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Kyle Henson
Professor Julie Hicks
LBST 1102
16 September 2014
Singin in the Rain Response
Singin in the Rain directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen is an easily lovable film
full of humor and entertaining musical pieces set in the interesting time period of the 1920s. It is
a musical film about turning a film into a musical shortly after synchronized sound was
introduced. The production becomes more and more impressive as it goes especially considering
that it was made in the early 1950s. Singin in the Rain is a love letter to the style of the 1920s
while retaining the feel of a 1950s film. Gene Kelly and the rest of the cast and crew brought the
film to life on screen to make it into a memorable experience for me.
The most popular scene in the movie is probably when Gene Kelly is singing Singin in
the Rain in the rain. I never watched this movie before, but I knew about this scene from
countless references in all types of media. It is a scene that just made me smile with the
combination of the happy song and the adult dancing around like a kid. The utter joy on his face
mixed with the elaborate yet playful dancing made for an experience that I didnt want to end. A
Clockwork Orange flipped all that I liked about the song and flipped it upside down. The song
went from being playful and fun to dreadful and inappropriate. The main character of A
Clockwork Orange sings this song as he is doing a little dance mixed with some assaulting of the
couple at the house. The bad part is that the dance is still playful like in Singin in the Rain but it
is mixed with the kicking of the man and the beating of the woman to transform it into something

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unenjoyable. This week I have been looking up the Singin in the Rain scene on YouTube just
to bring a smile on my face, while it was hard to watch the A Clockwork Orange scene once. I
thought that it would ruin my experience with the original scene, but thankfully I still enjoy that
one just as much. This song being in A Clockwork Orange flipped the song on its head and
changed my experience, but at the same time that is what the purpose was. It made the rape
scene even creepier by putting a song to juxtapose what was happening on screen while still not
ruining my experience with the original scene. This is why I think that the studio should have let
Kubric use the song in his film. A Clockwork Orange is a movie that is extremely different from
Singin in the Rain but is still able to affectively use the same song to get a point across.
Singin in the Rain is a movie from the 1950s that goes back in time to the Roarin 1920s.
In going back it displays the entertaining culture of the 1920s. Four values of 1920s culture
prevalent in the movie are the transition to talkies, celebrity pedestals, gender roles, and fashion.
The whole movie is about how movies went from silent films to films with synchronized sound.
Everyone at the studio is in disbelief the first time they saw the film of someone with the sound
matching. They keep asking where the man that is talking is, and not really understanding what
is going on. They show the scene where they talk about The Jazz Singer being the first film with
synchronized sound. It totally changed the game of Hollywood for everyone. It is so interesting
being placed in a time when movies were transitioning and the struggles that it brought with it.
Acting was no longer about just making unrealistically dramatic faces and movements, you had
to woo audiences with your voice and making your movements more realistic to make audiences
feel like they are a part of what you are doing. Actors like Lina Lamont had a hard time with
this, and some werent able to make the transition. Singin in the Rain show some of the
struggles that came with transforming a studio from a silent film studio to a talkie studio with

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some hilarity. Multiple movies all of the sudden cannot be filmed in the same studio at the same
time because they needed to isolate noise. This also caused problems with microphone
placement which was evident in the movie. In the same vein as movies, Singin in the Rain
shows us how celebrities were praised in the 1920s. The film starts off with actors strolling
down the red carpet with a lady announcing them as they go by. When it gets to Don Lockwood
and Lina Lamont they ask them all of these questions and make him share his story. Another
scene that portrays peoples affection for Don Lockwood was when he was surrounded by girls
in the middle of the sidewalk and he had to escape on top of the cars. What I realized in
watching this film was that celebrity culture almost a hundred years ago now was not much
different than it is today. Celebrities still get harassed when they are in public. It is still a huge
deal when your favorite actor comes in on the red carpet. The entertainment industry hasnt
really changed much at all. Another thing that I thought was interesting was the Don Lockwood
and Lina Lamont relationship. Their whole relationship was just for public appearance and
nothing else. It makes you wonder which of todays celebrity relationships are real and which
ones are for the camera. The next cultural value of the 1920s that is shown is an interesting one.
Gender roles have been around for as long as humans have, and it is not ignored in this film.
This movie was made in the 1950s, so the gender roles are still a lot different between then and
now. This movie however shows how the 1920s culture set up gender roles. Don Lockwood has
girls swoon over him all the time, and he falls in love with the first girl that puts up any sort of
resistance. This is more of a movie trope, but it does portray how girls were viewed in Don
Lockwoods eyes. Don Lockwood is the poster child for the studio while Lina Lamont is left in
the background. Don Lockwood can be mentioned by himself, but if Lina Lamont is mentioned,
Dons name is usually not far behind. In terms of the 1950s gender roles, both Gene Kelly and

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Donald OConnor get their own music and dance numbers, but none of the females got one. It
was almost like it was expected in the film of that time to have a lead male music scene, but it
wasnt necessary to have a female one. The fashion of the 1920s is shown and sometimes over
exaggerated in this film. The first scene shows the extravagant dress of the ladies of the 1920s.
Lina Lamont is wearing some big furry white dress to show off who she is. It goes to show how
much womens fashion has changed in the last century while mens formal fashion has hardly
changed. The first scene that popped into my head when thinking of fashion is the Beautiful
Girl scene. It goes through different styles of clothing of the time while slightly poking fun at
what they wore. Culture in the 1920s was extravagant yet elegant, and that is something that
Singin in the Rain had to portray with a slight bit of humor added along for the fun of it.
This is one of those movies that I have a really hard time believing that people can hate. I
can understand not liking some parts, but as a whole this movie brings a smile to my face just
thinking about it. The music is amazing and the humor brings everything together. The songs
have been stuck in my head all week just like I knew they would. The only part of the movie
that I did not like was the Broadway Melody scene. The transition into it was odd and short with
not enough background. The actual music dragged on way too long leaving me confused at why
it was included in the film at all. It was strange, and seemed like a lot of work, so it is amazing
that it made it into the final copy of the film. The singing and choreography were still great, but
I just wasnt as interested. The rest of the scenes were some of my favorite in movie history
though, especially what I talked about with the Singin in the Rain scene. I would definitely
recommend this to any musical lover, and even those that arent that interested in musicals.