German Expressionism in Film

Friday, April 12, 2019

Introduction

This blog is the final project for the Weimar Republic course. The Weimar Republic is one of the more interesting parts in time within German History, for the better and for the worse. It does, however, harbor some interesting developments in the ways of fine arts such as film which this blog will be primarily focusing on. Film, especially during the period of Weimar in the 1920s, is largely known as the silent era, with films largely using the expressions to tell a story with epic scores in the background to convey the action that was happening on the silver screen, alongside some with "historical dimension"¹ .These films used text frames for dialogue purposes, though a lot of the storytelling was done through character actions. For the time period of the 1920s, which was the height of the Weimar Republic, many films were largely influenced by the tough times during this period of time and this is seen in a variety of ways. Throughout this blog, using examples from a couple of films, namely famous ones like Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, I will point out how the Weimar Republic was so influential to filmmakers such as Fritz Lang and how these influences apply to the visuals, the themes, and towards the overall styles that these films produced during the 1920s.

Poster of the 1922 film Nosferatu, by
F.W. Murnau Image link

1 Eric D. Weitz, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), 228.^↩

Case of Visuals: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

The first thing mainly comes to mind in the case of German expressionism, especially during the time of the Weimar Republic, is through the visuals. A lot of the visuals seen from this era are very abstract and for some, quite bizarre. One of these films that widely known for these quite odd and interesting visuals is the film by Robert Wiene, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Photograph of Dr. Caligari's monster from the film. Image Link

Released in 1920, the film is known as one of the first horror films to make the expressionist movements of the 1920s popular¹. What makes this film one of the more intriguing pieces of the decade and its overall design and specatcle however, in my opinion, is through the visuals themselves. Simply put, the visuals or by broader terms the set design are extremely abstract put also very intriguing to look at, largely being inspired by paintings during the time period². This also is backed up by points such as working with a larger space, and using big strokes and lines to frame the abstract visuals that these early films are quite known for³.

Scene of Dr. Caligari, walking through the alleyways of the town.
Image Link

The inspiration of paintings is generally the largest reason as to why these films have these odd visuals is thanks in part to the paintings that largely inspired them. This is shown, as previously mentioned, from the expressionist movement itself. While the concept of German expressionism had existed before the Weimar ever existed, it largely rose in prominent during the time of around when Wiene's film was being produced. Lastly, many of these visual concepts are done in part to attempt to relay a sort of freedom from natural ideas that one may visualize of a certain idea like of an alleyway and distorts it to show a very intriguing visual effects, though it does limit in a certain regard the building of naturalist ideals that these films would rely on⁴. In conclusion, visuals play a very fine role in the the influences of the German expressionism, allowing for odd, but very interesting visuals that one can no doubt ever forget.

1 J.P. Tolette, "German Expressionism", in Traditions in World Cinema. Linda Badley, Palmer, R. Barton, and Schneider, Steven Jay, eds. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 19.^↩

2 Rudolf Kurtz, and Brenda Benthien. Expressionism and Film. Ed. Kiening Christian and Beil Ulrich Johannes. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2016, 54.^↩

3 Ibid., 55.^↩

4 Ibid., 52.^↩

Devil in the Deatils of the Age: Faust

What makes the period of the 1920s in the Weimar Republic such a large turning point is through the large events that changed Germany, mainly for the worst. Hyperinflation and rising unemployment during this decade especially during the early 1920s was a very rough time for many people. In the case of film, this is mainly seen through the idea of the "Faustian Man", which films, more important the 1926 film ironically called Faust, brings out this concept of the Faustian Man and what it generally was and how it applied in the mindset of Germans during this period of time.

Scene from the film between Mephisto and the alchemist, Faust
Image Link

Directed by F.W. Murnau, this film is basically based around an alchemist named Faust saving his village from a plague¹, thanks to the demon Mephisto, but then begins a downward spiral that puts him into such a despair that he needs to crawl his way back into the light. How this largely applies in context to the decade and to German Expressionism as a whole is that it shows the darker elements and desires that these films showed and represented. The Faustian Man concept can be seen as a man using evil as a way to fix problems that they are worried about in context, but at the same time costs them their humanity at the same time which at the time of the Weimar Republic can be applied to the more written ideas of German Expressionism that these films adopted. In the case of Faust and other films of the period, this is mainly from the works of books such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poems of the same name as the film that it is loosely based on and its multiple parts² . In the case of the films such as Faust, and largely followed the concepts of it, sometime even being the embodiment of the Faustian ideas themselves³. In a way, Faust mainly shows this through the interactions between Faust and Mephisto, such as Mephisto following as his shadow⁴, which in terms of Weimar ideas, can be seen as Weimar Republic and the Treaty in a way, or even emerging parties like the Nazis, which later on the late 1920s into the 1930s began to cause dark times for the Republic and lead into doing dark deeds before falling completely.

1 Paul Coates, The Gorgon's Gaze: German Cinema, Expressionism, and the Image of Horror. Cambridge Studies in Film. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 32. ^↩

2 Ibid., 30.^↩

3 Ibid.^↩

4 Ibid., 34.^↩

Weimar Ghosted and Life Represented: Metropolis

Posters of the film, Metropolis. Image Link

Fritz Lang's film, Metropolis, is one of the most influential films from this point in history. What largely makes this film so surprising and very convincing for most people is the subject matter that this film has, and what it was for development of films in general. Beginning with the material that this film focuses on the most part, the film has many distinct themes that it largely focuses on, mainly with revolution in the case of the workers, who were sick of way they were treated during this period of time, mainly with them working long hours with no breaks to keep the city running. Another example is seen through the way both of the workers and the rich are largely portrayed within the context of the film with the latter not having a worry in the world, and the former being a grim place, which in some ways can be seen as to why that these revolution concepts are largely used and implemented.

The Heart Machine, one of many important set pieces in Metropolis.
Image Link

The themes that Metropolis portrays alongside the revolution concept is through the overall "instability")¹ that the film largely hints at throughout. For example, a large theme that the film has is the concept of the "hands" and the "head" working together in unison, with the owners such as the main character Freder's father being the head of the operation, and the workers being the hands of the operation and with Freder being the "heart"².
The next main point that Metropolis gets from how successful and why it is regarded as such a classic is how the developments of the film came to be. A lot of this actually comes from the director Fritz Lang himself. One of the quotes that Lang has in regards to film is that it is gives the gift of "rediscovery of the human face" (Lang, p. 623)³ , which in context, applies to the people that really stick out the most the someone would remember from if they went and talked about the fil later on, such as in the case of Metropolis, in famous robot that is used to rile up the workers and lead them down a dark path. Lastly, there is also the scale that this film also had put out, mainly within the scale that it had. One of the more intriguing parts about Metropolis has is the scale of the set pieces, and their futuristic look to them and the overall scope of the film as a whole, in the words of Willy Haas, "Gigantic is hardly the word for it" (Haas, p. 624)⁴ , which explains the overall scale that this film had, especially for 1927.

1 J.P. Tolette, "German Expressionism", in Traditions in World Cinema. Linda Badley, Palmer, R. Barton, and Schneider, Steven Jay, eds. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 24. ^↩

2 Ibid., 25.^↩

3 Fritz Lang, “The Future of the Feature Film in Germany.” The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994), 623.^↩

4 Willy Haas, “Metropolis", The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994), 624.^↩

Bibliography

Coates, Paul. The Gorgon's Gaze: German Cinema, Expressionism, and the Image of Horror. Cambridge Studies in Film. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 30,32,34.

Haas, Willy. “Metropolis.” The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994). 624.

Kurtz, Rudolf and Benthien, Brenda. Expressionism and Film. Edited by Kiening Christian and Beil Ulrich Johannes. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2016). 52, 54, 55, 60

Lang, Fritz. “The Future of the Feature Film in Germany.” The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994) 623.

Tolette, J.P. "German Expressionism", in Traditions in World Cinema. Edited by Linda Badley, Palmer, R. Barton, and Schneider, Steven Jay, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 17, 19, 24, 25.

Weitz, Eric D. Weimar Germany, Promise and Tragedy. (Princeton: Princeton University Press: 2007.) 228.

Links to Images:

http://www.gibelwho.com/home/nosferatu-a-study-of-german-expressionism

https://www.indiewire.com/2016/04/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-sparkles-with-life-in-new-4k-restoration-290012/

https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920/

https://www.treehugger.com/culture/forget-the-iron-curtain-berlin-film-festival-raises-recycled-curtain-on-emmetropolisem.html

http://shaunduke.net/retro-nostalgia-metropolis-1927-and-6/

https://alexonfilm.com/2014/12/21/faust-1926/

http://blueiskewl.blogspot.com/2015/04/nosferatu-1922-gif.html

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/394979829804648584/

Applying the Right Theme: Nosferatu

The final influence that German Expressionism did affect during the period of time in the Weimar Republic is mainly through genre and such, mainly in the case of horror as with the example of F.W. other well-known classic from 1922, Nosferatu.

The infamous stair scene of Nosferatu. Image Link

Nosferatu is a very interesting case as it brings to light a very interesting case in terms of how thee previous themes applied from the past few posts, largely in set pieces and design. What so interesting about Nosferatu alongside other films of the period is the visuals, though with this film it is more tame, but keeps a very eerie-like atmosphere that many films of this period have¹. A large question that this applies is how films such as this can apply such a eerie theme. In the case of Nosferatu, this can be seen in the main monster, Count Orlok, and his overall design, being large and imposing with a creepy and unsettling face. His movements are also very important, as he moves with a slow unmoving gaze, largely seen from shots such as the famous stair scene (above picture) and him fitting through the door frame.

Orlok barely fitting through the door frame. Image Link

What this paints in terms of the expressionist movements on filmmakers is that it makes a fine line between reality and fiction, and the way these films use it is very important. To help with this, filmmakers would specific lighting and camera shots, mainly for use to create space² , which is why some of those shots such as the pictures above and below are some of the more well known shots on one of the classic films of this decade. In conclusion, the ways that Nosferatu uses the themes to paint a creepy theme is one of the larger points in how influential German Expressionism was.

1 J.P. Tolette, "German Expressionism", in Traditions in World Cinema. Linda Badley, Palmer, R. Barton, and Schneider, Steven Jay, eds. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 17.^↩

2 Rudolf Kurtz, and Brenda Benthien. Expressionism and Film. Ed. Kiening Christian and Beil Ulrich Johannes. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2016, 60.^↩