German+Expressionism



=Resources:= =Film Art - An Introduction (Bordwell & Thompson) Ch 9 Film Genres PP 318-326 (you have a digital copy of this text)= =[|German Expressionism]= =[|German Expressionism:The World of Light and Shadow]=

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===German expressionist films were prevalent in the 1920s. Amongst the most well remembered are films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Weiner, 1920), Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922), Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) and Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927). These films were united by highly stylized visuals, strange asymmetrical camera angles, atmospheric lighting and harsh contrasts between dark and light. Shadows and silhouettes were an important feature of expressionism, to the extent that they were actually painted on to the sets in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.===

===The story lines of German expressionist films matched the visuals in terms of darkness and disillusionment. Often sombre in mood and featuring characters from a corrupt underworld of crime, the films’ dramatic effects produced motifs of claustrophobia and paranoia. The same words could be used to describe 1940s Hollywood film noir, a genre hugely influenced by German expressionism. Fritz Lang himself also went on to make notable film noirs such as Fury and You Only Live Once. (http://michelle-strozykowski.suite101.com)===

===Amongst the first Experssionist films are [|The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)], [|The Golem (1920)], [|Destiny (1921)], [|Nosferatu (1922)], [|Schatten (1923)], and [|The Last Laugh (1924)]. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the first notably successful German Expressionist film, featured many prominent elements which would repeat themselves throughout the genre: ===


 * === Anti-heroic (if not downright evil) characters at the center of the story...===
 * ===the story itself often involves madness, paranoia, obsession and is told in whole or in part from a subjective point of view .===
 * ===A primarily urban setting or nightmarishly complex (there are exceptions, particularly in the case of Murnau), providing ample opportunity to explore .===

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 * === Complex architectural and compositional possibilities offered, for example, by stairways and their railings, mirrors and reflecting windows, structures jutting every bit as vertically as they do horizontally so that...===
 * ===the director can play with stripes, angles and geometric forms sliced from the stark contrasts between light and shadow.===
 * === Shadows, in fact, can take on an ominous presence of their own; think of the monster's shadow ascending the stairs in Nosferatu, the shadow preceding the murderer in M or the pursuit and capture of Maria in Metropolis. (source: Greencine.com)===

= Examples of German Expressionism = media type="youtube" key="UEEOEnAmGl8" width="560" height="315"

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Germany, 1920) = [|THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, Robert Weine, 1920] =

media type="youtube" key="-b8_ElkrRNY" width="560" height="315" media type="youtube" key="mCUW4SwmfGc" width="560" height="315" Nosferatu (Germany, 1922) The Complete Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhC3WHQGUNY

= Analyze the elements of German Expressionism found in the films represented below on =

= The impact of German Expressionism... =

...and Snow White's subjective horror of the Teutonic Forest
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Snow White (USA, Walt Disney Productions 1937)

...on Tim Burton, informs all of his filmography
media type="youtube" key="M94yyfWy-KI" width="560" height="315" Edward Scissorhands (USA, 1990)

...on Orson Wells mise-en-scene
media type="custom" key="24379154" Citizen Kane (USA, 1941)

...on Stanley Kubrick's cold war comedy
media type="custom" key="24379314" Dr. Strangelove (USA, 1964)

...on visions of the city
media type="youtube" key="UuRE74Bdvhw" width="560" height="315" Blade Runner (USA, 1982)

...on Lady Gaga
media type="custom" key="24383302" Alejandro (USA, 2010)

...on Dario Argento's Italian horror
media type="custom" key="24396300" Suspiria (Italy, 1977)

...on Michelangelo Antonioni's Modernist cinema of alienation
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La Notte (Italy, 1961)

**...and on much of Alfred Hitchcock's influential filmography** media type="custom" key="24402274" Frenzy (UK, 1972) media type="youtube" key="j43DaFDhggM" width="560" height="315"

Suspicion (USA,1941)

= [|THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, Robert Weine, 1920] =