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What is German Expressionism?

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.

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.

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.

German Expressionist Style

Characterized by:– Directness– Frankness– a desire to startle the viewer in its various branches and

arrangements.

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.

Expressionism encompasses an artistic movement (including film, theatre,painting, and other art forms) that aimed to give shape to psychological states throughhighly stylised visuals in the early decades of the 20th century.

Mise-en-scene and German Expressionism

Formal elements of German Expressionist filmsAccording 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

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

Formal Elements of German Expressionist Film

Chiaroscuro lighting

lighting that employs extreme contrasts of light and dark, thus creating dramatic shadows


Chiaroscuro lightinglighting that employs extreme contrasts of light and dark, thus creating dramatic shadows


Chiaroscuro lighting

lighting that employs extreme contrasts of light and dark, thus

creating dramatic shadows

A preoccupation with mirrors, glass, and other reflective

surfaces


Preoccupation with reflective

surfaces


Preoccupation with reflective surfaces


Preoccupation with reflective surfaces

A preoccupation with mirrors, glass, and other reflective surfaces

The use of anthropomorphism

anthropomorphism is the attribution of a human form, human characteristics, or human behaviour to non-human things


Anthropomorphism


Anthropomorphism

The use of anthropomorphism

anthropomorphism is the attribution of a human form, human characteristics, or human behaviour to non-human things

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.


German Expressionist Films

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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Learning Objective Slide

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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.


‘Gothic-Horror Slide’

Glossary of terms

CharacterisationCharacterisation : information that is given about a characterThis information can be given explicitly (told directly) or implicitly (told indirectly).


‘Characterisation slide’

Glossary of terms

Multimodal

More than oneWay 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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Assessment Slide

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