Woody Allens Play with Hollywood Conventions

The authoress writes about Woody Allen's ironic and nostalgic ties with the tradition of Hollywood's film genres. In his movies, Allen places the elements encouraging the viewer to join a peculiar intertextual game. He uses direct or indirect visual and verbal quotes from the classical movies of the Golden Era of Hollywood. Such references are not only made in 'The Purple Rose of Cairo', or 'Play it Again', 'Sam' (a play and film written by and starring Woody Allen and directed by Herbert Ross), where the story centres on how cinema could change the lives of film heroes. Such references can only be seen in all his movies. Parodies of various genres seem to be of special interest; 'Sleeper', a parody of science-fiction genre, 'Manhattan Mystery Murder' - in which you can find elements of the crime mystery movie or 'Everyone Says I Love You' in which he ironically revives the formula of the classical musical.