Issues in Film Studies 1B Week Three Seminar

German Expressionism Seminar Structure German Expressionism Siegfried Kracauer Student Presentation Follow-up discussion The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Seminar Structure

German Expressionism

Siegfried Kracauer

Student Presentation

Follow-up discussion

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

German Expressionism A movement associated with modern German art, largely focused in Berlin Expressionism started around 1910 in painting, then in theatre & literature Part of the post-WWI boom in German cinema production Only a small number of films could be classed as ‘expressionist’

A movement associated with modern German art, largely focused in Berlin

Expressionism started around 1910 in painting, then in theatre & literature

Part of the post-WWI boom in German cinema production

Only a small number of films could be classed as ‘expressionist’

Why study German Expressionism? The films are significant for their aesthetic/formal value The films have influenced a number of filmmakers and the development of genres They provide a useful example of how films can be linked to society/context They allow us to consider different ways of presenting “reality”

The films are significant for their aesthetic/formal value

The films have influenced a number of filmmakers and the development of genres

They provide a useful example of how films can be linked to society/context

They allow us to consider different ways of presenting “reality”

Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966) German-Jewish scholar & Marxist Analysed many aspects of mass culture Fled Germany after the rise of the Nazis Wrote From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German Film (1947) Traces the birth of Nazism from the cinema of the Weimar Republic Proposed a reflectionist/zeitgeist model Highly influential in film theory & criticism

German-Jewish scholar & Marxist

Analysed many aspects of mass culture

Fled Germany after the rise of the Nazis

Wrote From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of German Film (1947)

Traces the birth of Nazism from the cinema of the Weimar Republic

Proposed a reflectionist/zeitgeist model

Highly influential in film theory & criticism

Student Presentation

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Identify the realist and expressionist elements in the film What is the relationship between these elements? Why is this relationship significant? In particular you need to consider the historical context in which the film was produced and released The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Identify the realist and expressionist elements in the film

What is the relationship between these elements?

Why is this relationship significant?

In particular you need to consider the historical context in which the film was produced and released

Nosferatu (1922)

Metropolis (1927)

Soviet Montage Questions Give several examples of “typage” in Strike . How does “typage” serve the ideological needs of the revolution? Give an example of the use of “Overlapping Editing” in Strike . How does the use of this particular technique oppose classical editing techniques/perspective on the world and how is this related to the broader modernist intentions of Soviet Montage?

Give several examples of “typage” in Strike . How does “typage” serve the ideological needs of the revolution?

Give an example of the use of “Overlapping Editing” in Strike .

How does the use of this particular technique oppose classical editing techniques/perspective on the world and how is this related to the broader modernist intentions of Soviet Montage?