How does Casablanca argue against isolationism, according to Pamela Hutchinson and Ian Christie?

Pamela Hutchinson says the film was aimed at the American public, not President Roosevelt, and sells the case for joining the war through Rick's personal choices. His claim that he sticks his neck out for nobody is contradicted by his past fighting Mussolini in Ethiopia and Franco in Spain. Ian Christie points to moments such as Rick rigging the roulette table for a young Bulgarian refugee couple as steps back towards his anti-Nazi instincts.

• Hutchinson's reading is that the film repeatedly shows passivity as immoral.
• Christie places Casablanca after Hold Back the Dawn, a Billy Wilder script about refugees in Mexico trying to reach America.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on In Our Time (2026-10-29). Read the whole episode summary →

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