Freie Universität Berlin
John F. Kennedy Institut

American Cultural Memory in ′The Way We Were′

Christin Jensen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction ... 3

2. Synopsis ... 5

3. Film Analysis ... 6

3.1 Description 6...
3.2 Analysis ... 8

4. Ways of Remembering ... 9

4.1 The way we could have been, but never were – Hot Society vs. Cold Society ... 9
4.2 The way we will always be – Strategies in American Culture ... 11

5. Conclusion ... 13

6. References ... 14

Internet sources ... 14

1. Introduction

“Without a doubt, the positive, historical view of The Way We Were has grown significantly.”¹

It is true that at the time of the movie’s release in 1973 it was not very much praised, quite the contrary: Reviews consisted mainly of disapproval, calling the movie for instance a “dumb tear-jerking love affair”², probably due to the lack of depth given to the political topics of the movie. In fact, some of the political scenes had been cut out of the movie after the first preview. However, the performance of both leading actors, Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, was somewhat appreciated by critics and even loved by the audience. Consequently, the movie was reduced to its love story theme and finally categorized as a typical Hollywood romance.

Why then, as Allison J. Waldman’s quote above indicates, has the perception of the movie changed? Why do “even critics who were once parsimonious in their praise of The Way We Were today employ revisionist history and find qualities in the film they didn’t see the first time around”³? To answer these questions and, above all, to understand Sydney Pollack’s The Way We Were, it is important to pay attention to the political issues of the movie, i.e. to go beyond the displayed romance, although both are still closely connected with each other. As the title of the movie suggests, as well as the title song with the same name, The Way We Were treats the theme of remembering.

The following pages will try to show in how far The Way We Were seems typical for the “American way of remembering” and in what way it can be described as a “hot memory” and/ or a “cold memory” movie. To illustrate and reconstruct these trains of thought, it is inevitable to take a look at one scene from the movie, which will first be described and then be analyzed. Before all that a very short synopsis will be offered, as the film was not discussed in class.

2. Synopsis

The turbulent relationship between Katie Morosky (B. Streisand) and Hubbell Gardiner (R. Redford) is set against the complex political landscape of America in the late 1930s through the early 1950s.

The story begins during World War II when Katie meets Hubbell again, whom she has not seen since their college days in the 1930s. In a flashback to those times, the two characters are introduced: She being a radical activist and a member of the Young Communist League; he being a typical WASP, active in college sports and unconcerned with political issues.

Back in the present time of the movie they fall in love with each other and marry. But neither of them is able to tolerate each other’s principles, especially when Katie, now an ardent Democrat, protests the Un-American Activities Committee’s hearings in Washington. Finally they realize that “their differences – his cool, her heat; his detached aloofness, her visceral passion”⁴ – are irreconcilable and they agree to part after the birth of their baby.

[...]

1 Waldman, Allison J., The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, Carol Publishing Group, New York, 1995, p.117.
2 Review by Wolf, William (for Cue) found in: Spada, James, The Films and Career of Barbra Streisand, Carol Publishing Group, New York, 1974, p.215.
3 Waldman, Allison J., The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, s.a.
4 Waldman, Allison J., s.a., p. 115.