August is musical month at the Catholic Movie Club! We’re going to look at movie musicals from across the history of the genre to see how these song-and-dance spectaculars can teach us about our faith.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis gave an address on the World Day of Social Communications about the rise of artificial intelligence. Demonstrating the Ignatian spirituality that informs his worldview, the pope said: “Depending on the inclination of the heart, everything within our reach becomes either an opportunity or a threat.” The question we must ask ourselves, he says, is: “How can we remain fully human and guide this cultural transformation to serve a good purpose?” Like any technological advancement, there are some who hail A.I. as the salvation of the world and others who decry it as a harbinger of the apocalypse. But I think Pope Francis is right: What really makes a difference is how we use it.
The A.I. boom has serious implications for Hollywood, many of them dire: human actors replaced with digital simulacra, text-to-video generative software replacing the work of film crews, scripts churned out by algorithms, and so on. This isn’t the first time a new technology has caused a sea change in the movie business. The most famous example was the release of “The Jazz Singer” (1927), the first film featuring recorded synchronized sound. It was a smash hit that radically transformed the film industry. For Hollywood stars who had developed skill sets and images rooted in silent film, it was sink or swim: some managed the transition successfully, while others were swept away by the tides of change.
That pivotal moment in Hollywood history is the backdrop for what is often considered the greatest movie musical of all time: “Singin’ in the Rain” (1952), directed and choreographed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly (who also stars), written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
Dashing silent film star Donald Lockwood (Kelly) is on top of the world: he has legions of adoring fans, he’s box office gold, and he’s newly in love with Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), an up-and-coming dancer. But the release of “The Jazz Singer” throws his world into chaos. Suddenly the energetic, improvisational film sets he once knew are quiet and restrictive, with the ability to talk in the direction of a microphone almost more important than turning in a good performance. His vain co-star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), loses her ethereal silent film mystique when audiences hear her shrill New York accent for the first time. After a disastrous test screening of his first talkie, Lockwood, his best friend Cosmo (Donald O’Connor) and Kathy hatch a plan to make the film a success by combining the best of the old and the new—and in the process, find a place for themselves in this strange new world.
Lockwood, we learn early in the film, has had to adapt before. He came to Hollywood from a humble career as a traveling vaudeville performer. While he learned the dignified manners and diction of a silver screen star, what really made him a success was his heartfelt love of performance and ability to collaborate with creative partners. These are the same skills that help him to make the transition to sound. His co-star Lina, on the other hand, has always been venal and selfish. While the other characters try to figure out ways in which this new technology can benefit everyone, she is the first to realize that she can use it to enrich herself at someone else’s expense.
It’s important to note: the technology itself is morally neutral. It doesn’t make Lockwood generous or Lina selfish; their use of it simply reveals who they’ve been all along. The same is true of A.I. or any other technological advancement: its potential for good or harm is determined by how we choose to use it. “Singin’ in the Rain” inspires us to meet these pivotal moments just as Lockwood and friends do: with creativity, cooperation and a desire to achieve the greatest possible good.
“Singin’ in the Rain” is streaming on Max.
