she is happy that she can stay in St Louis and continue to plant her roots into the ground with the burial of a new doll.  I believe that the question proposed is if Tootie will in fact dig up her dolls and how she will plant her new roots in such a small place like New York; but at the end when it is revealed that she will stay in St Louis, we realize that her roots could never be moved and that she will continue to discover herself and grow in St Louis.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

     The gram I chose in this movie, was the giant wheel on which Dorothy leans upon when she sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It appears relatively early on in the film, and the song she sings seems to spark the fire for Dorothy's quest in the show. In this number, Dorothy is revealed as a character who is not happy where she is and dreams of a better place to call home.  This spurs her running away a few scenes later. However, shortly after talking to a 'fortune teller' who tells her that her Aunt Em has a broken heart, she decides to return home, and spends the rest of the movie trying to go home.
     I feel like Dorothy's quest is well represented in this wheel, because a wheel is circular and, when moving, continues to rotate around and around - continuous.  The other similar wheels I saw throughout the film were on a carriage in Munchkin Land, and on the multi-colored horses' carriage in the Emerald City.  Each time these wheels were shown, they were all in motion.  However, the wheel Dorothy leaned upon was much completely stationary; not to mention shown in black and white while the others were in color.  This could be translated to the idea that Dorothy's personal wheel is stationary because she feels stuck and is dreaming of a better place somewhere over the rainbow, and the other wheels are in motion in the land of Oz because they are in a foreign place, quite over the rainbow indeed.
     In relation to the mobius strip, I feel like my gram ties in quite nicely as well as the main characters quest to return home.  The mobius strip has a constant, forward motion that never lets you stop propelling on its path.  This is much like a wheel; the very wheels seen in the land of Oz.  These wheels gave the story a constant feeling of forward motion and confusion from Dorothy's perspective concerning how she would ever return home, which gave the viewer the same sense.  And even when Dorothy does return to Kansas at the end of the film, she awakens with a personal satisfaction and longing to be right where she is, and her personal wheel has been set in motion with enthusiasm and content to stay right where she is.

Rush 4

In the Smiling Lieutenant, my gram was the pearl necklace around Franzi's neck when she sat on her lieutenant's lap, upset over his trouble with 'smiling at the princess'.  My gram in Footlight Parade was the map on the wall of Kent's office.  The two are similar, because both of the like Franzi, Nan also wore a necklace in a few scenes. Also, the map in his office showed the USA and this could relate to the other film, because it takes place in a foreign country. The map also had markers of performance halls, which could also relate to the Smiling Lieutenant because Franzi's music group traveled and performed as well. They are different because while the pearl necklace extenuates Franzi's feminine features, the map's purpose is strictly business related and provides no feminine aid to Nan in the scene.