German Expressionism emerged in the 1920s prior to World War I, and continued to be influenced as the war raged on. The style that developed due to Germany’s ban on foreign cinema was an abstract, low-budget method cultivating around the rebellious and manic nature of the films. German Expressionism embodies the political ideals of the time because it was born from the ashes of World War I. Hanz Janowitz and Cal Mayer’s, The Cabinet of Dr. Cligari, directed by Robert Weine, can be said to have transformed and shaped political views in Germany, along with the expressionism in the entire film industry as a whole through its use of complex story lines and the creation of abstract settings. Weine’s film fosters the idea of total authority and …show more content…
The dark expressionism used in Weine’s film boosts the feeling of depression and suppression. Weine’s use of Caligari as a control figure demonstrate the feeling of the German public after World War I. The people wanted freedom from war and peace time to recover, and that is what occurred from the German Revolution. Kracauer views the film as a barrage on the overwhelming control of the imperial government, arguing that Cesar was created “with the dim design of…the common man who, under the pressure of compulsory military service, is drilled to kill and to be killed.” (From Caligari to Hitler, Kracauer) Kracauer observation of Caligari and Cesare as puppet master and puppet, demonstrate a disdain from humanity. The human rights violations performed by the totalitarian like Caligari seem ironic now in modern day. Caligari representing the imperial government with complete control, abuses his power and sicks Cesare to murder innocent victims. The film is meant to persuade and show the people the negativity of this power and to be against war, but in a way it foreshadows the events leading and during World War II under Adolf Hitler. The atrocities performed during World War II do not compare to that of Dr. Caligari and Cesare, but rival them in their nature. Kracauer’s comment about the frame added to the film argues that the revolutionary ideal in the film is lost due to …show more content…
The deep emotions that emerged from this time help influence the works, as well as shaping how European directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock filmed. Weine’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari revolutionizes the use of art as settings as an influential aspect of film, a long with underlying his film with strong political messages of peace and anti-authoritarity. Later works that can be seen that are influenced by Weine’s film would be Anouilh’s adaptation of the play
In Wolfgang Staudte’s (1951) film, Der Untertan, the main character named Diederich Hessling develops from being a meek and cowardly boy to become a manipulative and self-involved man. The film uses many instances of imagery and subtle moments of foreshadowing to convey the ideals of the people of that time which lead up to the World Wars. Diederich is a typical Prussian citizen who blindly follows, supports the true “German values”, and bows to his superiors while stepping on his subordinates. The film illustrates Diederich’s character development, his shift in personality, and political confrontations through carefully crafted camera techniques that also highlight the time period that the film was set in as well as produced in.
Defined by www.news.artnet.com/, German Expressionism is defined as “an artistic genre that originated in Europe in the 1920s, and is broadly defined as the rejection of Western conventions, and the depiction of reality that is widely distorted for emotional effect.” In Nosferatu, the film contains a plethora of distorted realities in an attempt to evoke the “emotional effect” from the audience. This is shown by the director of the film, F.W. Murnau’s usage of lighting and makeup & costume design.
Poetic Realism was a film movement in France during the 1930’s that combined qualities of both Impressionism and Surrealism to create a unique way to tell stories through narratives, long, continuous shots, and sets that took a slice of reality and made it their own. The various techniques used to create shots “more real than life itself” were groundbreaking for this time period. In the past, sets of films were unrealistic and exaggerated; they were telling stories outside of reality, so their sets were not attempting to immerse their viewer in the film’s location. The 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari used very simplistic sets to tell its story, but the filmmakers did not expect or want the audience to take them as reality. They were entirely aware that the walls
Leni Riefenstahl was one of the most revolutionary and certainly most controversial filmmakers of the early twentieth century. The lasting influence of her innovative filmmaking techniques on twentieth century cinema is undisputed by scholars throughout history, but the exact nature of her work is surrounded by ongoing controversy. Riefenstahl’s production of the feature films “Triumph of the Will” (Source 3) and “Olympia” (Source 1) have left a lasting imprint on history; these films established Riefenstahl’s influential career as a film director under the years of the Nazi regime. Although these films are attributed by scholars and critics to be Riefenstahl’s greatest achievements they are also considered to be her greatest fault, for
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a German Expressionist film that was released in 1920. The film was directed by Robert Wiene. Expressionism is defined as a visible world that is reshaped and even, distorted by internal forces such as soul, spirit, subjectivity, and emotion. A major component of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is it contains various examples of mise-en-scène, which is associated with visual aspects such as props in the background or clothing and the makeup the actor is wearing. Moreover, “boxes within boxes” is seen numerous times throughout The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. One example where “boxes within boxes” is seen in the film is in Dr. Caligari’s tiny shack, where he has Cesare
The first shot is equitably realistic; however, German expressionism lingers in the design of the set, adding oneiric qualities to the shot. One of the most pivotal of German Expressionist cinema, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (dir. Robert Wiene, 1920) presents distorted environments. For example, while one would expect sidewalks and
In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene cleverly uses mise-en-scene and cinematography to add to the eeriness and originality in the scene of Cesare’s awakening. The scene is important to the overall film because it instills the viewer to believe that there will be a connoting between Cesare and Alan. The purpose can be seen in the reverse shot sequence at the end of the scene in the dialogue “How long do I have to live?” – “Till dawn tomorrow.” The scene is based highly on use of expressionistic credit design and stylization of acting through exaggerations. Through the theatrical design set, Robert Wiene builds tension and drama to the scene and draws the views attention to the constructed nature of the film.
German expressionist theatre began in the late 19th century and continued into the early 20th century. At this time, the expressionist movement as a whole made its way into other countries as well. The general idea of the movement was to take issues and present them in a greatly exaggerated fashion. This created the almost “other-worldly” sense that was very popular amongst expressionist works and dramatists. For example, “In realism, [one] might say, actors sit about on chairs and talk about the weather, but in expressionism, they stand on them and shout about the world” (Styan 1).
Due to the MacDonogh’s massive collection of information and sources, at points the book’s organization is loose and appears disjointed. Sometimes the author loses track of his argument and descends into gruesome detail after detail trying to emphasize the true scale of brutality and violence leveled against the Germans. MacDonogh admits that the subject is so vast that he had to use a “broad brush”, but this broad approach causes him to focus on certain sections, those that he deems more important, significantly more than others.
Throughout the beginning of time people have used art to express themselves. With each major, and minor, there is an artist that captures the world as it is around him. There are also artists that create fiction to give the world and escape from reality. The medium of art that will be discussed in this essay will be film. Since the invention of Thomas Jefferson kinecto graph and the Lumiere brothers cinemtograph, films have continued to be the most popular entertainment methods in France and America. Since historical events have somewhat of an impact on the content in film, this essay will take a look at the effects of films years before and after World II. World War II was one of the major historical events to have
Casablanca, first released on January 23rd, 1943 is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of Classical Hollywood film. Written and released in the midst of World War Two it explores themes such as love, desire and especially sacrifice. Although the love story of the protagonists is the cause and catalyst for most of the narrative, one would not necessarily associate it with the conventional Classical Hollywood love story. Rather as a fabula based on the principle of the importance of sacrifice in order to overcome a common enemy, in this case the Nazis. Casablanca does indeed contain many of the common characteristics identified with the Classical Hollywood film. An example being the the way director, Michael Curtiz used a mainly chronologically ordered narrative structure and the utilisation of a Cause and Effect chain. In this essay I will looking at the various ways I believe this film does fall into the criteria of a Classical Hollywood narrative and also how some could perceive that it does not.
Stylistically, M appears to be a continuation of the style that was established in cinema through the German Expressionist movement and developed through the Kammerspielfilm, which focused on the actors, lighting, and set design to further investigate the psychological foundations of characters in middle and lower-class environments (150). M can be considered to be part of the third type of film that was produced during the Weimar period that is known as die neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), which portrays "fatalistic and grimy lower-class realism" through the cinematic lens (150). M is able to marry characteristics found in each of these three periods of German cinema.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is praised worldwide for its anti-authoritarian message and expressionistic style with its framed narrative. The film is cited as one of the first horror films and influenced the development of film noir. Caligari remains to this day an important part of the history of German
The literal dislocation between East and West Germany was a major factor in the suffering of German cinema
As we look deeper into the historical contexts that came about in Germany during the 1920’s, Germany was confined due to the isolation the country was experiencing during World War I. During this solitude, the German government banned foreign films. German Expressionism was formed in result of the conclusion of World War I which compelled Germany to establish its own style of cinema. German Expressionist films produced in the Weimar Republic