3. German Expressionism: Art of a Culture in Crisis

Key events in Germany between 1914-1927

• Defeat in WWI

• The end of the German Empire

• Treaty of Versailles

• Loss of Territory

  • Financial Reparations

  • $23 billion in war reparations

Artistic Response

German Expressionist film gave "social angst" an "artistic form" through themes of "Dreams," "Sleepwalkers," "Doubles," "Pacts with the Devil," "Vampire invasions," "Mad scientists," "Trespassing into the forbidden," and the "Power of the irrational." It is linked to predecessors like Van Gogh and the expressive dance of Mary Wigman.

Stylistic Features

At the level of staging:

• An acting style of over acting, with exaggerated

gestures and mimicry

• Sets extravagant, threatening, nearly

collapsing, contorted, deviant from reality.

• The sets are painted not always three

dimensional

• Lighting: low key lighting; chiaroscuro

Elements associated with German Expressionist Film

• Antiheroic (even evil main characters)

• Madness, paranoia, obsessions

• Subjective point of view

• Primarily urban settings (mostly)

• The criminal underworld

• Complex architecture

• Shadows

Shift in Characterization

German cinema moved "from simple character roles to intricate, Freudian-inspired, psychologically-driven characters," focusing on portraying a "mental state rather than physical reality, expressing emotions about the world" (Alexandra Wexman), in contrast to the American focus on action and melodrama.

Key Films

The document lists influential films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920), Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922), Der Golem (Wegener, 1920), and Metropolis (Lang, 1927), noting the "expressionist settings" of Metropolis which combined "three-dimensional constructions and painted settings showing the subjective view of the main character."