Annie Hall

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2012)

Annie Hall is a classic 1970's film that has many different elements regarding relationships, interpersonal issues, and city life. This movie is classified as a true American romantic comedy, but I also think it can also be classified as a drama. I classified it as a drama because the intense problems that Alvy and other characters bring to the film.
New York is not known from being the most uplifting cities in the world. It is known to be negative and gloomy, yet full of strange quirks. Alvy Singer represents the city of New York; he is negative, gloomy and has plenty of strange quirks. An example of his negative behavior is best represented in his pessimistic view on life, "Life is divided up into the horrible and the miserable". He goes into further detail explaining how the horrible people are those who have some kind of terminal illness and the miserable is everyone else. Another example of Alvy's negativity is his inability to grow as a person. He has been going to the same analysis for 15 years now, just to complain about how awful life is. The point of attending the analysis is to better yourself and develop a more positive outlook on life. Whereas Alvy used this time to vent his negative opinions of the world. The upside to Alvy's personality is the strange, yet fun quirks that are evident throughout the movie. Some of these are things like talking at a rapid pace, making a joke out of everything, always wanting to participate in sexually activities with his partner.
His imagination starts to break away from the original story telling type of movie; this imagination created a strong interaction between the audience and Alvy. Oppose to presenting all of the information in a bland and direct fashion, Alvy brings the audience into his situations that he is dealing with. Many times throughout the movie, he has a random conversation with other people when something goes "wrong" in his life. He talks to these random strangers and they reply as if they know what is truly happening in his life. This is because Alvy's character feeds off of social interaction as a comedian. On top of this, his false sense of reality that is emphasized by these interactions with strangers shows his mental and emotional instability.
Alvy, Rob, and Annie are all grouped in the entrainment industry. They are all entertainers; Alvy is a well-known comedian, Rob is an actor for a major T.V. series in California, and Annie is a singer for a local night bar. These three people are grouped in entertainment but yet are divided into sub-sectors.
The main thing that I noticed when watching this movie is the attitudes change when Alvy is around. His negativity doesn't just smother him from enjoying life, it also affects the people he is closest too. Annie Hall is a great example of this; she started out as a bright and outgoing person, but once Alvy and Annie grew closer together, she became negative and neurotic, just like Alvy. (Induction) Just like most romantic comedy films, Annie Hall is a romantic comedy that also deals with relationships, even if they are crazy and neurotic.
Characterization was something that was new to me; I understood the concept of how to analyze the characters, but I had never applied it before. After doing this project, I have learned how to analyze characters more in-depth. Earlier, I analyzed Alvy's personality is the city of New York. It allowed me to further a concept that I knew little about.
Annie Hall touches on neurotic behaviors and its effect on relationships in a humorous manner. This movie represents New York and the people within the city. The romantic comedy touches on the reality of relationship and allows the viewer to see the unfolding of a relationship gone badly.