German Expressionism And German Expressionism

During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,

During the 1920’s the demand for films was at their highest peak in time. Metropolis was made in the late 20’s leaving a historical mark in the film industry. Unfortunately, the original version of the film can no longer be watched because it has been lost. Metropolis was made right before talkies were introduced making it one of the last silent films produced at those times (The History of Film The 1920s.) Metropolis falls under the German Expressionist Movement that took place between both world wars. The German expressionist movement was an art movement that incorporated literature, architect, and theater film in its aspects. Fritz Lang was one of the most known German Expressionist directors in that era. Many different aspects was put into the film that were meant to relate to the real world. Metropolis is about a young man named Freder. He

Before the development of sound, silent cinema was considered a medium for storytelling; particularly in American cinema. Of course, this was also true among other countries like Germany. Prior to World War I, early German cinema was more a “cinema of attractions”; or, to put it lightly, had pornographic appeal and rarely suggested a narrative. After the boom of the French film d’art movement in 1910, film was given a serious look in the German theater which lead to the movement of Expressionism. One of the movement’s filmmakers, Josef von Sternberg, was known for one of his widely acclaimed films The Blue Angel. Josef von Sternberg was born in New York, but to German parents, directed some of his films in America before traveling to Berlin

Expressionist art was also gaining popularity in Germany, which is where it initially developed as a movement against the social conventions and perceptions of the state and traditional Western values (Long 1-3). The dynamic expression of emotion indicative of the artistic movement was a fitting medium for manifesting Janowitz and Mayer’s anxieties about the discordance in German society, especially since the nationalists that they held so much distaste for denounced the genre, seeing it as “un-German” (Long 3). Alfred Kubin, a noted Austrian surrealist artist, designed the set for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and it was influenced by a litany of other artists (Kracauer 67-68). Expressionism uses striking, and often unnerving, visuals to transform the mundane world into a supernatural reality, which can more accurately depict the distorted expression of emotions that the entire movement is based around. In The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, common things, such as houses and trees,

German Expressionism was a trending art movement from 1910-1940. The movement started in Germany, and after World War 1 spread outside of the country. The movement was focused on a few different themes: early on during Expressionism, painters rejected the old, conservative traditions and styles of art academies and instead used strong nonrealistic colors and distorted, simplified forms. This type of art was meant to surprise the viewer and evoke an emotional response. Another important theme was a strong interest in the enticing yet dehumanizing nature of the urban lifestyle. Nudity and sexually charged portraiture was prolific during this period. A huge theme was the emotional peace and comfort that nature provided for the soul. While this theme was present before the Great War, the psychological damage from the war led artists to seek the peace that the natural world offered. Other common themes include landscapes, portraits, and postwar politics.

German Expressionism was a movement that started in the 1920’s soon before as well as after World War I occurred. The country was overwhelmed with major economic, social and political problems that the amount of reparation for the costs of war was over the roof. “In 1916, Germany’s government had banned foreign films but the demand from theaters to generate films led to an increase in domestic film production from 24 films in 1914 to 130 films in 1918” (INSERT) With inflation on the rise, Germans were attending films more freely because they knew that their money’s value was constantly decreasing. The movement was meant to stray away from realism, with set designs that were often unrealistic featuring hard and dark shadows, jagged lines and

Weimar Berlin felt they had lost the war abroad not because of their fighting performance on the battlefront, but due to not defending enough on the domestic issues that the marginalized “others” caused (McCormick 2004). They needed a scapegoat to blame for the loss of war, stability, and face. According to McCormick (2004), “cinematized text is a simple and transparent reflection of society”. This proved to be true within Weimar cinema as a whole. This short cinema period was a public representation in the personal hostilities that a complicated Berlin, Germany faced between the fall of Imperial Germany until the rise of a National Socialist Germany (Historyhome.co.uk, 2014). Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel effectively portrays these frustration. The Blue Angel describes the effect that a new wave in modernity caused a new stylistic approach as well as the sexual and social anxieties of a post WWI or Weimar

The 1920’s was the time for expressive art culture, which saw to inspire the nation to become more expressive and revolutionised the way people thought about German life, especially German politics. Having previously lived under authoritarian government, where entertainment and social activities were tightly regulated, many Germans thrived on the relaxed social attitudes of Weimar. The influx of American loans and the economic revival of the mid to late 1920s encouraged celebration among the nation. The Weimar Republic were overwhelmed by this resistance to conformity, however there were many forms of which this new concept could be expressed. Thus showing there was no way of controlling the rapidly growing art culture that provided the freedom of speech the people wanted, but the Weimar Republic were at threat with.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari on the other hand is specifically designed during a time period that was looking at film as an art piece that with every detail on the screen being dripped with symbolism and meaning much like a painting. It is only appropriate that film experts and observers understand the full implications German Expressionism has endued in some part onto its successors of film styles. Siegfried Kracauer states that the directors at a particular point in the course of this expressionist movement realized the benefit of articulating film concepts to manifest emotion, and declare any given opinion through, “ the whole visual sphere: their outspoken feeling for impressive settings, their virtuosity in developing action through appropriate lighting” (Caligari to Hitler 3). The mise en scène factors setting and composition, are only parts that play a small role in what make this film credible for the success of the expressionist movement. These components when assimilated reveal the psychological advances and reactions that define characters, are conveyed throughout the bleak settings of the film, and exhibits the dramatic dimensions of the world created.

The 1927 German expressionism film Metropolis was a landmark German film. The definition of German Expressionism is a cultural movement that is challenging to define as it is not distinguished by a singular style or method of creation. German Expressionism is used through movies for which often contain themes that are dark, bland and robotic. These movies also contain poor acting, excessive makeup, strange costumes and storylines with poor lighting and extreme stylization.

German expressionism was a defining film movement in the 1920s. It brought new and different ways of filming and and seeing films. German expressionism comes from a mixture of romanticism and expressionist art to make these very abstract and surrealist films. One widely known example of German expressionist films is F. W. Muranu’s horror classic Nosferatu. Nosferatu is one of the most influential horror films, in that it is one of the first vampire movies to have been made. Nosferatu is full of German expressionism characteristics that help further the plot and the overall style of the film. The film uses harsh shadows, makeup, costumes, and setting to make up this very stylized and irrational mise-en-scene. Not only does Muranu use a stylized

New German Cinema was a movement to find an opposition against the Hollywood culture. The movement lasted from the late 1960’s into the 1980’s. This new type of cinema was a cinema of disillusionment either through politics, gender norms, conformity, etc. The New German Cinema was fueled by a fire of differentiation and nationalistic pride which was very political. It wanted to show the audience what they needed to see rather then what they wanted to see through the exposure of moral hypocrisy in terms of social justice, counter culture and shocking subject matter. It was ushered in by young, innovative, and politically radical directors who refused to conform to West German Society and expressed the desire to improve its failing film industry.

Caligari set the standard of the movement in film, fulfilling a number of expectations theorists had for this transition of mediums; the set represents “an emotional landscape, a projection of the intense feelings of the main character,” exaggerated acting with an extreme degree of emotional intensity serves as “a silent visual replacement of the outcry and exclamation of expressionistic poetry and theater,” and, to replace the vibrant colors of Expressionist art, there are “considerable contrasts between light and shadow” (Barlow 25). All of these visual aspects made Caligari the most noteworthy of German Expressionist films, and was more than likely the inspiration for the film noir style that emerged several decades later. The limitations of sound and color do not detract from Caligari’s ability to visually express common themes of Weimar Germany, most prominently those of authority, insanity, and duality. Such themes are expressed so prominently that it has led many to interpret the film as a close examination of society in the Weimar Republic and the implications the film had for Germany’s future. Nevertheless, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari certainly influenced the revival of the Expressionist movement through film, and its influence stands the test of

Neo-Expressionism revived Australian landscape paintings’ through the reinterpretation of traditional virtuosity and the rejection of minimalistic forms (Atkins 2013, 171) from the late 1960’s through to the early 90’s (Keylor 2007, 904). The new concepts of Expressionism was also inspired by Surrealist themes from the Modernist period as well as mythology, culture, history and the erotic (The Art Story, 2016). Two Australian artists who create a new perception of the Australian landscape by incorporating these techniques and ideas were Peter Booth and Brett Whiteley. Booth’s metamorphic Painting two (1984) (appendix one), and apocalyptic Drawing (Catastrophe with flying insects) (1984) (appendix two), are influenced and explorative of the Australian landscape as well as incorporative of mythology, Surrealist dreams and subjective imagery (Godfrey 2009, 61). Whiteley’s Lavender Bay series of The Balcony 2 (1975) (appendix three) and Big Orange (sunset) (1974) (appendix 4); are expressive of the infamous bay in Sydney, connecting to the Australian landscape, however explorative of different perceptions on a classical image. These two artists both lead astray from the minimalistic techniques of this time, by exploring the Australian landscape through innovative ways of expressive painting.

German expressionism is a art movement that originated in Europe in the 1920’s. It is broadly defined as ‘rejection of Western conventions’. German expressionism is the depiction of reality that is distorted and twisted for emotional effect (Darsa, 2013). Expressionist films are massively influenced by artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky and Edvard Munch, who were less interested in producing aesthetically pleasing paintings as they were to provoking emotional reactions to their work through the use of bright colours, jagged lines and abstract shapes. The movement was interested in the relationship between art and society. Expressionist films initially originated from Germany’s isolation in the 1910’s, and was soon in high demand due to the government’s ban on foreign films. Similar to the paintings, expressionist films sought to convey the inner, subjective experience of its subjects (Kolar, 2014). German expressionism was a reflection of the grim reality of post-war Germany, but it was not shown on the screen in a literal sense, more through the use of metaphor and hidden meanings.