Briefly explain how the tone of the film Bringing Up Baby influences the audience’s interpretation of the film’s ideology

What will be an ideal response?

Answer: The ideal answer should include:
1. Without taking a film’s tone into account, a mechanistic analysis of its ideological values can be misleading.
2. For example, Howard Hawks’s Bringing Up might be interpreted as a leftist critique of a decadent society. Set in the final years of the Great Depression, the movie deals with the desperate schemes of an idle society woman, in luring a dedicated scientist, David Huxley, away from his work—to join her in an amorous frolic. This is hardly a goal that would be applauded by most leftists, who tend to disapprove of frivolous play.
3. But the movie’s tone says otherwise. In the first place, Huxley is engaged to be married to a prim, sexless associate who is utterly devoid of humor. She is the Work Ethic incarnate. Susan Vance is the opposite—flighty, beautiful, and rich. Susan is exciting and exasperating—but fun.
4. The charm of Hawks’s screwball comedy lies precisely in what critic Robin Wood described as “the lure of irresponsibility.” The middle-class work ethic is portrayed as joyless— as dry as the fossil bones that Huxley and his fiancée have devoted their lives to.
6. The tone of this movie—like that of most screwball comedies—is zany, silly, and fun, but the film is not devoid of ideology. During the 1930s, there were many American movies that dealt with the style and glamour of the rich, who were often portrayed as eccentric and good-hearted.
7. Hawks’s film is very much in this tradition. The hardships of the Depression are not even alluded to in the movie. The luxurious lifestyle of the heroine enhances her appeal, and the fact that she doesn’t have a job (nor seem to want one) is simply not relevant. Bringing Up Baby is a comedy and a love story, and its zany tone makes if more a light entertainment than a serious social critique.