The link between expressionism and horror quickly became a dominant feature in many films and continues to be prominent in contemporary films mainly due to the German expressionist masterpiece Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari. Wiene’s 1920 Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari utilized a distinctive creepiness and the uncanny throughout the film that became one the most distinctive features of externalising inner mental and emotional states of protagonists through various expressionist methods. Its revolutionary and innovative new art was heavily influenced by the German state and its populace in conjunction with their experience of war; Caligari took a clear cue from what was happening in Germany at the time. It was this film that set cinematic conventions that still apply today, heavily influencing the later Hollywood film noir genre as well as the psychological thrillers that has lead several film audiences to engage with a film, its character, its plot and anticipate its outcome, only to question whether the entire movie was a dream, a story of a crazy man, or an elaborate role play. This concept of the familiar and the strange, the reality, the illusion and the dream developed in Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari, is once again present in Scorsese’s 2010 film Shutter Island. It is laced with influences from different films of the film noir and horror genre, and many themes that are directly linked to Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari shot 90 years prior. The majority of Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari is told through a series of flashbacks, with the scenes having expressionist-inspired set design and deformed locations to emphasize the unreliable and deluded state of mind of the storyteller. The young protagonist Francis tells the... ... middle of paper ... ... within his imaginary reality. Overall I would argue that Shutter Island is heavily influenced by the Hollywood film noir genre and psychological thrillers, and thus indirectly by Das Kabinett des Doctor Caligari. Shutter Island incorporates expressionistic elements in the underlying themes it encompasses, as well as the different symbolic features that are present, such as for example fire and water, light and dark, reality and imaginary worlds. It has taken clear cues from Caligari with similar plot twists at the end, unreliable narrators and ultimately leaving the audience guessing who is sane and who is not, what is real and what is not. The creation of their own imaginary realities allows Francis and Teddy to construct themselves in their own image and allows them to be great rather than to recognize the very fact that they are powerless, ordinary and flawed.
Many films, and sometimes film genres, are dismissed as being part of the cinema of escapism. This assumes that in times of particular social or economic hardship (often on a national or international level), people go to movies for the sole purpose of “getting away from it all.” While some films may follow this overall trend, it is important to note that it cannot be a generalization made for all films. During the Weimar era in Germany, the nation was in the midst of a national struggle on many fronts. As a people, Germans attempted to deal with their past (the problems during World War I as well as the consequences of their loss) and move toward the future (finding a solution for their economic struggles and defining themselves culturally and socially). This period saw a resurgence of the horror genre, this time adapted to the new medium of film. However, the way horror was portrayed via film is the interesting part: it drew specifically on the struggles of the nation to instill horror. This is an exact reversal of the idea of cinematic escapism, since many Weimar era horror films used relatable struggles in order to both entertain and terrify (in this case, existing concurrently as well as dependently on each other). One of the clearest examples of this is through the film Nosferatu, a cinematic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula directed by F.W. Murnau. The budding horror genre of the Weimar era, as exemplified by Nosferatu, succeeded because it drew parallels to the German people’s collective post-World War I mindset, including references to the terrible nature of the war itself and the fearful prospect of how to move forward.
In “Interpreter of Maladies,” lonely Mr. Kapasi acts a guide for the Das family of tourists. His intrigue in Mrs. Das is not due to her particular beauty, but rather from the minimal attention she gives him. The car rides from one tourist attraction to another represent both Mr. Kapasi’s and Mrs. Das’s subtle desire for control in their lives, he with his need for passion and she with her selfish secrets. Additionally, the car ride in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” also in some way represents control, as exhibited in Arnold Friend’s sway over young Connie. The flashy gold paint on the old model car is representative of Arnold himself and the persona he is wishing to portray. Furthermore, the sexual energy of the car rides is presented in the two stories as both pathetic (a married man’s lust), and nefarious (Arnold’s fetishization of fifteen-year-old Connie). The commonality of specious appearances is what really links the two works, with both Mrs. Das and Mr Kapasi not being quite what they seem, and Connie and Arnold’s desire to play a different character than their own, despite the contrast of innocence and
To sum up, "Turtle Island" features characters who struggle in the cultural; it included gangs, drugs, and violence. The narrator who was only 11 years old was a rebellious and impulsive person who was against cultural belief. He was just a little boy and considered questions that depended on his own opinion, so he could not think like an adult. The mind can easy to change depend on his thought. In the end, of the story, he had chosen to become a person who was brave, powerful and
Canadian filmmaker and cinephile, Guy Maddin once said, “I do feel a bit like Dracula in Winnipeg. I’m safe, but can travel abroad and suck up all sorts of ideas from other filmmakers… Then I can come back here and hoard these tropes and cinematic devices.” Here, Maddin addresses his filmmaking saying that he takes aspects from different film styles and appropriates them into his own work. In The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Maddin uses a combination of French Surrealist filmmaking and classical American Hollywood cinema, specifically melodrama, to create his own style. In an article by William Beard, Steven Shaviro talks about Maddin’s filmmaking, and he links Surrealism and melodrama together saying, “Maddin’s films are driven by a tension between romantic excess [melodrama] on the one hand and absurdist humour [Surrealism] on the other.” In regards to The Saddest Music in the World, the relationship between Surrealism and melodrama is not one of tension, as Shaviro suggests, but one of cooperation. This paper will analyze two films by filmmakers Maddin was familiar with —Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali on the Surrealist side, and All That Heaven Allows (1955) by Douglas Sirk on the melodrama side—to showcase the important elements of each, concluding with an analysis of The Saddest Music in the World in conjunction with both film styles. Ultimately, it will be shown how Guy Maddin combines French Surrealist cinema and Hollywood melodrama in The Saddest Music in the World, to create his own unique film style.
The German Expressionism was a period that came following the devastation of World War I, it came when the people of Germany needed something to claim as their own. The expressionism movement gave Germany just that; it helped them not only in the filmmaking industry, but also in their personal lives. The German Expressionism changed the way we look at and view films. The German Expressionism altered, for the better, the way that films were made back then and the way that they are made today.
Black smoke stained the sky and scarlet blood darkened the earth, as global war, once again, ravaged twentieth-century society. The repercussions of the Second World War rippled across the Atlantic and spread like an infectious disease. As the morality of humankind appeared to dissipate with each exploding bomb, anxiety, frustration, and hopelessness riddled the American public and began to spill into the art of New York City’s avant-garde (Paul par. 4). By the mid-1940s, artists reeling from the unparalleled violence, brutality, and destruction of war found a shared “vision and purpose” in a new artistic movement: Abstract Expressionism (Chave 3). Critics considered the most prominent artists of the movement to comprise the New York School
Perhaps an even stronger testament to the deepness of cinema is Darren Aronofsky’s stark, somber Requiem for a Dream. Centering on the drug-induced debasement of four individuals searching for the abstract concept known as happiness, Requiem for a Dream brims with verisimilitude and intensity. The picture’s harrowing depiction of the characters’ precipitous fall into the abyss has, in turn, fascinated and appalled, yet its frank, uncompromising approach leaves an indelible imprint in the minds of young and old alike.
Firstly, the island is like the Garden of Eden, like paradise, however, within few days it becomes a microcosm of the real world. The plane crashes onto the island leaving a ‘scar’ behind. From this event, we see the island as Earth and the plane as human activities invading Earth. It signifies how humans drop bombs, pollute and destruct nature with our likings and our needs. All these ‘scars’ left behind in nature, ‘scars’ and shadows left behind in society - deaths, abuse and hatred - originates to
Connelly, Marie. "The films of Martin Scorsese: A critical study." Diss. Case Western Reserve University, 1991. Web. 07 Apr 2014.
__Expressionism__ is an artistic style that distorts and exaggerates reality to cause a strong emotional response from the audience. It attempts to depict the subjective, rather than the objective reality, through the use of shapes, color, and contrast. Specifically, __German Expressionism is an innovative and influential movement that began as a response to World War II. German Expressionists included novelist, poets, playwrites, and filmmakers. German Expressionism, in its early years, was a response to the massive casualties of the war and developed into an anguished style which tended to explore death, the supernatural, and the darker sides of the human psyche.
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
It is no doubt that Martin Scorsese has heavily influenced the emulating of American film making from European influences. He is a prime example of a ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ director, not only from his ethnicity and background, but from his sheer interest in this form
...the predominant theme of disorientation and lack of understanding throughout the film. The audience is never clear of if the scene happening is authentic or if there is a false reality.
One of the most influential Italian cinemas film directors was Federico Fellini, who became popular after World War II. The filmography of Fellini included 24 titles; of which won him five Academy Awards including the most Oscars in history for best foreign language film (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Federico Fellini’s influences have became such an integral part of the film industry, that some of his influences are barely even credited to him in todays society such as the word “paparazzi” which originated in his film La Dolce Vita, and became the word it means today. Also high schools across the America stage perform the Broadway musical comedy Sweet Charity, which was based on the Fellini film Nights of Cabiria, which was a film about an eternally optimistic Roman prostitute (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Fellini started out as a documentary-style realist in the Neorealism movement but soon developed his own distinctive style of autobiographical films that imposed dreamlike or hallucinatory imagery upon ordinary situations and portrayed people at their most bizarre state (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Federico Fellini was a significant directors in the Neorealism movement in his early career but later left Neorealism behind and created a new style of film that’s influences are still seen today and are prominent in film and other artistic pieces of work.
German Expressionism is an artistic movement that rose from the smouldering ashes of World War |. This movement would change the film industry and it's approach to filmmaking. Expressionism was a response to a widespread anxiety about humanities increasing discordant relationship with the world. During this time the German nation had been virtually destroyed. The war introduced death in staggering numbers and highlighted the barbarism of humanity. The chaotic results of the war inspired an artistic revolution that would impact cinema for a century later. More than ninety years after it's development the movement known as German Expressionism is still influencing the minds and actions of filmmakers and artists. Born out of despair and tragedy this movement has grown so readily that many modern icons can find their roots in German durning the 1920's. The minds of Fritz Lang, F.W Marnau, Robert Weine, Er...