“Rick has this pose where he says, I don't stick my neck out for anybody. He says that a couple of times. And he doesn't drink with customers and he doesn't take sides on the war. And we see through various bits of information that this is completely not true. He may not be acting on his impulses, but he really is on one side rather than the other. … But in this film, we see again and again that passivity is amoral.”

Pamela, actually from the very beginning of the film, there are references to Rick not caring about politics and indeed specifically to isolationism. How effective is Casablanca in combating the ideology of isolationism, which was very present in the United States at the opening of the war? So, I mean, it's quite clear, obviously, that this film was made for the public, the American public. It wasn't made for the commander-in-chief, who'd obviously already made his decision. So, this is about selling the idea of what is the value of being involved in the war. They use words like isolationism and foreign policy quite heavily in the film, but often in regards to people's personal situations. So, not necessarily having conversations about politics. And Rick has this pose where he says, I don't stick my neck out for anybody. He says that a couple of times. And he, you know, he doesn't drink with customers and he doesn't take sides on the war. And we see through various bits of information, as Ian mentioned earlier, this is completely not true. He may not be acting on his impulses, but he has a very strong, he really is on one side rather than the other. He talks to a fellow cafe owner who wants to hire…