title: The Last of Us Part II

text: Avard of "GamesRadar+" felt that the new gameplay mechanics were added with a level of care to ensure an authenticity that Naughty Dog is known for. "GameRevolution"s Leri lauded the cohesiveness between gameplay and narrative, and the former's ability to create empathy. Plagge of "GameSpot" appreciated the intensity of combat and wrote that "Ellie's movements are smooth enough that they almost look scripted". "VentureBeat"s Takahashi found the combat more diverse than its predecessor's. "IGN"s Dornbush similarly felt that the combat gameplay and puzzle elements had been improved, praising the intelligence and variation of enemies. Avard of "GamesRadar+" described the enemy AI as "some of the most advanced" of any game. McKeand of "VG247" considered the level design better than other Naughty Dog games, and McNamara of "Game Informer" felt that it improved combat scenarios. "The Verge"s Webster admired the action but noted some "awkward moments when [it] attempts to cover its video game-ness". "Polygon"s Myers found the combat an unsubtle messenger for its statement on violence; "Kotaku"s MacLeod wrote that the "pace of the combat sometimes felt like punishment".


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: Many critics felt the graphics were among the best of any PlayStation 4 game. "Kotaku"s MacLeod wrote that the nature in Seattle is "gorgeous and awe-inspiring", and "Push Square"s Barker declared the art department "among the best in the industry". "The Guardian"s MacDonald described the graphics as "meticulous and astounding". Dornbush of "IGN" appreciated the world's ability to tell additional stories. "GameRevolution"s Leri considered the environments more realistic than the first game's, and praised the technical elements, such as frame rate, lack of load times, and realistic lighting. Carter of "Destructoid" felt that the seamless animation of minor facial expressions humanized the characters to a new level. McNamara of "Game Informer" similarly lauded the realistic-looking characters. "VentureBeat"s Takahashi commended the improvements to Naughty Dog's already impressive engine. Zacny of "Vice" found Seattle too similar to Boston and Pittsburgh from the first game, and Christopher Byrd of "The Washington Post" wondered if the detail was worth the "human cost" of Naughty Dog's crunch culture.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: Barker of "Push Square" described the sound design as "stunning", identifying the 3D audio as a technical feat he would not have expected until PlayStation 5. "Vice"s Zacny found that the audio design made settings feel more lifelike in a way that the visuals occasionally failed to do. "IGN"s Dornbush similarly felt that the sounds added realism, and praised Santaolalla's "moving" score. McNamara of "Game Informer" found that the music added tension. Kevin Dunsmore of "Hardcore Gamer" wrote that the "haunting and subtle melodies blend into the world seamlessly". "Eurogamer"s Welsh praised the score for its combination of banjo and electronics.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: The game was the subject of review bombing on Metacritic, resulting in a user review score of 3.4/10 at its nadir. Reporters noticed the review bombing occurred shortly after the game launched, too early for users to feasibly have finished it; some suggested that the reviews were based on the incomplete plot leaks. Many of the negative reviews criticized the characterization and plot; some complained of "social justice warrior" politics, with vitriolic responses to LGBT characters. "CNET"s Daniel Van Boom wrote that the review bombers did not represent the majority of players, while "Kotaku"s MacLeod identified thousands of positive user reviews; the latter wrote that Metacritic's opaque system, which emphasizes scores over critique, comprised only "a bunch of meaningless numbers and a lot of rage".


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: Some players criticized Joel's death in the opening hours, perceiving a discrepancy between his cautious nature in the first game and his more trustful and protective attitude in "Part II". "Den of Geek"s Matthew Byrd wrote that Joel had protected young women in the past, so his trusting of Abby in "Part II" was not "entirely unreasonable". Sam Clench of "News.com.au" also argued that Joel's time in Jackson had realistically made him less cynical over the years. A number of players considered Joel's brutal and undignified death "disrespectful"; Clench rebutted that it was realistic, as most real deaths occur at unfortunate times, and described the scene as "extremely strong, purposeful writing". Josh Hawkins of "Shacknews" wrote that Joel's death was a fitting retribution for his brutal actions and murders. Some players felt the marketing, which had altered and replaced characters in trailers to conceal Joel's death and Abby's role, was intentionally deceptive; Druckmann responded that Naughty Dog had intended to preserve the game experience, "not to bamboozle anyone or get their $60".


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: A subset of players criticized Abby and disapproved of her playable chapters as they had expected to control Ellie for the majority of the game. Writing for "Collider", Dave Trumbore felt that Abby had been unfairly maligned by audiences who had failed to understand the story's message. Some players criticized Abby's muscular physique, and theories spread online that she was transgender; "The Independent"s Amy Coles and "Polygon"s Patricia Hernandez argued that this perception was a result of the lack of body diversity in games, and that the story showed Abby had the resources to achieve her physique. Coles observed that these arguments were propagated by "a loud and determinedly misogynistic subset" of players. Laura Bailey, who played Abby, became the target of online death threats in response to the character; Naughty Dog released a statement condemning the threats, and Bailey was supported by James Gunn, Ashley Johnson, and Craig Mazin, among others.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: Some members of the transgender community objected to the representation of Lev, a transgender supporting character. Criticism focused on villains using Lev's dead name, that the character was created by cisgender writers, and the use of trans stories as tragedies. Stacey Henley of "VG247" responded that Lev's dead name is used sparingly and that Ian Alexander, a transgender actor, provides the character's voice and motion capture. Writing for "Paste", Waverly praised the choice to have Lev played by a transgender actor, but felt there was too much emphasis on his gender identity and the suffering he experienced for it. Waverly felt that "Lev's story isn't made for trans people, but to give cisgender players a space to connect with their guilt and pity for trans people". Henley wrote that, while Lev's story is imperfect, it is "a major step for trans characters in gaming, [and] focuses on a highly charismatic and central character who is far more than this transness". "Kotaku"s MacLeod saw Lev's character as simply a way of acknowledging that trans people exist in the game's universe and wrote that it was up to the player to create their own meaning from the character.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: "Polygon"s Hernandez observed that the discourse surrounding "The Last of Us Part II" had become adversarial, with "bigots" attacking the game for its diverse cast and Naughty Dog becoming defensive. "Vice"s Zacny claimed that, in response to his critical review, Sony contacted him on behalf of Naughty Dog to discuss his criticisms, which they disagreed with; Zacny said the discussion, while cordial, was unusual from a large publisher. On Twitter, Druckmann expressed disapproval at journalist Jason Schreier after he mocked a comparison of "Part II" to the 1993 film "Schindler's List." Baker responded to another comment from Schreier, that "video games are too long", with a quote from US president Theodore Roosevelt about critics being less valuable than creators. Hernandez concluded that this was "not an environment that is conducive to encouraging honest reviews or critical discussion, which is ultimately a disservice to the game itself". Bailey of "USgamer" wrote that the strict review embargo prevented meaningful discussion of the narrative. Druckmann acknowledged that the embargo had been enforced as a result of the plot leaks, as he had felt that reviews discussing plot details would have become more harmful and widespread than the leaks themselves.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: "The Last of Us Part II" holds the record for most Game of the Year awards, surpassing previous record holder "" (2015). It was awarded from outlets and shows such as "Den of Geek", "Digital Trends", "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Empire", "Entertainment Weekly", "Game Informer", "PlayStation Blog", "Push Square", and the Titanium Awards. It was named runner-up by several other publications. "The Last of Us Part II" was ranked among the best games of its generation by "Game Informer", "GamesRadar", and "IGN". At the 38th Golden Joystick Awards in November 2020, it won all six awards for which it was nominated: Ultimate Game of the Year, Best Audio, Best Storytelling, Best Visual Design, PlayStation Game of the Year, and Studio of the Year for Naughty Dog. It led the nominees for The Game Awards 2020 with 11 nominations, of which it won seven, the most in the show's history: Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Audio Design, Innovation in Accessibility, Best Action/Adventure, and Best Performance (for Bailey).


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: "The Last of Us Part II" was nominated for 24 awards at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, the most in the show's history; it won eight, including Outstanding Direction in a Game Cinema, Franchise Adventure Game, Lead Performance in a Drama (for Johnson and Bailey), and Supporting Performance in a Drama (for Baker). It was nominated for 13 awards at the 17th British Academy Games Awards, the most in the show's history, winning for Animation, the publicly-voted EE Game of the Year, and Performer in a Leading Role (for Bailey). It led the nominees at the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards with 11 nominations, of which it won two: Outstanding Achievement in Animation and Outstanding Achievement in Story. It also led the 19th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards with 15 nominations and eight wins, and the 21st Game Developers Choice Awards with six nominations, of which it won one. It received the most nominations at the inaugural Global Industry Game Awards with 13, of which it won three: 3D Animation, Cinematography, and Story.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: In its release weekend, "The Last of Us Part II" sold over four million copies worldwide, becoming the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive, beating "Marvel's Spider-Man"s 3.3million and "God of War"s 3.1million in the same period. It had the biggest launch of 2020 for both physical and digital sales. On the PlayStation Store, it was the most-downloaded PlayStation 4 game in North America and Europe in June; in July, it was fifth in North America and tenth in Europe; in November, it was the eighth in North America and seventh in Europe; and overall for 2020, it ranked sixth in North America and eighth in Europe. In the United States, it was the best-selling game of June 2020 and became the third-best-selling game of the year within two weeks, generating the highest first-month sales of the year. By August 2020, it had become the third-highest-grossing PlayStation game in the United States, behind "Marvel's Spider-Man" and "God of War". Overall, it was the sixth-best-selling game of the year in the United States; it was the third-best-selling for PlayStation consoles, and the best-selling PlayStation 4-only game. By June 2022, the game had sold through over ten million copies worldwide.


title: The Last of Us Part II

text: In the United Kingdom, "The Last of Us Part II" became the fastest-selling physical PlayStation 4 game, outselling previous record holder "Uncharted 4" by at least one percent and "The Last of Us" by 76 percent; it was the nation's eighth-best-selling game of the year with 543,218 copies sold, and the seventh for physical sales. A price discount in February 2021 saw it re-enter the UK physical charts in third place, representing a 3,992 percent increase. In Japan, "The Last of Us Part II" was the best-selling game during its first week, selling an estimated 178,696 physical copies. In Germany, it sold over 200,000 copies in June 2020 and 500,000 by December 2020. In Australia, it was the eighth-best-selling of the year, and the third for physical sales.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the measurement of prices in different countries that uses the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of a basket of goods at one location divided by the price of the basket of goods at a different location. The PPP inflation and exchange rate may differ from the market exchange rate because of tariffs, and other transaction costs.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The Purchasing Power Parity indicator can be used to compare economies regarding their Gross Domestic Product, labour productivity and actual individual consumption, and in some cases to analyse price convergence and to compare the cost of living between places.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The calculation of the PPP, according to the OECD, is made through a "basket of goods" that contains a "final product list [that] covers around 3,000 consumer goods and services, 30 occupations in government, 200 types of equipment goods and about 15 construction projects".


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Purchasing power parity is an economic term for measuring prices at different locations. It is based on the law of one price, which says that, if there are no transaction costs nor trade barriers for a particular good, then the price for that good should be the same at every location. Ideally, a computer in New York and in Hong Kong should have the same price. If its price is 500 US dollars in New York and the same computer costs 2,000 HK dollars in Hong Kong, PPP theory says the exchange rate should be 4 HK dollars for every 1 US dollar.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Poverty, tariffs, transportation and other frictions prevent trading and purchasing of various goods, so measuring a single good can cause a large error. The PPP term accounts for this by using a basket of goods, that is, many goods with different quantities. PPP then computes an inflation and exchange rate as the ratio of the price of the basket in one location to the price of the basket in the other location. For example, if a basket consisting of 1 computer, 1 ton of rice, and half a ton of steel was 1000 US dollars in New York and the same goods cost 6000 HK dollars in Hong Kong, the PPP exchange rate would be 6 HK dollars for every 1 US dollar.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The name "purchasing power parity" comes from the idea that, with the right exchange rate, consumers in every location will have the same purchasing power.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The value of the PPP exchange rate is very dependent on the basket of goods chosen. In general, goods are chosen that might closely obey the law of one price. So, ones traded easily and are commonly available in both locations. Organizations that compute PPP exchange rates use different baskets of goods and can come up with different values.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The PPP exchange rate may not match the market exchange rate. The market rate is more volatile because it reacts to changes in demand at each location. Also, tariffs and differences in the price of labour (see Balassa–Samuelson theorem) can contribute to longer-term differences between the two rates. One use of PPP is to predict longer-term exchange rates.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Because PPP exchange rates are more stable and are less affected by tariffs, they are used for many international comparisons, such as comparing countries' GDPs or other national income statistics. These numbers often come with the label "PPP-adjusted".


title: Purchasing power parity

text: There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. A well-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar (the "international dollar"). The World Bank's "World Development Indicators 2005" estimated that in 2003, one Geary–Khamis dollar was equivalent to about 1.8 Chinese yuan by purchasing power parity—considerably different from the nominal exchange rate. This discrepancy has large implications; for instance, when converted via the nominal exchange rates, GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis, it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmark's nominal GDP per capita is around US$53,242, but its PPP figure is US$46,602, in line with other developed nations.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: There are variations in calculating PPP. The EKS method (developed by Ö. Éltető, P. Köves and B. Szulc) uses the geometric mean of the exchange rates computed for individual goods. The EKS-S method (by Éltető, Köves, Szulc, and Sergeev) uses two different baskets, one for each country, and then averages the result. While these methods work for 2 countries, the exchange rates may be inconsistent if applied to 3 countries, so further adjustment may be necessary so that the rate from currency A to B times the rate from B to C equals the rate from A to C.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Relative PPP is a weaker statement based on the law of one price, covering changes in the exchange rate and inflation rates. It seems to mirror the exchange rate closer than PPP does.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Purchasing power parity exchange rate is used when comparing national production and consumption and other places where the prices of non-traded goods are considered important. (Market exchange rates are used for individual goods that are traded). PPP rates are more stable over time and can be used when that attribute is important.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: PPP exchange rates help costing but exclude profits and above all do not consider the different quality of goods among countries. The same product, for instance, can have a different level of quality and even safety in different countries, and may be subject to different taxes and transport costs. Since market exchange rates fluctuate substantially, when the GDP of one country measured in its own currency is converted to the other country's currency using market exchange rates, one country might be inferred to have higher real GDP than the other country in one year but lower in the other. Both of these inferences would fail to reflect the reality of their "relative levels of production".


title: Purchasing power parity

text: If one country's GDP is converted into the other country's currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates, the false inference will not occur. Essentially GDP measured at PPP controls for the different costs of living and price levels, usually relative to the United States dollar, enabling a more accurate estimate of a nation's level of production.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The exchange rate reflects transaction values for traded goods "between" countries in contrast to non-traded goods, that is, goods produced for home-country use. Also, currencies are traded for purposes other than trade in goods and services, "e.g.", to buy capital assets whose prices vary more than those of physical goods. Also, different interest rates, speculation, hedging or interventions by central banks can influence the purchasing power parity of a country in the international markets.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The PPP method is used as an alternative to correct for possible statistical bias. The Penn World Table is a widely cited source of PPP adjustments, and the associated Penn effect reflects such a systematic bias in using exchange rates to outputs among countries.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: For example, if the value of the Mexican peso falls by half compared to the US dollar, the Mexican gross domestic product measured in dollars will also halve. However, this exchange rate results from international trade and financial markets. It does not necessarily mean that Mexicans are poorer by a half; if incomes and prices measured in pesos stay the same, they will be no worse off assuming that imported goods are not essential to the quality of life of individuals.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Measuring income in different countries using PPP exchange rates helps to avoid this problem, as the metrics give an understanding of relative wealth regarding local goods and services at domestic markets. On the other hand, it is poor for measuring the relative cost of goods and services in international markets. The reason is it does not take into account how much US$1 stands for in a respective country. Using the above-mentioned example: in an international market, Mexicans can buy less than Americans after the fall of their currency, though their GDP PPP changed a little.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: PPP exchange rates are never valued because market exchange rates tend to move in their general direction, over a period of years. There is some value to knowing in which direction the exchange rate is more likely to shift over the long run.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: In neoclassical economic theory, the "purchasing power parity theory" assumes that the exchange rate between two currencies actually observed in the foreign exchange market is the one that is used in the purchasing power parity comparisons, so that the same amount of goods could actually be purchased in either currency with the same beginning amount of funds. Depending on the particular theory, purchasing power parity is assumed to hold either in the long run or, more strongly, in the short run. Theories that invoke purchasing power parity assume that in some circumstances a fall in either currency's purchasing power (a rise in its price level) would lead to a proportional decrease in that currency's valuation on the foreign exchange market.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: PPP exchange rates are especially useful when official exchange rates are artificially manipulated by governments. Countries with strong government control of the economy sometimes enforce official exchange rates that make their own currency artificially strong. By contrast, the currency's black market exchange rate is artificially weak. In such cases, a PPP exchange rate is likely the most realistic basis for economic comparison. Similarly, when exchange rates deviate significantly from their long term equilibrium due to speculative attacks or carry trade, a PPP exchange rate offers a better alternative for comparison.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Estimation of purchasing power parity is complicated by the fact that countries do not simply differ in a uniform price level; rather, the difference in food prices may be greater than the difference in housing prices, while also less than the difference in entertainment prices. People in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and services using a price index. This is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods and services. Furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another: Americans eat more bread; Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base. Additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when (as is usually the case) more than two countries are to be compared.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a more stable multilateral comparison, but at the cost of distorting bilateral ones. These are all general issues of indexing; as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes. Nevertheless, PPPs are typically robust in the face of the many problems that arise in using market exchange rates to make comparisons.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: For example, in 2005 the price of a gallon of gasoline in Saudi Arabia was US$0.91, and in Norway the price was US$6.27. The significant differences in price would not contribute to accuracy in a PPP analysis, despite all of the variables that contribute to the significant differences in price. More comparisons have to be made and used as variables in the overall formulation of the PPP.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: When PPP comparisons are to be made over some interval of time, proper account needs to be made of inflationary effects.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: In addition to methodological issues presented by the selection of a basket of goods, PPP estimates can also vary based on the statistical capacity of participating countries. The International Comparison Program, which PPP estimates are based on, require the disaggregation of national accounts into production, expenditure or (in some cases) income, and not all participating countries routinely disaggregate their data into such categories.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Some aspects of PPP comparison are theoretically impossible or unclear. For example, there is no basis for comparison between the Ethiopian labourer who lives on teff with the Thai labourer who lives on rice, because teff is not commercially available in Thailand and rice is not in Ethiopia, so the price of rice in Ethiopia or teff in Thailand cannot be determined. As a general rule, the more similar the price structure between countries, the more valid the PPP comparison.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: PPP levels will also vary based on the formula used to calculate price matrices. Possible formulas include GEKS-Fisher, Geary-Khamis, IDB, and the superlative method. Each has advantages and disadvantages.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Linking regions presents another methodological difficulty. In the 2005 ICP round, regions were compared by using a list of some 1,000 identical items for which a price could be found for 18 countries, selected so that at least two countries would be in each region. While this was superior to earlier "bridging" methods, which do not fully take into account differing quality between goods, it may serve to overstate the PPP basis of poorer countries, because the price indexing on which PPP is based will assign to poorer countries the greater weight of goods consumed in greater shares in richer countries.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The more that a product falls into category 1, the further its price will be from the currency exchange rate, moving towards the PPP exchange rate. Conversely, category 2 products tend to trade close to the currency exchange rate. (See also Penn effect).


title: Purchasing power parity

text: More processed and expensive products are likely to be tradable, falling into the second category, and drifting from the PPP exchange rate to the currency exchange rate. Even if the PPP "value" of the Ethiopian currency is three times stronger than the currency exchange rate, it won't buy three times as much of internationally traded goods like steel, cars and microchips, but non-traded goods like housing, services ("haircuts"), and domestically produced crops. The relative price differential between tradables and non-tradables from high-income to low-income countries is a consequence of the Balassa–Samuelson effect and gives a big cost advantage to labour-intensive production of tradable goods in low income countries (like Ethiopia), as against high income countries (like Switzerland).


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The corporate cost advantage is nothing more sophisticated than access to cheaper workers, but because the pay of those workers goes farther in low-income countries than high, the relative pay differentials (inter-country) can be sustained for longer than would be the case otherwise. (This is another way of saying that the wage rate is based on average local productivity and that this is below the per capita productivity that factories selling tradable goods to international markets can achieve.) An equivalent cost benefit comes from non-traded goods that can be sourced locally (nearer the PPP-exchange rate than the nominal exchange rate in which receipts are paid). These act as a cheaper factor of production than is available to factories in richer countries. It is difficult by GDP PPP to consider the different quality of goods among the countries.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The Bhagwati–Kravis–Lipsey view provides a somewhat different explanation from the Balassa–Samuelson theory. This view states that price levels for nontradables are lower in poorer countries because of differences in endowment of labor and capital, not because of lower levels of productivity. Poor countries have more labor relative to capital, so marginal productivity of labor is greater in rich countries than in poor countries. Nontradables tend to be labor-intensive; therefore, because labor is less expensive in poor countries and is used mostly for nontradables, nontradables are cheaper in poor countries. Wages are high in rich countries, so nontradables are relatively more expensive.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: PPP calculations tend to overemphasise the primary sectoral contribution, and underemphasise the industrial and service sectoral contributions to the economy of a nation.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The law of one price is weakened by transport costs and governmental trade restrictions, which make it expensive to move goods between markets located in different countries. Transport costs sever the link between exchange rates and the prices of goods implied by the law of one price. As transport costs increase, the larger the range of exchange rate fluctuations. The same is true for official trade restrictions because the customs fees affect importers' profits in the same way as shipping fees. According to Krugman and Obstfeld, "Either type of trade impediment weakens the basis of PPP by allowing the purchasing power of a given currency to differ more widely from country to country." They cite the example that a dollar in London should purchase the same goods as a dollar in Chicago, which is certainly not the case.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Nontradables are primarily services and the output of the construction industry. Nontradables also lead to deviations in PPP because the prices of nontradables are not linked internationally. The prices are determined by domestic supply and demand, and shifts in those curves lead to changes in the market basket of some goods relative to the foreign price of the same basket. If the prices of nontradables rise, the purchasing power of any given currency will fall in that country.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Linkages between national price levels are also weakened when trade barriers and imperfectly competitive market structures occur together. Pricing to market occurs when a firm sells the same product for different prices in different markets. This is a reflection of inter-country differences in conditions on both the demand side ("e.g.", virtually no demand for pork in Islamic states) and the supply side ("e.g.", whether the existing market for a prospective entrant's product features few suppliers or instead is already near-saturated). According to Krugman and Obstfeld, this occurrence of product differentiation and segmented markets results in violations of the law of one price and absolute PPP. Over time, shifts in market structure and demand will occur, which may invalidate relative PPP.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Measurement of price levels differ from country to country. Inflation data from different countries are based on different commodity baskets; therefore, exchange rate changes do not offset official measures of inflation differences. Because it makes predictions about price changes rather than price levels, relative PPP is still a useful concept. However, change in the relative prices of basket components can cause relative PPP to fail tests that are based on official price indexes.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The global poverty line is a worldwide count of people who live below an international poverty line, referred to as the dollar-a-day line. This line represents an average of the national poverty lines of the world's poorest countries, expressed in international dollars. These national poverty lines are converted to international currency and the global line is converted back to local currency using the PPP exchange rates from the ICP. PPP exchange rates include data from the sales of high end non-poverty related items which skews the value of food items and necessary goods which is 70 percent of poor peoples' consumption. Angus Deaton argues that PPP indices need to be reweighted for use in poverty measurement; they need to be redefined to reflect local poverty measures, not global measures, weighing local food items and excluding luxury items that are not prevalent or are not of equal value in all localities.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, and was developed in its modern form by Gustav Cassel in 1916, in "The Present Situation of the Foreign Trade". While Gustav Cassel's use of PPP concept has been traditionally interpreted as his attempt to formulate a positive theory of exchange rate determination, the policy and theoretical context in which Cassel wrote about exchange rates suggests different interpretation. In the years immediately preceding the end of WWI and following it economists and politicians were involved in discussions on possible ways of restoring the gold standard, which would automatically restore the system of fixed exchange rates among participating nations.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The stability of exchange rates was widely believed to be crucial for restoring the international trade and for its further stable and balanced growth. Nobody then was mentally prepared for the idea that flexible exchange rates determined by market forces do not necessarily cause chaos and instability in the peaceful time (and that is what the abandoning of the gold standard during the war was blamed for). Gustav Cassel was among those who supported the idea of restoring the gold standard, although with some alterations. The question, which Gustav Cassel tried to answer in his works written during that period, was not how exchange rates are determined in the free market, but rather how to determine the appropriate level at which exchange rates were to be fixed during the restoration of the system of fixed exchange rates.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: His recommendation was to fix exchange rates at the level corresponding to the PPP, as he believed that this would prevent trade imbalances between trading nations. Thus, PPP doctrine proposed by Cassel was not really a positive (descriptive) theory of exchange rate determination (as Cassel was perfectly aware of numerous factors that prevent exchange rates from stabilizing at PPP level if allowed to float), but rather a normative (prescriptive) policy advice, formulated in the context of discussions on returning to the gold standard.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Each month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) measures the differences in price levels between its member countries by calculating the ratios of PPPs for private final consumption expenditure to exchange rates. The OECD table below indicates the number of US dollars needed in each of the countries listed to buy the same representative basket of consumer goods and services that would cost US$100 in the United States.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: According to the table, an American living or travelling in Switzerland on an income denominated in US dollars would find that country to be the most expensive of the group, having to spend 47% more US dollars to maintain a standard of living comparable to the US in terms of consumption.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Since global PPP estimates—such as those provided by the ICP—are not calculated annually, but for a single year, PPP exchange rates for years other than the benchmark year need to be extrapolated. One way of doing this is by using the country's GDP deflator. To calculate a country's PPP exchange rate in Geary–Khamis dollars for a particular year, the calculation proceeds in the following manner:


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Where PPPrate is the PPP exchange rate of country X for year i, PPPrate is the PPP exchange rate of country X for the benchmark year, PPPrate is the PPP exchange rate of the United States (US) for the benchmark year (equal to 1), GDPdef is the GDP deflator of country X for year i, GDPdef is the GDP deflator of country X for the benchmark year, GDPdef is the GDP deflator of the US for year i, and GDPdef is the GDP deflator of the US for the benchmark year.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The bank UBS produces its "Prices and Earnings" report every 3 years. The 2012 report says, "Our reference basket of goods is based on European consumer habits and includes 122 positions".


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The Big Mac Index is a simple implementation of PPP where the basket contains a single good: a Big Mac burger from McDonald's restaurants. The index was created and popularized by "The Economist" as a way to teach economics and to identify over- and under-valued currencies.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: The Big Mac has the value of being a relatively standardized consumer product that includes input costs from a wide range of sectors in the local economy, such as agricultural commodities (beef, bread, lettuce, cheese), labor (blue and white collar), advertising, rent and real estate costs, transportation, etc.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: There are some problems with the Big Mac Index. A Big Mac is perishable and not easily transported. That means the law of one price is not likely to keep prices the same in different locations. McDonald's restaurants are not present in every country, which limits the index's usage. Moreover, Big Macs are not sold at every McDonald's (noticeably in India), which limits its usage further.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: In the white paper, "Burgernomics", the authors computed a correlation of 0.73 between the Big Mac Index's prices and prices calculated using the Penn World Tables. This single-good index captures most, but not all, of the effects captured by more professional (and more complex) PPP measurement.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: "The Economist" uses The Big Mac Index to identify overvalued and undervalued currencies. That is, ones where the Big Mac is expensive or cheap, when measured using current exchange rates. The January 2019 article states that a Big Mac costs HK$20.00 in Hong Kong and US$5.58 in the United States. The implied PPP exchange rate is 3.58 HK$ per US$. The difference between this and the actual exchange rate of 7.83 suggests that the Hong Kong dollar is 54.2% undervalued. That is, it is cheaper to convert US dollars into Hong Kong dollars and buy a Big Mac in Hong Kong than it is to buy a Big Mac directly in US dollars.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Similar to the Big Mac Index, the KFC Index measures PPP with a basket that contains a single item: a KFC Original 12/15 pc. bucket. The Big Mac Index cannot be used for most countries in Africa because most do not have a McDonald's restaurant. Thus, the KFC Index was created by Sagaci Research (a market research firm focusing solely on Africa) to identify over- and under-valued currencies in Africa.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: For example, the average price of KFC's Original 12 pc. Bucket in the United States in January 2016 was $20.50; while in Namibia it was only $13.40 at market exchange rates. Therefore, the index states the Namibian dollar was undervalued by 33% at that time.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Like the Big Mac Index, the Nespresso Index measures PPP with a basket that contains a single product: An Arpeggio flavored coffee pod produced and retailed by the Nestlé Group. Its advantage compared to the Big Mac Index is that Nespresso capsules are sold in higher numbers compared to a single Big Mac hamburger.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: For example, 1 basic Nespresso Capsule costs 0.5 CHF in Switzerland and 0.7 USD in United States. The implied exchange rate is 0.71. The difference between this and the actual exchange rate, 0.93 as of Mid November 2021, suggests the CHF is -22.8% undervalued to the USD.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Like the Big Mac Index, the iPad index (elaborated by CommSec) compares an item's price in various locations. Unlike the Big Mac, however, each iPad is produced in the same place (except for the model sold in Brazil) and all iPads (within the same model) have identical performance characteristics. Price differences are therefore a function of transportation costs, taxes, and the prices that may be realized in individual markets. In 2013, an iPad cost about twice as much in Argentina as in the United States.


title: Purchasing power parity

text: Consumer price index (CPI) and purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factors share conceptual similarities. The CPI measures differences in levels of prices of goods and services over time within a country, whereas PPPs measure the change in levels of prices across regions within a country.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Filmed and set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman (Bergman) or helping her husband (Henreid), a Czech resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Germans. The screenplay is based on "Everybody Comes to Rick's", an unproduced stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. The supporting cast features Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Dooley Wilson.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Warner Bros. story editor Irene Diamond convinced producer Hal B. Wallis to purchase the film rights to the play in January 1942. Brothers Julius and Philip G. Epstein were initially assigned to write the script. However, despite studio resistance, they left to work on Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series early in 1942. Howard Koch was assigned to the screenplay until the Epsteins returned a month later. Principal photography began on May 25, 1942, ending on August 3; the film was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, with the exception of one sequence at Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Although "Casablanca" was an A-list film with established stars and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production expected it to stand out among the hundreds of pictures produced by Hollywood yearly. "Casablanca" was rushed into release to take advantage of the publicity from the Allied invasion of North Africa a few weeks earlier. It had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City and was released nationally in the United States on January 23, 1943. The film was a solid if unspectacular success in its initial run.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Exceeding expectations, "Casablanca" went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Curtiz was selected as Best Director and the Epsteins and Koch were honored for Best Adapted Screenplay. Its reputation has gradually grown, to the point that its lead characters, memorable lines, and pervasive theme song have all become iconic, and it consistently ranks near the top of lists of the greatest films in history. In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected the film as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In December 1941, American expatriate Rick Blaine owns a nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca. "Rick's Café Américain" attracts a varied clientele, including Vichy French and Nazi German officials, refugees desperate to reach the neutral United States, and those who prey on them. Although Rick professes to be neutral in all matters, he ran guns to Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Despite feigning indifference, he demonstrates sympathy for the refugees' plight and disdain for the repressive, fascist regimes.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Petty crook Ugarte boasts to Rick of "letters of transit" obtained by murdering two German couriers. The papers allow the bearers to travel freely around German-occupied Europe and to neutral Portugal; they are priceless to the refugees stranded in Casablanca. Ugarte plans to sell them at the club and persuades Rick to hold them. Before he can meet his contact, Ugarte is arrested by the local police under Captain Louis Renault, the unabashedly corrupt prefect of police. Ugarte dies in custody without revealing that Rick has the letters.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Then the reason for Rick's cynical nature—former lover Ilsa Lund—enters his establishment. Spotting Rick's friend and house pianist, Sam, Ilsa asks him to play "As Time Goes By". Rick storms over, furious that Sam disobeyed his order never to perform that song again, and is stunned to see Ilsa. She is accompanied by her husband, Victor Laszlo, a renowned fugitive Czech Resistance leader. The two need the letters to escape to America, as German Major Strasser has come to Casablanca to arrest Laszlo.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: When Laszlo makes inquiries, Signor Ferrari, an underworld figure and Rick's friendly business rival, divulges his suspicion that Rick has the letters of transit. Laszlo returns to Rick's cafe that night and tries to buy the letters. Rick refuses to sell, telling Laszlo to ask his wife why. They are interrupted when Strasser leads a group of German officers in singing "". Laszlo orders the house band to play "". When the bandleader looks to Rick, the latter nods, and Lazlo leads the band in proud defiance. Patriotic fervor grips the crowd, and everyone joins in, drowning out the Germans. Fearing the spirit Laszlo can inspire, Strasser demands that Renault close the club.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Later, Ilsa confronts Rick in the deserted café; when he refuses to give her the letters, she threatens him with a gun but then confesses that she still loves him. She explains that when they met and fell in love in Paris in 1940, she believed her husband had been killed while attempting to escape from a concentration camp. While preparing to flee with Rick from the city during the Battle of France, Ilsa learned Laszlo was alive and in hiding. She left Rick without explanation to nurse her sick husband. Rick's bitterness dissolves. He agrees to help, letting her believe she will stay with him when Laszlo leaves. When Laszlo unexpectedly shows up, having narrowly escaped a police raid on a Resistance meeting, Rick has waiter Carl spirit Ilsa away. Laszlo, aware of Rick's love for Ilsa, tries to persuade him to use the letters to take her to safety.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: When the police arrest Laszlo on a trumped-up charge, Rick persuades Renault to release him by promising to set him up for a much more serious crime: possession of the letters. To allay Renault's suspicions, Rick explains that he and Ilsa will leave for America. When Renault tries to arrest Laszlo as arranged, Rick forces him at gunpoint to assist in their escape. At the last moment, Rick makes Ilsa board the plane to Lisbon with Laszlo, telling her that she would regret it if she stayed, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life." Strasser, tipped off by Renault, drives up alone. When Strasser ignores Rick's warnings and attempts to stop the plane, Rick shoots him dead. When policemen arrive, Renault pauses, then orders them to "round up the usual suspects." He suggests to Rick that they join the Free French in Brazzaville. As they walk away into the fog, Rick says, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The play's cast consisted of 16 speaking parts and several extras; the film script enlarged it to 22 speaking parts and hundreds of extras. The cast is notably international: only three of the credited actors were born in the United States (Bogart, Dooley Wilson, and Joy Page). The top-billed actors are:


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Much of the emotional impact of the film, for the audience in 1942, has been attributed to the large proportion of European exiles and refugees who were extras or played minor roles (in addition to leading actors Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre), such as Louis V. Arco, Trude Berliner, Ilka Grünig, Ludwig Stössel, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, and Wolfgang Zilzer. A witness to the filming of the "duel of the anthems" sequence said he saw many of the actors crying and "realized that they were all real refugees". Harmetz argues that they "brought to a dozen small roles in "Casablanca" an understanding and a desperation that could never have come from Central Casting". Even though many were Jewish or refugees from the Nazis (or both), they were frequently cast as Nazis in various war films, because of their accents.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Jack Benny may have appeared in an unbilled cameo, as was claimed by a contemporary newspaper advertisement and in the "Casablanca" press book. When asked in his column "Movie Answer Man", critic Roger Ebert first replied, "It looks something like him. That's all I can say." In a later column, he responded to a follow-up commenter, "I think you're right. The Jack Benny Fan Club can feel vindicated".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The film was based on Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's unproduced play "Everybody Comes to Rick's". The Warner Bros. story analyst who read the play, Stephen Karnot, called it (approvingly) "sophisticated hokum" and story editor Irene Diamond, who had discovered the script on a trip to New York in 1941, convinced Hal Wallis to buy the rights in January 1942 for $20,000 (), the most anyone in Hollywood had ever paid for an unproduced play. The project was renamed "Casablanca", apparently in imitation of the 1938 hit "Algiers". "Casablanca" also shares many narrative and thematic similarities with "Algiers" "(1938)", which itself is a remake of the acclaimed 1937 French film "Pépé le Moko", directed and co-written by Julien Duvivier. Although an initial filming date was selected for April 10, 1942, delays led to production starting on May 25. Filming was completed on August 3. It went $75,000 over budget for a total cost of $1,039,000 (), above average for the time. Unusually, the film was shot in sequence, mainly because only the first half of the script was ready when filming began.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The entire picture was shot in the studio, except for the sequence showing Strasser's arrival, which was filmed at Van Nuys Airport, and a few short clips of stock footage views of Paris. The street used for the exterior shots had recently been built for another film, "The Desert Song", and redressed for the Paris flashbacks.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The background of the final scene, which shows a Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior airplane with personnel walking around it, was staged using little person extras and a proportionate cardboard plane. Fog was used to mask the model's unconvincing appearance.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Film critic Roger Ebert called Wallis the "key creative force" for his attention to the details of production (down to insisting on a real parrot in the Blue Parrot bar).


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The difference between Bergman's and Bogart's height caused some problems. She was two inches (5 cm) taller than Bogart, and claimed Curtiz had Bogart stand on blocks or sit on cushions in their scenes together.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Later, there were plans for a further scene, showing Rick, Renault and a detachment of Free French soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1942 invasion of North Africa. It proved too difficult to get Claude Rains for the shoot, and the scene was finally abandoned after David O. Selznick judged "it would be a terrible mistake to change the ending".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The original play was inspired by a trip to Europe made by Murray Burnett and his wife in 1938, during which they visited Vienna shortly after the Anschluss and were affected by the antisemitism they saw. In the south of France, they went to a nightclub that had a multinational clientele, among them many exiles and refugees, and the prototype of Sam. In "The Guardian", Paul Fairclough wrote that Cinema Vox in Tangier "was Africa's biggest when it opened in 1935, with 2,000 seats and a retractable roof. As Tangier was in Spanish territory ["sic"], the theatre's wartime bar heaved with spies, refugees and underworld hoods, securing its place in cinematic history as the inspiration for Rick's Cafe in "Casablanca"." The scene of the singing of "La Marseillaise" in the bar is attributed by the film scholar Julian Jackson as an adaptation of a similar scene from Jean Renoir's film "La Grande Illusion" five years prior.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The first writers assigned to the script were twins Julius and Philip Epstein who, against the wishes of Warner Bros., left at Frank Capra's request early in 1942 to work on the "Why We Fight" series in Washington, D.C. While they were gone, the other credited writer, Howard Koch, was assigned; he produced thirty to forty pages. When the Epstein brothers returned after about a month, they were reassigned to "Casablanca" and—contrary to what Koch claimed in two published books—his work was not used. The Epstein brothers and Koch never worked in the same room at the same time during the writing of the script. In the final budget for the film, the Epsteins were paid $30,416, () and Koch earned $4,200 ().


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In the play, the Ilsa character is an American named Lois Meredith; she does not meet Laszlo until after her relationship with Rick in Paris has ended. Rick is a lawyer. The play (set entirely in the cafe) ends with Rick sending Lois and Laszlo to the airport. To make Rick's motivation more believable, Wallis, Curtiz, and the screenwriters decided to set the film before the attack on Pearl Harbor.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The possibility was discussed of Laszlo being killed in Casablanca, allowing Rick and Ilsa to leave together, but as Casey Robinson wrote to Wallis before filming began, the ending of the film "set up for a swell twist when Rick sends her away on the plane with Laszlo. For now, in doing so, he is not just solving a love triangle. He is forcing the girl to live up to the idealism of her nature, forcing her to carry on with the work that in these days is far more important than the love of two little people." It was certainly impossible for Ilsa to leave Laszlo for Rick, as the Motion Picture Production Code forbade showing a woman leaving her husband for another man. The concern was not whether Ilsa would leave with Laszlo, but how this outcome would be engineered. According to Julius Epstein, he and Philip were driving when they simultaneously came up with the idea for Renault to order the roundup of "the usual suspects", after which all the details needed for resolution of the story, including the farewell between Bergman and "a suddenly noble Bogart", were rapidly worked out.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The uncredited Casey Robinson assisted with three weeks of rewrites, including contributing the series of meetings between Rick and Ilsa in the cafe. Koch highlighted the political and melodramatic elements, and Curtiz seems to have favored the romantic parts, insisting on retaining the Paris flashbacks.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In a telegram to film editor Owen Marks on August 7, 1942, Wallis suggested two possible final lines of dialogue for Rick: "Louis, I might have known you'd mix your patriotism with a little larceny" or "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship". Two weeks later, Wallis settled on the latter, which Bogart was recalled to dub a month after shooting had finished.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Bogart's line "Here's looking at you, kid", said four times, was not in the draft screenplays, but has been attributed to a comment he made to Bergman as he taught her poker between takes.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Despite the many writers, the film has what Ebert describes as a "wonderfully unified and consistent" script. Koch later claimed it was the tension between his own approach and Curtiz's that had accounted for this. "Surprisingly, these disparate approaches somehow meshed, and perhaps it was partly this tug of war between Curtiz and me that gave the film a certain balance." Julius Epstein later noted the screenplay contained "more corn than in the states of Kansas and Iowa combined. But when corn works, there's nothing better".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The film ran into some trouble with Joseph Breen of the Production Code Administration (the Hollywood self-censorship body), who opposed the suggestions that Captain Renault extorted sexual favors from visa applicants, and that Rick and Ilsa had slept together. Extensive changes were made, with several lines of dialogue removed or altered. All direct references to sex were deleted; Renault's selling of visas for sex, and Rick and Ilsa's previous sexual relationship were implied elliptically rather than referenced explicitly. Also, in the original script, when Sam plays "As Time Goes By", Rick exclaims, "What the —— are you playing?" This line was altered to "Sam, I thought I told you never to play ..." to conform to Breen's objection to an implied swear word.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Wallis's first choice for director was William Wyler, but he was unavailable, so Wallis turned to his close friend Michael Curtiz. Roger Ebert has commented that in "Casablanca" "very few shots ... are memorable as shots", as Curtiz wanted images to express the story rather than to stand alone. He contributed relatively little to development of the plot. Casey Robinson said Curtiz "knew nothing whatever about story ... he saw it in pictures, and you supplied the stories".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Critic Andrew Sarris called the film "the most decisive exception to the auteur theory", of which Sarris was the most prominent proponent in the United States. Aljean Harmetz has responded, "nearly every Warner Bros. picture was an exception to the auteur theory". Other critics give more credit to Curtiz. Sidney Rosenzweig, in his study of the director's work, sees the film as a typical example of Curtiz's highlighting of moral dilemmas.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The second unit montages, such as the opening sequence of the refugee trail and the invasion of France, were directed by Don Siegel.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The cinematographer was Arthur Edeson, a veteran who had previously shot "The Maltese Falcon" and "Frankenstein". Particular attention was paid to photographing Bergman. She was shot mainly from her preferred left side, often with a softening gauze filter and with catch lights to make her eyes sparkle; the whole effect was designed to make her face seem "ineffably sad and tender and nostalgic". Bars of shadow across the characters and in the background variously imply imprisonment, the crucifix, the symbol of the Free French Forces and emotional turmoil. Dark film noir and expressionist lighting was used in several scenes, particularly towards the end of the picture. Rosenzweig argues these shadow and lighting effects are classic elements of the Curtiz style, along with the fluid camera work and the use of the environment as a framing device.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The music was written by Max Steiner, who wrote scores for "King Kong" and "Gone with the Wind". The song "As Time Goes By" by Herman Hupfeld had been part of the story from the original play; Steiner wanted to write his own composition to replace it, but Bergman had already cut her hair short for her next role (María in "For Whom the Bell Tolls") and could not reshoot the scenes that incorporated the song, so Steiner based the entire score on it and "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, transforming them as leitmotifs to reflect changing moods. Even though Steiner disliked "As Time Goes By", he admitted in a 1943 interview that it "must have had something to attract so much attention". Dooley Wilson, who played Sam, was a drummer, so his piano playing was performed by Jean Plummer.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Particularly memorable is the "duel of the anthems" between Strasser and Laszlo at Rick's cafe. In the soundtrack, "La Marseillaise" is played by a full orchestra. Originally, the opposing piece for this iconic sequence was to be the "Horst Wessel Lied", a Nazi anthem, but this was still under international copyright in non-Allied countries. Instead "Die Wacht am Rhein" was used. The "Deutschlandlied", the national anthem of Germany, is used several times in minor mode as a leitmotif for the German threat, e.g. in the scene in Paris as it is announced that the German army will reach Paris the next day. It is featured in the final scene, giving way to "La Marseillaise" after Strasser is shot.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Very few films in the early 1940s had portions of the soundtrack released on 78 rpm records, and "Casablanca" was no exception. In 1997, almost 55 years after the film's premiere, Turner Entertainment in collaboration with Rhino Records issued the film's first original soundtrack album for release on compact disc, including original songs and music, spoken dialogue, and alternate takes.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The piano featured in the Paris flashback sequences was sold in New York City on December 14, 2012, at Sotheby's for more than $600,000 to an anonymous bidder. The piano Sam "plays" in Rick's Café Américain, put up for auction with other film memorabilia by Turner Classic Movies at Bonhams in New York on November 24, 2014, sold for $3.4 million.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Although an initial release date was anticipated for early 1943, the film premiered at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on November 26, 1942, to capitalize on Operation Torch (the Allied invasion of French North Africa) and the subsequent capture of Casablanca. It went into general release on January 23, 1943, to take advantage of the Casablanca Conference, a high-level meeting in the city between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Office of War Information prevented screening of the film to troops in North Africa, believing it would cause resentment among Vichy supporters in the region.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: On March 19, 1943, the film was banned in Ireland for infringing on the Emergency Powers Order preserving wartime neutrality, by portraying Vichy France and Nazi Germany in a "sinister light". It was passed with cuts on June 15, 1945, shortly after the EPO was lifted. The cuts were made to dialogue between Rick and Ilsa referring to their love affair. A version with only one scene cut was passed on July 16, 1974. RTÉ inquired about showing the film on TV – it still required a dialogue cut to Ilsa expressing her love for Rick.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Warner Brothers released a heavily edited version of "Casablanca" in West Germany in 1952. All scenes with Nazis were removed, along with most references to World War II. Important plot points were altered when the dialogue was dubbed into German. Victor Laszlo was no longer a Resistance fighter who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Instead, he became a Norwegian atomic physicist who was being pursued by Interpol after he "broke out of jail". The West German version was 25 minutes shorter than the original cut. A German version of "Casablanca" with the original plot was not released until 1975.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: "Casablanca" received "consistently good reviews". Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" wrote, "The Warners ... have a picture which makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap." He applauded the combination of "sentiment, humor and pathos with taut melodrama and bristling intrigue." Crowther noted its "devious convolutions of the plot" and praised the screenplay quality as "of the best" and the cast's performances as "all of the first order".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The trade paper "Variety" commended the film's "combination of fine performances, engrossing story and neat direction" and the "variety of moods, action, suspense, comedy and drama that makes "Casablanca" an A-1 entry at the b.o." The review observed that the "[f]ilm is splendid anti-Axis propaganda, particularly inasmuch as the propaganda is strictly a by-product of the principal action and contributes to it instead of getting in the way". "Variety" also applauded the performances of Bergman and Henreid and noted, "Bogart, as might be expected, is more at ease as the bitter and cynical operator of a joint than as a lover, but handles both assignments with superb finesse."


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Some other reviews were less enthusiastic. "The New Yorker" rated "Casablanca" only "pretty tolerable" and said it was "not quite up to "Across the Pacific", Bogart's last spyfest".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: At the 1,500-seat Hollywood Theater, the film grossed $255,000 over ten weeks (equivalent to $ in ). In its initial American release, "Casablanca" was a substantial but not spectacular box-office success, earning $3.7 million (equivalent to $ in ). A 50th-anniversary re-release grossed in 1992. According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $3,398,000 domestically and $3,461,000 in foreign markets.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In the decades since its release, the film has grown in reputation. Murray Burnett called it "true yesterday, true today, true tomorrow". By 1955, the film had brought in $6.8 million, making it the third-most-successful of Warners' wartime movies, behind "Shine On, Harvest Moon" and "This Is the Army". On April 21, 1957, the Brattle Theater of Cambridge, Massachusetts, showed the film as part of a season of old movies. It proved so popular that a tradition began in which "Casablanca" would be screened during the week of final exams at Harvard University. Todd Gitlin, a professor of sociology who had attended one of these screenings, has said that the experience was "the acting out of my own personal rite of passage". The tradition helped the film remain popular while other films that had been famous in the 1940s have faded from popular memory. By 1977, "Casablanca" had become the most frequently broadcast film on American television.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Ingrid Bergman's portrayal of Ilsa Lund in "Casablanca" became one of her best-known roles. In later years she said, "I feel about "Casablanca" that it has a life of its own. There is something mystical about it. It seems to have filled a need, a need that was there before the film, a need that the film filled."


title: Casablanca (film)

text: On the film's 50th anniversary, the "Los Angeles Times" called "Casablanca"s great strength "the purity of its Golden Age Hollywoodness [and] the enduring craftsmanship of its resonantly hokey dialogue". Bob Strauss wrote in the newspaper that the film achieved a "near-perfect entertainment balance" of comedy, romance, and suspense.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Roger Ebert, wrote of "Casablanca" in 1992, "There are greater movies. More profound movies. Movies of greater artistic vision or artistic originality or political significance. ... But [it is] one of the movies we treasure the most ... This is a movie that has transcended the ordinary categories." In his opinion, the film is popular because "the people in it are all so good" and it is "a wonderful gem". Ebert said that he had never heard of a negative review of the film, even though individual elements can be criticized, citing unrealistic special effects and the stiff character of Laszlo as portrayed by Paul Henreid.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: According to Rudy Behlmer, the character of Rick is "not a hero ... not a bad guy" because he does what is necessary to appease the authorities and "sticks his neck out for nobody". Behlmer feels that the other characters are "not cut and dried" and come into their goodness over the course of the film. Renault begins as a collaborator with the Nazis who extorts sexual favors from refugees and has Ugarte killed. Even Ilsa, the least active of the main characters, is "caught in the emotional struggle" over which man she really loves. By the end, however, "everybody is sacrificing". Behlmer also emphasized the variety in the picture. "It's a blend of drama, melodrama, comedy [and] intrigue."


title: Casablanca (film)

text: A remembrance written for the film's 75th anniversary published by "The Washington Free Beacon" said, "It is no exaggeration to say "Casablanca" is one of the greatest films ever made," making special note of the "intellectual nature of the film" and saying that "while the first time around you might pay attention to only the superficial love story, by the second and third and fourth viewings the sub-textual politics [of communitarianism and anti-isolationism] have moved to the fore".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: A few reviewers have expressed reservations. To Pauline Kael, "It's far from a great film, but it has a special appealingly schlocky romanticism ..." Umberto Eco wrote that "by any strict critical standards ... "Casablanca" is a very mediocre film". He viewed the changes that the characters manifest as inconsistent rather than complex. "It is a comic strip, a hotchpotch, low on psychological credibility, and with little continuity in its dramatic effects." However, he added that because of the presence of multiple archetypes that allow "the power of Narrative in its natural state without Art intervening to discipline it", it is a film reaching "Homeric depths" as a "phenomenon worthy of awe".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, of critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of . The website's consensus reads, "An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood's quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman." On Metacritic, the film has a perfect score of 100 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is one of the few films in the site's history to achieve a perfect aggregate score.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In the November/December 1982 issue of "Film Comment", Chuck Ross wrote that he retyped the "Casablanca" screenplay, reverting the title to "Everybody Comes to Rick's" and changing the name of Sam the piano player to Dooley (after Dooley Wilson, who played the character), and submitted it to 217 agencies. The majority of agencies returned the script unread (often because of policies regarding unsolicited screenplays) or did not respond. However, of those which did respond, only 33 specifically recognized it as "Casablanca". Eight others observed that it was similar to "Casablanca", and 41 agencies rejected the screenplay outright, offering comments such as "Too much dialogue, not enough exposition, the story line was weak, and in general didn't hold my interest." Three agencies offered to represent the screenplay, and one suggested turning it into a novel.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Many subsequent films have drawn on elements of "Casablanca". "Passage to Marseille" (1944) reunited actors Bogart, Rains, Greenstreet, and Lorre and director Curtiz in 1944, and there are similarities between "Casablanca" and a later Bogart film, "To Have and Have Not" (also 1944). Parodies have included the Marx Brothers' "A Night in Casablanca" (1946), Neil Simon's "The Cheap Detective" (1978), and "Out Cold" (2001). Indirectly, it provided the title for the 1995 neo-noir film "The Usual Suspects". Woody Allen's "Play It Again, Sam" (1972) appropriated Bogart's "Casablanca" persona as the fantasy mentor for Allen's character.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The film was a plot device in the science-fiction television movie "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank" (1983), based on John Varley's story. It was referred to in Terry Gilliam's dystopian "Brazil" (1985). Warner Bros. produced its own parody in the homage "Carrotblanca", a 1995 Bugs Bunny cartoon. Film critic Roger Ebert pointed out the plot of the film "Barb Wire" (1996) was identical to that of "Casablanca". In "Casablanca", a novella by Argentine writer Edgar Brau, the protagonist somehow wanders into Rick's Café Américain and listens to a strange tale related by Sam. The 2016 musical film "La La Land" contains multiple allusions to "Casablanca" in the imagery, dialogue, and plot. Robert Zemeckis, director of "Allied" (2016), which is also set in 1942 Casablanca, studied the film to capture the city's elegance. The 2017 Moroccan drama film "Razzia", directed by Nabil Ayouch, is mostly set in the city of Casablanca, and its characters frequently discuss the 1942 film.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Because of its November 1942 release, the New York Film Critics decided to include the film in its 1942 award season for best picture. "Casablanca" lost to "In Which We Serve". However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stated that since the film went into national release at the beginning of 1943, it would be included in that year's nominations. "Casablanca" was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won three.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: As Bogart stepped out of his car at the awards ceremony, "the crowd surged forward, almost engulfing him and his wife, Mayo Methot. It took 12 police officers to rescue the two, and a red-faced, startled, yet smiling Bogart heard a chorus of cries of 'good luck' and 'here's looking at you, kid' as he was rushed into the theater".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: When the award for Best Picture was announced, producer Hal B. Wallis got up to accept, but studio head Jack L. Warner rushed up to the stage "with a broad, flashing smile and a look of great self-satisfaction," Wallis later recalled. "I couldn't believe it was happening. "Casablanca" had been my creation; Jack had absolutely nothing to do with it. As the audience gasped, I tried to get out of the row of seats and into the aisle, but the entire Warner family sat blocking me. I had no alternative but to sit down again, humiliated and furious ... Almost forty years later, I still haven't recovered from the shock." This incident led Wallis to leave Warner Bros. in April.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In 1989, the film was one of the first 25 films selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In 2005, it was named one of the 100 greatest films of the last 80 years by "Time" magazine (the selected films were not ranked). "Bright Lights Film Journal" stated in 2007, "It is one of those rare films from Hollywood's Golden Age which has managed to transcend its era to entertain generations of moviegoers ... "Casablanca" provides twenty-first-century Americans with an oasis of hope in a desert of arbitrary cruelty and senseless violence."


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The film also ranked at number 28 on "Empire"s list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time, which said, "Love, honour, thrills, wisecracks and a hit tune are among the attractions, which also include a perfect supporting cast of villains, sneaks, thieves, refugees and bar staff. But it's Bogart and Bergman's show, entering immortality as screen lovers reunited only to part. The irrefutible ["sic"] proof that great movies are accidents." Screenwriting teacher Robert McKee maintains that the script is "the greatest screenplay of all time". In 2006, the Writers Guild of America, West agreed, voting it the best ever in its list of the 101 greatest screenplays.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The film has been selected by the American Film Institute for many of their lists of important American films:


title: Casablanca (film)

text: "Casablanca" has been subjected to many readings; semioticians account for the film's popularity by claiming that its inclusion of stereotypes paradoxically strengthens the film. Umberto Eco wrote:


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Eco also singled out sacrifice as a theme, "the myth of sacrifice runs through the whole film". It was this theme that resonated with a wartime audience who were reassured by the idea that painful sacrifice and going off to war could be romantic gestures done for the greater good.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Koch also considered the film a political allegory. Rick is compared to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who gambled "on the odds of going to war until circumstance and his own submerged nobility force him to close his casino (partisan politics) and commit himself—first by financing the Side of Right and then by fighting for it". The connection is reinforced by the film's title, which means "white house".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Harvey Greenberg presents a Freudian reading in his "The Movies on Your Mind", in which the transgressions that prevent Rick from returning to the United States constitute an Oedipus complex, which is resolved only when Rick begins to identify with the father figure of Laszlo and the cause that he represents. Sidney Rosenzweig argues that such readings are reductive and that the most important aspect of the film is its ambiguity, above all in the central character of Rick; he cites the different names that each character gives Rick (Richard, Ricky, Mr. Rick, Herr Rick and boss) as evidence of the different meanings that he has for each person.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: "Casablanca" was initially released on Betamax and VHS by Magnetic Video and later by CBS/Fox Video (as United Artists owned the distribution rights at the time). In 1989, the Criterion Collection released a Laserdisc release sourced from a nitrate print that includes supplements such as an audio commentary by Ronald Haver, a treatment for an unreleased sequel and wartime footage of the city of Casablanca. Criterion would issue a CLV version of this in 1991 with only the film and commentary. It was next released on laserdisc in 1991, and on VHS in 1992—both from MGM/UA Home Entertainment (distributing for Turner Entertainment Co.), which at the time was distributed by Warner Home Video. It was first released on DVD in 1998 by MGM, containing the trailer and a making-of featurette (Warner Home Video reissued the DVD in 2000). A subsequent two-disc special edition, containing an audio commentary by Roger Ebert, documentaries, Carrotblanca and a newly remastered visual and audio presentation, was released in 2003.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: An HD DVD was released on November 14, 2006, containing the same special features as the 2003 DVD. Reviewers were impressed with the new high-definition transfer of the film.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: A Blu-ray release with new special features came out on December 2, 2008; it is also available on DVD. The Blu-ray was initially only released as an expensive gift set with a booklet, a luggage tag and other assorted gift-type items. It was eventually released as a stand-alone Blu-ray in September 2009. On March 27, 2012, Warner released a new 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo set. It includes a brand-new 4K restoration and new bonus material.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Almost from the moment "Casablanca" became a hit, talk began of producing a sequel. One titled "Brazzaville" (in the final scene, Renault recommends fleeing to that Free French-held city) was planned, but never produced. (A newspaper article at the time mentions that Bogart and Greenstreet "will continue their characterizations from the first film, and it's likely that Geraldine Fitzgerald will have an important role".) Since then, no studio has seriously considered filming a sequel or outright remake.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: François Truffaut refused an invitation to remake the film in 1974, citing its cult status among American students as his reason. Attempts to recapture the magic of "Casablanca" in other settings, such as "Caboblanco" (1980), "a South American-set retooling of "Casablanca"", and "Havana" (1990) have been poorly received.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Stories of a "Casablanca" remake or sequel nonetheless persist. In 2008, Madonna was reported to be pursuing a remake set in modern-day Iraq. In 2012, both "The Daily Telegraph" and "Entertainment Weekly" reported on efforts by Cass Warner, granddaughter of Harry Warner and friend of the late Howard Koch, to produce a sequel featuring the search by Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund's illegitimate son for the whereabouts of his biological father.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: On radio, there were several adaptations of the film. The two best-known are a thirty-minute adaptation on "The Screen Guild Theater" on April 26, 1943, starring Bogart, Bergman, and Henreid, and an hour-long version on the "Lux Radio Theater" on January 24, 1944, featuring Alan Ladd as Rick, Hedy Lamarr as Ilsa, and John Loder as Laszlo. Two other thirty-minute adaptations were aired, one on "Philip Morris Playhouse" on September 3, 1943, and the other on "Theater of Romance" on December 19, 1944, in which Dooley Wilson reprised his role as Sam.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: On television, there have been two short-lived series based upon "Casablanca", both sharing the title. The first "Casablanca" aired on ABC as part of the wheel series "Warner Bros. Presents" in hour-long episodes from 1955 to 1956. It was a Cold War espionage program set contemporaneously with its production, and starred Charles McGraw as Rick and Marcel Dalio, who had played Emil the croupier in the movie, as the police chief. The second "Casablanca", broadcast on NBC in April 1983, starred David Soul as Rick and was canceled after three weeks.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The novel "As Time Goes By", written by Michael Walsh and published in 1998, was authorized by Warner. The novel picks up where the film leaves off, and also tells of Rick's mysterious past in America. The book met with little success. David Thomson provided an unofficial sequel in his 1985 novel "Suspects".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Julius Epstein made two attempts to turn the film into a Broadway musical, in 1951 and 1967, but neither made it to the stage. The original play, "Everybody Comes to Rick's", was produced in Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1946, and again in London in April 1991, but met with no success. The film was adapted into a musical by the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female Japanese musical theater company, and ran from November 2009 through February 2010.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: "CasablancaBox", written by Sara Farrington and directed by Reid Farrington, premiered in New York in 2017 and was an imagined "making of" the film. It was nominated for two 2017 Drama Desk awards, Unique Theatrical Experience and Outstanding Projection Design. The "New York Times" described it as "a brave, almost foolhardy undertaking, presenting the backstage drama during the making of "Casablanca"".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: "Casablanca" was part of the film colorization controversy of the 1980s, when a colorized version aired on the television network WTBS. In 1984, MGM/UA hired Color Systems Technology to colorize the film for $180,000. When Ted Turner of Turner Broadcasting System purchased MGM/UA's film library two years later, he canceled the request, before contracting American Film Technologies (AFT) in 1988. AFT completed the colorization in two months at a cost of $450,000. Turner later reacted to criticism of the colorization, saying, "["Casablanca"] is one of a handful of films that really doesn't have to be colorized. I did it because I wanted to. All I'm trying to do is protect my investment."


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The Library of Congress deemed that the color change differed so much from the original film that it gave a new copyright to Turner Entertainment. When the colorized film debuted on WTBS, it was watched by three million viewers, not making the top-ten viewed cable shows for the week. Although Jack Matthews of the "Los Angeles Times" called the finished product "state of the art", it was mostly met with negative critical reception. It was briefly available on home video. Gary Edgerton, writing for the "Journal of Popular Film & Television" criticized the colorization, stating that ""Casablanca" in color ended up being much blander in appearance and, overall, much less visually interesting than its 1942 predecessor." Bogart's son, Stephen, said, "if you're going to colorize "Casablanca", why not put arms on the Venus de Milo?"


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Several unfounded rumors and misconceptions have grown up around the film, one being that Ronald Reagan was originally chosen to play Rick. This originated in a press release issued by the studio early on in the film's development, but by that time the studio already knew that he was going into the Army, and he was never seriously considered. George Raft claimed that he had turned down the lead role, but studio records make it clear that Wallis was committed to Bogart from the start.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: Another story is that the actors did not know until the last day of shooting how the film was to end. Koch later acknowledged:


title: Casablanca (film)

text: When we began, we didn't have a finished script ... Ingrid Bergman came to me and said, "Which man should I love more ...?" I said to her, "I don't know ... play them both evenly." You see we didn't have an ending, so we didn't know what was going to happen!


title: Casablanca (film)

text: However, while rewrites did occur during filming, Aljean Harmetz's examination of the scripts has shown that many of the key scenes were shot after Bergman knew how the film would end; any confusion was, according to critic Roger Ebert, "emotional", not "factual".


title: Casablanca (film)

text: The film has several logical flaws, one being the two "letters of transit" that enable their bearers to leave Vichy French territory. Ugarte says the letters had been signed by (depending on the listener) either Vichy General Weygand or Free French General de Gaulle. The French subtitles on the official DVD read Weygand; the English ones specify de Gaulle. Weygand had been the Vichy delegate-general for the North African colonies until November 1941, a month before the film is set. But de Gaulle was the head of the Free French government in exile, so a letter signed by him would have provided no benefit. The letters were invented as a MacGuffin by Joan Alison for the original play and never questioned.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: In the same vein, though Laszlo asserts that the Nazis cannot arrest him, saying, "This is still unoccupied France; any violation of neutrality would reflect on Captain Renault", Ebert points out, "It makes no sense that he could walk around freely. ... He would be arrested on sight." In addition, no uniformed German troops were stationed in Casablanca during World War II, and neither American nor French troops occupied Berlin in 1918.


title: Casablanca (film)

text: A line closely associated with "Casablanca"—"Play it again, Sam"—is not spoken in the film. When Ilsa first enters the Café Américain, she spots Sam and asks him, "Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake." After he feigns ignorance, she responds, "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'." Later that night, alone with Sam, Rick says, "You played it for her, you can play it for me", and "If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"


title: Lauren Graham

text: Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/CW television series "Gilmore Girls" (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild, Golden Globe and Satellite Awards, and as Sarah Braverman on the NBC television drama "Parenthood" (2010–2015).


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham's film work includes roles in "Sweet November" (2001), "Bad Santa" (2003), "The Pacifier" (2005), "Because I Said So" (2007), and "Evan Almighty" (2007). She published her debut novel with Ballantine Books in 2013, "Someday, Someday, Maybe". In 2016, Graham reprised her role as Lorelai Gilmore on Netflix's reunion miniseries "" and published a memoir, "Talking as Fast as I Can". Her third book, "In Conclusion, Don't Worry About It" was published in 2018. In 2021, she began playing Alex Morrow in "".


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her mother, Donna Grant, was a fashion buyer, and her father, Lawrence Graham, is a candy industry lobbyist who has been president of the National Confectioners Association. Graham was raised in her father's Catholic faith (her maternal grandfather was a Baptist minister); she is of Irish, English, and Scottish descent. When Graham's father worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Vietnam, Graham lived for a few years in Japan (her mother also grew up there, as the daughter of a missionary).


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham was five years old when her parents divorced, and she moved to the Virginia suburbs of the Washington, DC metropolitan area with her father, who became a congressional staffer. Her mother left to pursue a music career and lived in London until her death in 2005, at the age of 61. Graham was raised by her father and they had a close relationship. She said, "I thought I kind of had it best. My dad has a very mellow way about him and I was a self-starter as a kid. I liked a certain amount of being on my own. It just worked great for me." Graham also spent a few of her childhood years in Southampton, New York. Graham has a half-sister and a half-brother from her father's second marriage. Her British half-sister from her mother's second marriage, Shade Grant, works at a talent agency.


title: Lauren Graham

text: As a girl, Graham rode horses competitively, but soon switched to acting, honing her talent at Langley High School, where she took part in the drill team and graduated in 1984. She earned her actor's Equity Card in 1988 after two years in summer stock at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan. Graham went to New York University, but then transferred to Barnard College. She graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. After moving to Texas in 1992, Graham earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting Performance from Southern Methodist University.


title: Lauren Graham

text: After completing her education, Graham moved back to New York City where she earned her living as a waitress and as a tutor teaching SAT test prep for The Princeton Review. While she aspired to become an actress, she made publicity appearances wearing the costume of Striker, the dog mascot of the US-based 1994 FIFA World Cup. In 1995, she relocated to Hollywood. She appeared in various commercials for products such as Cascade dishwasher detergent, Dimetapp, AT&T and Lean Cuisine and hosted free preview weekends on The Movie Channel.


title: Lauren Graham

text: Between 1996 and 1997, Graham became a regular guest star on several NBC shows. She played a graduate student who caught the eye of Dick on "3rd Rock from the Sun"; Richard's overly-optimistic girlfriend on "Caroline in the City"; and Jerry's speed-dial ranking girlfriend on "Seinfeld." She played a Hollywood producer who had a love interest in Detective Rey Curtis in a three-part episode of "Law & Order," where she acted opposite Scott Cohen, who would later play one of Graham's love interests (Max Medina) on "Gilmore Girls." She also portrayed an antagonizing but friendship-starved efficiency expert on "NewsRadio."


title: Lauren Graham

text: In addition to her many guest starring and co-starring roles on prime-time television, Graham starred in four failed sitcoms, including "Townies" (with Molly Ringwald and Jenna Elfman); the short-lived sitcom "Lush Life" (with Lori Petty and Karyn Parsons); and "M.Y.O.B", which was burned off by NBC in the summer months before the premiere of "Gilmore Girls".


title: Lauren Graham

text: In 2000, Graham landed her breakthrough role on "Gilmore Girls" as Lorelai Gilmore—a witty "thirty-something" raising her teenage daughter in small-town Connecticut. Graham said she felt "really connected to the material" and the script for the series resonated with her due to its complexities: "To me, this was one of the first times that I looked at something and I was like, 'It's serious and it's funny! It's deep and it's light,' especially then, I had never seen before." For her work she received a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series (Drama) at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards and nominations at the 2001 and 2002 SAG Awards.


title: Lauren Graham

text: Beginning with Season 7 episode "To Whom It May Concern" and continuing throughout the rest of the season, Graham served as a producer on "Gilmore Girls." "TV Guide" reported that she received the position in an attempt to persuade her to sign for an eighth season. By the series' end, Graham wanted to move on. "I didn't feel we had anything without our creators," she reflected.


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham returned to her guest-starring roots when she portrayed herself in two episodes of NBC's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". Graham has also appeared in the second season of Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown," co-hosted by Dave Foley of "Newsradio". After winning her preliminary match, she came in second to another former "Newsradio" star, Maura Tierney, in the championship game.


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham's film roles encompass several NYU student films and multiple major studio releases, including "Sweet November", "Bad Santa", "The Pacifier", "Because I Said So", and "Evan Almighty".


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham has said that she enjoys playing in short films, and acting in the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She has performed in numerous short films, including the 15-minute-long "Gnome". In 2007, Graham signed a seven-figure development deal with NBC in one of the year's richest TV talent pacts. Graham has also worked as the voice-over announcer in national advertising for Kellogg's various Special K products in 2007, and for American Express ads in 2008 introducing the Plum Card, which is targeted towards small and growing businesses.


title: Lauren Graham

text: Graham made her Broadway debut as Miss Adelaide in the revival of "Guys and Dolls", which began preview performances at the Nederlander Theatre on February 5, 2009, and opened on March 1, 2009. Reviews for the production were mixed. The production closed June 14, playing 121 shows and 28 previews.


title: Lauren Graham

text: It was announced in January 2009 that Graham would star in the comedy pilot, "The Bridget Show" (previously "Let It Go") for ABC playing a talk show host and self-help guru who fails to follow her own advice during a breakup. However, the pilot was not given a series order. In October 2009, it was announced that Graham would replace Maura Tierney in the television series "Parenthood" as single mother Sarah Braverman. Tierney left the show to seek treatment for cancer. The series debuted on NBC the following year, and ran for a total of six seasons.


title: Lauren Graham

text: In June 2010, it was confirmed that Graham would star in the upcoming "Scream 4", but she left the project on June 30, 2010. In July 2012, Graham was a guest judge in the first episode of Season 10 of the reality television series "Project Runway".


title: Lauren Graham

text: In 2015, Graham appeared in the adventure drama film "Max", playing the mother of an American marine killed in Afghanistan who subsequently adopts his Malinois dog. Graham said she based her character on her grandparents who had different types of strength and that she felt connected to the film due to many in the film's choir having come from a church her grandfather attended. Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and Joe Neumaier felt her role was too limited. The year also saw Graham beginning to appear recurrently in "The Odd Couple", playing Gaby, the former wife of the series' main protagonist Oscar, and appear in an episode of the hidden camera comedy "Repeat After Me".