The document provides information about German Expressionism, including: - It was a reaction against conservative academies and embraced distorted forms and exaggerated colors. - Artists wanted to startle viewers with direct, frank works in various media. - Many artists served in WWI and returned disillusioned by the war and economic/political turmoil in Germany. - The movement reflected humanistic concerns and ambivalence about modernity through the early 1920s.

1. What is German Expressionism?

2. German Expressionism
• This artistic movement was in many ways a reaction to the conservative social values that
continued at the turn of the 20th century. Expressionist Artists rejected the stale traditions of
the state-sponsored art academies and turned to boldly simplified or distorted forms and
exaggerated, sometimes clashing colours.
• Directness, frankness, and a desire to startle the viewer characterise Expressionism in its
various branches and arrangements.
• Many of the German Expressionism artists had served in the military during World War I. Two
well-known German Expression artists, August Macke and Franz Marc, were killed and those
who survived returned from the experience disillusioned, depressed, sometimes maimed and
often shell-shocked. The Germany to which they returned was a country overwhelmed with
major economic, social, and political problems. Parties from both the extreme left and
extreme right were bitter political enemies that shared one common goal; to overthrow the
current government. The final blow to an already shaky economy was the signing of the
Versailles Treaty in 1919 which cost Germany not only some of its land (new states of Poland
and Czechoslovakia were created) but massive amounts in reparation for the costs of the war.

3. Significant Themes
(German Expressionsm)
As Expressionism evolved from just after the turn of the century through
the early 1920s, a number of crucial themes and genres came into focus,
many of which reflect deeply humanistic concerns and an ambivalent
attitude toward modernity.
These include:
• a fascination with the enticing yet often wretched experiences of
modern urban life;
• the enduring solace associated with nature and religion;
• the naked body and its potential to signify primal emotion;
• emotionally charged portraiture;
• and, most pivotally, the need to confront the devastating
experience of World War I and its aftermath.

4. Significant Themes
(German Expressionism)
As a result of an intensely rapid period of
industrialization in the 19th century, German cities
experienced an explosion in size and population density
between German unification, in 1871, and 1910. The
Expressionists approached the modern city with
ambivalence. On the one hand, they recognized the
dehumanizing and alienating effects of an urban
lifestyle. Yet at the same time, they celebrated the
excitement and vitality of its bustling pace and many
and attractions.

5. German Expressionist Style
Characterized by:
– Directness
– Frankness
– a desire to startle the viewer in its various branches and
arrangements.

6. German Expressionist Films
At the onset of World War I, the German film industry
was dominated by imported films on German screens.
To combat this competition the German government
began to support the film industry so that t could
create its own propaganda films and also to ensure a
German film industry. The industry benefited greatly
from this support, securing financing for state of the art
equipment and studios even in the face of global
resistance as a consequence of the First World War. A
number of prominent German filmmakers left Germany
to work and make films in Hollywood in turn
influencing the look and feel of horror in Hollywood.

7. Mise-en-scene and German
Expressionism
Formal elements of German Expressionist films
According to Nancy West from the University of Missouri,
Columbia, the formal elements of German Expressionist film
include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Chiaroscuro lighting: lighting that employs extreme
contrasts of light and dark, thus creating dramatic shadows
• a preoccupation with mirrors, glass, and other reflective
surfaces
• the use of anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of a
human form, human characteristics, or human behaviour to
non-human things
• an interest in abstractionism, which is a style of art that
privileges internal form over pictorial representation

8. Lighting in expressionist films
Expressionist films use simple lighting from the
front and sides, illuminating the scene flatly and
evenly to stress the links between the figures
and the décor. In some notable cases, shadows
are used to create additional distortion (see
chiaroscuro lighting). ---Bordwell and Thompson

9. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lighting
lighting that employs
extreme contrasts of
light and dark, thus
creating dramatic
shadows

10. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lightinglighting that employs
extreme contrasts of light
and dark, thus creating
dramatic shadows

11. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Chiaroscuro lighting
lighting that employs extreme
contrasts of light and dark, thus
creating dramatic shadows

12. A preoccupation
with mirrors, glass,
and other reflective
surfaces
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Preoccupation with
reflective surfaces

13. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Preoccupation with reflective
surfaces

14. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Preoccupation with reflective
surfaces
A preoccupation with
mirrors, glass, and
other reflective
surfaces

15. The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism

16. The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism

17. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism
The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things

18. Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film
Anthropomorphism
The use of
anthropomorphism
anthropomorphism
is the attribution of a
human form, human
characteristics, or
human behaviour to
non-human things

19. Abstractionism is a style of art that privileges internal form over pictorial
representation.
Abstraction is different to a lot of more traditional styles of art
because it is more focused on the use of imagination or ideas
expressed through emotion.
Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film

20. German Expressionist Films

43. Glossary of terms
mise-en-scene
French word meaning “placing on stage” or “put in
the scene”
When applied to the cinema, mise-en-scène refers to everything that
appears before the camera and its arrangement—composition, sets,
props, actors, costumes, sounds, and lighting.
The “mise-en-scène”, along with the editing of a film, influence the
realness of a film in the eyes of its viewers
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44. Glossary of terms
MOTIF
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element
that has symbolic significance in a story.
Through its repetition, a motif can help produce
other narrative (or literary) aspects such as
theme or mood.
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45. Glossary of terms
Characterisation
Characterisation : information that is given
about a character
This information can be given explicitly (told
directly) or implicitly (told indirectly).
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46. Glossary of terms
Multimodal
More than one
Way of Communicating
information
Therefore, a multimodal text is a text that uses more than one system of
communication. Multimodal texts often employ systems of visual, audial and
textual communications, because they (when working together) increase
audiences level of engagement and interest.
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