6. German Film, Murnau
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2024
- MIT 21L.011 The Film Experience, Fall 2013
View the complete course: ocw.mit.edu/21L-011F13
Instructor: David Thorburn
Continue discussing film as a global cultural form through early German cinema. Establish key themes of German Expressionism, with paintings as a backdrop. View & discuss clips: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, Nosferatu. Preview The Last Laugh.
00:00 OCW Intro
00:25 Introducing expressionism
14:40 German expressionist films: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis
27:11 Murnau's Nosferatu
37:11 Murnau's The Last Laugh
License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
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Fantastic, thank you for contributing to society and culture by making this lecture available.
+1
Professor David Thorburn is entitled to his opinion but I disagree entirely when he says that horror stories "create" new problems and fears, when in reality they reflect on the problems and fears that already exist in our society by turning them into more concrete ideas like monsters or evil things. In a way, every horror movie is a critique of society and an exposition of our true selves and what we truly fear as civil beings.
Totally agree. I found his comment strange and unsophisticated.
I think what he is getting at is the concretization of the idea. True, they are based on latent fears within a society, but those are often difficult to articulate and not properly understood. The greatness of horror is its ability to give expression to that unnamable terror, and it is that actualization which 'creates' the problems and fears. Slavoj Zizek has a great video on Jaws which sort of explains what I'm getting at regarding the fear of immigration and the environment being transposed into fear of the shark
Cabinet of Dr Caligari was made in 1920, years before montage was conceptualized and years before fluid camera motion was the standard cinematic language. Of course the shots were long and static, at the time this was the convention, but everything else that was done with the film is what makes it great, in my opinion.
What a great great talent!! Sunrise and Faust are extraordinary achievements.
One of the best things I've ever heard about this topic - a fantastic lecture! Appreciation and thanks from Germany!
Awesome lecture
If you're watching these lectures through like I am, don't trust Thorburn's take on early German cinema - he's usually on point but here he is totally wrong. Give (as a start) Caligari and M and Metropolis a chance - they're absolutely stunning. You just have to remember that they're totally a totally different type of art compared to what was produced in the US at the time because they were created for a different purpose (making art not money!) and by different people in a different culture - judging their quality using the same elements as you'd judge a US film of the same period (camera angles, acting style, etc.) holds them to a nonsensical standard and casts them in an unfairly bad light. Not saying you have to enjoy them of course, but it's unfair to stand in a lecture hall and trash them while praising other films made at the same time which are less visually interesting and have less to say, but which conform to US methods of film making.
Anna Burn stunning is a great word for it. He seems to like realistic and plot driven movies. He’s en pointe when he says that even people who find the subject matter ridic can still admire them from a technical perspective though.
On spot Anna. In fact this is one of the problems of motion vs sensory. You know some people just prefer motion... in another comment Coretta has rightly pointed out - plot driven... This guy may not understand a person like Tarkovsky for example.
The professor should indeed just keep his biased (and in fact pretty shallow) views to himself. What is the point in stressing the subjectivity of his take and then repeating it over and over again?
Perfect comment. Metropolis is an amazing film, and I'm going to be checking out Caligari as well.
I agree with you. Even today there are plenty of critics (such as Roger Ebert) who regard these silent German Expressionist films as artistic masterpieces. To focus solely on the plot is to miss the point.
Professor Thorbum stated it's only his personal opinions.
but to say German film static scenes because older art form restricted them that's an argument you better prove it, it's out of the realm of personal preference.
Yeah I just watched Metropolis and I actually liked the steady shots in which the camera was still but the characters were moving mechanically. I'm probably just tired of the overused "kinetic power of the camera" in the modern movies and the still shots here showing an otherwise chaotic world added to the surrealist experience.
How much did Metropolis cost to film?
The silent film is regarded as a pioneering science-fiction movie, being among the first feature-length movies of that genre. Filming took place over 17 months in 1925-26 at a cost of more than five million Reichsmarks, or the equivalent of about €21 million.
Bruh the monsieur wants all his films to have their camera flung all over the place like Dziga Vertov or barely even considers them. It's no coincidence that he never mentions Dreyer then as far as I can tell. Very big mistake to try and cut films like Metropolis and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari down a notch just because they didn't fit your personal opinion of film evolution
Wow, he hates this stuff. Can’t stop dropping hate.
Peter Stopschinski he admitted that he doesn’t get them. I love this stuff and can’t imagine not finding it accessible, but I forgave him when he said even though he finds it silly he appreciates the technique. I suppose I never really like these for their plots either, but I never thought about it. They are so visually absorbing I just love to look at them, love the mood they convey. I wish they could do this nowadays.
@@corettaha7855 Did you see The Lighthouse?
@@corettaha7855 Agree. If you take some of the stills from say Caligari they still looks amazing. And that plot twist for 100 years ago was just excellent.
👍👍
@12:23
Luis Felipe Verástegui Ríos you’re a sick sick man
Was quite interested till his little diatribe about Horror Movies. Shame.
I've always thought that Nosferatu has aged quite poorly. Very iconic images but it's not a good movie by today standards.
This guy stutters as he talks, like Louis Black to the Nth degree
this is so american... 😒
We're not all this ignorant of the importance of expressionism, I promise
Forgive me, but this guy has a problem.
Okay boomer