THEMES

1. THEMES On the Waterfront

2. Terry’s Moral growth • Write down what/who influences Terry to testify at the Waterfront Crime Commission Hearing. • How does Terry’s body language and voice change throughout the film and what is this symbolic of? • What is Terry standing up against?

3. The corrupting influence of evil • List what is corrupt about the waterfront. • D and D- silence • The Shape Up • The other murders • Kick backs

4. Goodness • List characters that are ‘good’ and their significant actions • List images of goodness that occur throughout the film

5. Images of goodness • Statues of Jesus and the saints in the church • The spectacle of the body of Dugan rising from the hold with Father Barry and Pop Doyle • Father Barry’s determination to speak in spite of being attacked- the food/cans • The work of the Crime Commission • Joey’s jacket- particularly when Edie gives it to Terry • Pigeons- free, loyal- get married

6. America and what it stands for • What about the waterfront demonstrates that its like ‘it ain’t part of America’? • Father Barry- ‘in this country we have ways of fighting back... Testifying for what you know is right’- comparison to American judicial system, the presence of the Crime Commission officers.

7. America and what it stands for • Edie tries to convince Terry to leave the waterfront but he looks over towards a now smoke free Manhattan skyline and sees a beautiful ocean liner beginning its journey. He tells Edie that he is going to the waterfront to get his rights- that is, his rights as an American, in a beautiful rich country. (The American Dream)

8. WORKING CLASS LIFE • Pop Doyle going to work the day after his son’s death • Pop’s struggle to keep Edie at school • Terry’s (possessive) and the longshoremens’ (notice plural and possessive) jackets with holes • The tenement buildings • The desperation of the men to get work: “Who do you see to get a day’s pay around here?”

9. Mr upstairs • Who is he? • What does he represent?

10. PREPARATION FOR THE SAC In your own time you will need to revise over: • Your own shortened list of quotes that you learn off by heart • Knowledge of film terminology. • Four or more key scenes that you can write a detailed analysis on, incorporating knowledge of character, theme, social values and cinematography.

11. KEY SCENES • Glove scene- Terry opened up to a new world of possibility, different way of thinking • Scene in the bar- “Shouldn’t everybody care about everybody else?” Edie’s naive world view. • Father Barry’s sermon in the hold- Dugan’s death • Terry breaks into Edie’s apartment • Cab scene • Johnny Friendly’s bar- Father Barry talks and punches Terry: “fight him in the courtroom with the truth” • The last scene: “I was ratting on myself all those years and I didn’t even know it”, “I’m glad what I done to you.” Terry leads the workers to work with a legitimate union leader in himself.

12. Edie • Why does Edie plead with Terry to leave the waterfront? • What has she learned?

13. Above all else!!!! • ADDRESS THE ESSAY TOPIC • If you have a mental blank- DO NOT write mental blank and stop writing. Take a minute, stop and think. What is the question asking me? What is an important scene from the film that relates to the topic? • ONLY if all else fails... Write what you know about the film- you can get a few marks for summary (more than you would if you left the page blank!!)