 |
| Fig.1 |
The film is heralded as one of the most influential films of it's time, and it's not hard to see why they believe that as the plot and set can still hold a candle to the horror films of today.
The set was designed to give you a twisted perception whilst Francis is recounting his story, fantastical and twisting with dark shadows, "settings that squeeze and turn and adjust the eye and through the eye the mentality." (Variety Staff, 2006)
 |
| Fig.2 |
But at the beginning and the end of the film you see the set as a perfectly normal place, which gives it a dream like quality as well as show an insight into his mental state.
The film also shows the 'bad guy' as a gaunt and spindly man, which, partnered with his jerking movements, portrays him as a rather creepy individual.
 |
| Fig. 3 |
During the film you can see Francis's mental state wearing down and down through acting and set design, and eventually it is revealed that he himself is a patient at a mental asylum and the evil Dr. Caligari is his own doctor, although if he is actually evil or not is still up to debate, especially as the film has been seen as a response to WWI, "Cesare representing the innocent soldiers who were driven to murder under the instructions of an abusive authoritarian government (represented by Caligari)" (Alex Barrett, 2017) Although this can be thrown into debate, as it is unsure as to if Dr. Caligari is really bad or not, especially with it being revealed that Francis is not a reliable narrator, "the film simultaneously presents at least two viewpoints on the depicted events: 1) Francis is in fact mad and his story totally or partially delusional; 2) Francis is a reliable source, a position assumed through most of the film. From this second perspective the director of the asylum might be considered a psychotic tyrant whose power extends to include Francis' confinement. One is not, however, led directly to this conclusion. Rather, this version of the narrative causes a disruption of any stable or conclusive perception of character status and narrational authority within the film. This in turn opens the film to a range of possible readings." (M.B White)
And with this it is difficult to figure out who is right, and who is wrong, or if everything is as black and white as it seems.
Bibliography:
Images:
Figure 1, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari poster (1921) [poster] At: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Das_Cabinet_des_Dr._Caligari.JPG (Accessed on 26th September 2017)Figure 2, Film still (1920) [Film still] At: http://monovisions.com/the-cabinet-of-dr-caligari-1920-vintage-images/ (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Figure 3, Film still, (1920) [Film still] At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b73343e80 (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Quotes:
Rottentomatoes (s.d) At: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_cabinet_of_dr_caligari/ (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
Alex Barrett (2017) 10 great German Expressionist films At: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-german-expressionist-films (Accessed on 26th September 2017)
3. M.B White (s.d) Das Kabinett Des Dr. Caligari - Film (Movie) Plot and Review At: http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Jo-Ko/Das-Kabinett-des-Dr-Caligari.html (Accessed 26th September 2017)
A promising start Dante - well done :)
ReplyDeleteJust a couple of little things... the reference after the quote should just be the author's surname and the year, both in brackets, so (Barrett, 2017) for example. Your bibliography should be organised by the authors surname, followed by initial and is presented alphabetically.
Be wary of using such a long quote (your final one), in a relatively short piece of writing such as the film review; it would be better to either find a more oncise one, or edit the bigger one. You can do this by inserting three '...' to stand in for the bits that you take out, but make sure that what you have left still makes sense!
One final thing, be careful with your 'its' and 'it's'... 'it's' always means 'it is' or 'it has'.
Looking forward to what you made of 'Metropolis' :)