Nationalism
During Weimar’s time of economic, political, and social distress, cinema became a new foundation of the nation. The economy’s inflation was responsible for the increase of movie making, while film’s themes reflected the political strife and disturbed social nature of its people.
The end of World War 1 was a bad time to be German. The country had just lost the war and all of Europe was demanding repayment for the devastating effects it left. While the Treaty of Versailles brought peace between Germany and the Allied Powers, it also contained the power to break the German nation. The most humiliating part of the treaty was Article 231, the “War Guilt Clause”, which forced Germany to claim sole responsibility for initiating the war, as well as imposing extreme reparation payments for all material damages. These towering debts were too great to ever be repaid, and were constructed to keep Germany from recovering and started another war. In order to pay the reparations, the government simply printed more bills. Since there was nothing to back up the banknotes, inflation steadily rose until German marks were basically useless. Bread that may have once cost a mark at the end of the Great War transformed into billions of marks by 1923, just a few short years later.
While this hyperinflation devastated the economy, it helped in creating a new national identity. With an unstable economy there was no reason for people to save money. Instead they flocked to cinemas where they could escape reality and live through new characters. The influx of viewers encouraged filmmakers to produce more work, which kept the cycle going. Generating films was easy due to cheaper costs and affordable labor. Germany currency was worthless internationally and easier to export, therefore encouraged more films to be made. The leading studio, UFA, helped improve Germany’s film reputation by focusing on it as art and entertainment.[1]
Extravagant films, such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis from 1927, were made possible because of the UFA and it’s innovative production. Erich Pommer, the producer, created a trademark style of revolutionary set design. It demanded superior craftsmanship and technical expertise, making Metropolis a product of Weimar’s national rise in inflation. In the film, the protagonist Freder explores both the high and low class ways of living in a 2026 futuristic, dystopian city. The high class scenery is full of skyscraper buildings, flashing lights, and the constant motion of planes and cars. These grand landscapes were achieved by using semi-permeable mirrors, which was just one of the studios novelty methods. The low-class scenery is grittier, focused on the manufacturing life and labor. Curious about low class life, Freder seeks out factory life and sees a machine explode. The machine setting is impressive, about four to five stories tall with a grand, steep staircase in the middle. At one point, Freder is in a haze and sees a crossover between the normal machine and an oversized head swallowing the workers who are pulled in by slave drivers. The crossover morphing is visually impressive for the time when no modern editing was available and everything had to be cut by hand. It was excellence like this Germany was exporting. [2]
While Metropolis was optically stunning, it also rang true with social strife in the Republic. World War 1 left not only the economy in pieces, but set Weimar up for political conflict throughout its existence. There was continuous tension between extremists, including worker’s uprisings. These real life uprisings were much like the tense moments in Metropolis when the workers, mislead by the false, robot Maria, break free to destroy the machines. The workers’ passions were only subdued when they were reminded of their children in the flooded city, bringing along despair and misery. Destruction of the city draws parallel to the Weimar Republic, torn apart by political instability, and the crushing depression and distorted views of the people living in it. [2]
The nation’s disturbed mental outlook was also illustrated in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The story is told as a man’s flashback of his discovery of an insane doctor who uses a somnambulist to commit murders, only to find out at the end it is all this man’s delusion and he is actually the one in an insane asylum. The illusion of losing one’s identity is something veterans may have had to deal with when returning from a lost war, pride disintegrated and physically deformed. The traumatic events experienced, like trench warfare and gassing, contributed to physical and mental illnesses similar to the protagonist's. [3]
The set design of the film also contributed to the eerie sense of delusion: dramatic, geometric angles rather than realistic. The setting fits the mind of a mentally ill person, much like the one telling the story. Rather than displaying a real life view of what the scenery would actually be, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is Expressionistic and gives the viewer an experience of what is happening. Even the colors, though in black and white, stand out because of the dramatic contrast in shapes. The unsound mind is displayed visually and hints at the mental state of its narrator, as well as reflects the nation. [3]
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s film Westfront 1918 emphasized the trauma of World War [1] I. It followed a group of German soldiers trying to survive in trenches as attacks disintegrate their psyches and drive them to madness and death wishes. The imagery used in the poster was created to show the horrible effects it had on the mental state of soldiers, and the grim tone of the movie. A man, hand to his head, has the look of horror and defeat on his face. The blue coloring of it implies distortion of mental state as well as the impending death to soldiers. All around him there is destruction with death bodies strewn through no man’s land, and a cloud of smoke and fire in the background. The poster illustrates what veterans had to deal with during the war, and the horror they brought back to their country at its end.
Cinema became a medium that reflected Germany’s problems during the Weimar Republic. The inflated economy increased the production of film, while the subject matter dealt with social revolt and war trauma.[4]
- Julia Karraker
[1] Sabine , Hake. German National Cinema. Taylor & Francis, 2007.
[2] Lang, Fritz. "Metropolis Restored." Web, http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70132372.
[3] Robert, Weine, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," Web, http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=342780&trkid=2361637&t=The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
[4] Pabst, Georg Wilhelm, "Westfront 1918," 1930, VHS.
The end of World War 1 was a bad time to be German. The country had just lost the war and all of Europe was demanding repayment for the devastating effects it left. While the Treaty of Versailles brought peace between Germany and the Allied Powers, it also contained the power to break the German nation. The most humiliating part of the treaty was Article 231, the “War Guilt Clause”, which forced Germany to claim sole responsibility for initiating the war, as well as imposing extreme reparation payments for all material damages. These towering debts were too great to ever be repaid, and were constructed to keep Germany from recovering and started another war. In order to pay the reparations, the government simply printed more bills. Since there was nothing to back up the banknotes, inflation steadily rose until German marks were basically useless. Bread that may have once cost a mark at the end of the Great War transformed into billions of marks by 1923, just a few short years later.
While this hyperinflation devastated the economy, it helped in creating a new national identity. With an unstable economy there was no reason for people to save money. Instead they flocked to cinemas where they could escape reality and live through new characters. The influx of viewers encouraged filmmakers to produce more work, which kept the cycle going. Generating films was easy due to cheaper costs and affordable labor. Germany currency was worthless internationally and easier to export, therefore encouraged more films to be made. The leading studio, UFA, helped improve Germany’s film reputation by focusing on it as art and entertainment.[1]
Extravagant films, such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis from 1927, were made possible because of the UFA and it’s innovative production. Erich Pommer, the producer, created a trademark style of revolutionary set design. It demanded superior craftsmanship and technical expertise, making Metropolis a product of Weimar’s national rise in inflation. In the film, the protagonist Freder explores both the high and low class ways of living in a 2026 futuristic, dystopian city. The high class scenery is full of skyscraper buildings, flashing lights, and the constant motion of planes and cars. These grand landscapes were achieved by using semi-permeable mirrors, which was just one of the studios novelty methods. The low-class scenery is grittier, focused on the manufacturing life and labor. Curious about low class life, Freder seeks out factory life and sees a machine explode. The machine setting is impressive, about four to five stories tall with a grand, steep staircase in the middle. At one point, Freder is in a haze and sees a crossover between the normal machine and an oversized head swallowing the workers who are pulled in by slave drivers. The crossover morphing is visually impressive for the time when no modern editing was available and everything had to be cut by hand. It was excellence like this Germany was exporting. [2]
While Metropolis was optically stunning, it also rang true with social strife in the Republic. World War 1 left not only the economy in pieces, but set Weimar up for political conflict throughout its existence. There was continuous tension between extremists, including worker’s uprisings. These real life uprisings were much like the tense moments in Metropolis when the workers, mislead by the false, robot Maria, break free to destroy the machines. The workers’ passions were only subdued when they were reminded of their children in the flooded city, bringing along despair and misery. Destruction of the city draws parallel to the Weimar Republic, torn apart by political instability, and the crushing depression and distorted views of the people living in it. [2]
The nation’s disturbed mental outlook was also illustrated in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The story is told as a man’s flashback of his discovery of an insane doctor who uses a somnambulist to commit murders, only to find out at the end it is all this man’s delusion and he is actually the one in an insane asylum. The illusion of losing one’s identity is something veterans may have had to deal with when returning from a lost war, pride disintegrated and physically deformed. The traumatic events experienced, like trench warfare and gassing, contributed to physical and mental illnesses similar to the protagonist's. [3]
The set design of the film also contributed to the eerie sense of delusion: dramatic, geometric angles rather than realistic. The setting fits the mind of a mentally ill person, much like the one telling the story. Rather than displaying a real life view of what the scenery would actually be, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is Expressionistic and gives the viewer an experience of what is happening. Even the colors, though in black and white, stand out because of the dramatic contrast in shapes. The unsound mind is displayed visually and hints at the mental state of its narrator, as well as reflects the nation. [3]
Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s film Westfront 1918 emphasized the trauma of World War [1] I. It followed a group of German soldiers trying to survive in trenches as attacks disintegrate their psyches and drive them to madness and death wishes. The imagery used in the poster was created to show the horrible effects it had on the mental state of soldiers, and the grim tone of the movie. A man, hand to his head, has the look of horror and defeat on his face. The blue coloring of it implies distortion of mental state as well as the impending death to soldiers. All around him there is destruction with death bodies strewn through no man’s land, and a cloud of smoke and fire in the background. The poster illustrates what veterans had to deal with during the war, and the horror they brought back to their country at its end.
Cinema became a medium that reflected Germany’s problems during the Weimar Republic. The inflated economy increased the production of film, while the subject matter dealt with social revolt and war trauma.[4]
- Julia Karraker
[1] Sabine , Hake. German National Cinema. Taylor & Francis, 2007.
[2] Lang, Fritz. "Metropolis Restored." Web, http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70132372.
[3] Robert, Weine, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," Web, http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=342780&trkid=2361637&t=The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
[4] Pabst, Georg Wilhelm, "Westfront 1918," 1930, VHS.