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"1- The most important is the opening couple of scenes are set the White House and presidential portraits and flags adorn the walls.  There is a key scene between Cohan and President Roosevelt set in his office (lined with the American flag). Something about the lighting and shadow of FDR (the actor's back is turned) is reverential, I don't have the technical knowledge to explain. Cagney wears a flag pin and we can assume the sitting president does as well. The flashback scene takes place in the middle of some kind of parade. People are waving flags, cheering, and there are also flags on shops and elsewhere too. The flashback has flags and the same patriotic fever decades earlier that people had (or were supposed to have) in the current day.  \n \n\n\n\t2. These scenes connect the past to the present. People were patriotic in the past and are patriotic in the current time especially with the country at war. History is a way to boost morale, provide consistency, and make people feel they are part of the country. Gives them a sense of identity. The first conversation Cagney has is with a valet and they talk about the American flag: \n \n\n\n\t\"I was a valet for Mr Teddy Roosevelt. He got me a seat in the gallery. The play was Mr George Washington Jr. He was singing and dancing to all about the grand ole flag...it was as good of a song as it is today\". \n \n\n\n\tThe valet was around a former president who was related to the current sitting president. They speak of the song being as good and valuable today as it was decades earlier during World War One when it was written (thus, its valuable for the Second Word War that is underway). The conversation Cohan has with FDR is interesting because it connects back to his Irish heritage and immigrants to the country. He is telling the president about himself as a cocky young man: \n \n\n\n\t\"Bigger than Yankee Doodle Dandy. Always carrying a flag in a parade or following one\"\n \n\n\n\t\"I hope you haven't outgrown the habit\"\n \n\n\n\t\"Not a chance\"\n \n\n\n\t\"That's the one thing I've always admired about you Irish Americans. You carry your love of country right out in the open\" \n \n\n\n\t\"I inherited that from my father\". \n \n\n\n\tI was truck by the emphasis of \"Americans\". Cohan came from an immigrant family but is still part of the total American family. FDR appreciates his patriotism and the patriotism of an immigrant community. Immigrants have contributed to American history, society and culture. Patriotism is and has been something passed down to families and generations through the ages. Families connect themselves and their identities (in this case as Irish immigrants) as American citizens. \n \n\n\n\t3. If the movie opened with Cohan (I assume as a youth) in or near an anonymous parade it would be necessary to give more backstory and reasons to the audience why he is there and what the point is. It would take more time to develop the story rather than getting right to it. People would have already known who Cohan was and why he would be invited to meet with President Roosevelt. The would have known he wrote iconic patriotic WW1 anthems and would understand that FDR would want him to know his songs are influential in the current Second World War. This was a Warner's movie and I know their movies were known for getting to the point quickly and moving the plot and story along quickly. \n \n\n\n\tThere is also the point about the politics of the scene. The president meeting with famed songwriter of war songs that cheered the American cause of freedom in the Oval Office. This combines messages of the connection between government and culture (music and musicians), the relevancy of the old songs to the current conflict, and the fact that there is a portray of the president in the first place.\n "
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