Film Studies Daily Log

Tuesday, April 12 We reviewed yesterday's handout ("Where the Horror Came From," by David Hudson) in terms of the historical background of WWI, post-war devastation, and revolutionary failure, and we looked at Sergei Eisenstein's assessment of the dismal, nightmarish quality of German Expressionist film as reflecting that circumstance in contrast to the forward-looking and optimistic Soviet films spawned by the Russian revolution. We also discussed students' despriptions of the style of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from yesterday's exercise. The strong contrasts of light and dark (with the emphasis on the dark), the exaggerated acting style, makeup and costuming, the distorted, painted sets -- in general the anti-realistic, abstract and emotive nature of the film -- received attention. At least one student had compared the film to the films of Tim Burton -- whom David Hudson cites as strongly reflecting an Expressionist influence.