Line #87 Main/GermanExpressionism


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4	[[quoteright:320:[[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caligari_poster.png]]]]
5
6	German Expressionism was an artistic movement that began in Germany during the first years of the 20th century and held sway during its first three decades. The term applies to several artistic disciplines, including visual art, film, music, literature, architecture, and dance. Despite its name, the genre found adherents worldwide.
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8	In the film world, the movement culminated in the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] with Expressionist cinema. It proved extremely influential, helping establish the idea that cinema could be an art form and not just entertainment. These films were a major contributor to the {{Horror}} genre and important precursors of FilmNoir, and are sometimes seen as a bridge between noir and the earlier Gothic genre of literature. Major practitioners included Creator/FritzLang, Creator/FriedrichWilhelmMurnau, and Creator/RobertWiene.
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10	Several world-famous visual artists are considered Expressionists, most notably Creator/FranzMarc, Creator/ErnstLudwigKirchner, Creator/OskarKokoschka, Creator/EgonSchiele, and Creator/WassilyKandinsky. Two important collectives associated with the genre were Der Blaue Reiter and Die Brücke. Major influences on the style included Creator/EdvardMunch, Fauvists such as Creator/HenriMatisse, Creator/VincentVanGogh, and African art. Expressionist visual art is characterized by distorted figuration bordering on abstraction, bright (if not naturalistic) use of color, and subjective portrayal of emotions. Much non-representational art of the 20th and 21st centuries shows its influence.
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12	The term also is applied to some ClassicalMusic examples from the first few decades of the 20th century, especially by members of the Second Viennese School (Music/ArnoldSchoenberg, Music/AlbanBerg, and Music/AntonWebern). Its culmination was found in the atonal works (serial and not) by these three composers. Stylistic fingerprints include a non-triadic idiom that avoids Common Practice Period functional harmony but often retains classical structure, as well as settings of [[{{Symbolism}} Symbolist]] or [[{{Surrealism}} Surrealist]] poetry by writers such as Creator/StefanGeorge and Creator/AlbertGiraud. It influenced a significant amount of the non-triadic music that has followed since.
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14	In theatre, Expressionism takes its cues from the late plays of Creator/AugustStrindberg and Franz Wedekind (''Theatre/SpringAwakening''). Expressionist playwrights include Ernst Töller, Georg Kaiser, Oskar Kokoschka and Walter Hasenclever. Directors such as Max Reinhardt and Leopold Jessner were notable expressionist.
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16	While the movement thrived in UsefulNotes/WeimarGermany, the [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazis]] were virulently opposed to expressionism, and even had a huge touring art exhibit dedicated to making fun of Expressionist art. Persecution led to the movement's decline, and many expressionist artists fled to the States or other friendly countries to escape oppression.
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18	Expressionism tends to be characterized by showing the subconscious feelings of the characters and making them the surface of the work. The audience will be shown not what is strictly, naturally real (in fact, {{painters}} intentionally '''avoided''' it), but an abstract view of what the characters feel is real. Artists preferred to use large shapes and thick outlines rather than natural shading and colors. Shapes are stretched and twisted, and the subjects are portrayed in grim, tense poses. Such art is generally portrayed as fairly dark.
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20	Translating this art style into movies usually involved surreal set designs, dialog that dispenses with naturalism to let the characters' inner motivations and thoughts be stated with brutal honesty, and stark lighting effects. A strong, nightmarish atmosphere tends to prevail. In German cinema of the 1920s, Expressionism was actually part of the director's attempts to emphasize the subjective perspective and try and portray psychological complexity within the limits of the silent film medium. Creator/FritzLang noted that the ItWasHisSled aspect of ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' stemmed from their attempts to ground the entire film in a believable reality. As camera techniques improved and actors developed a way of acting for silent films, directors gradually pushed to greater realism in the 1920s. Even ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' was largely shot on real locations, as a deliberate contrast to the [[LooksLikeOrlok hideous vampire]] who is even more creepy in that believable landscape.
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22	Much modern art, and modern film in particular, is heavily influenced by German Expressionism: films like ''Film/EdwardScissorhands'', ''Film/DarkCity'', and ''Film/BatmanReturns'' are extremely expressionist, and almost any movie that has a [[CityNoir nightmarish city,]] a [[TheGovernment machine-like bureaucratic government]], or an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil AI]] owes a little to German Expressionism.
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24	----
25	[[index]]
26	!!Notable filmmakers included:
27
28	* Creator/CarlTheodorDreyer
29	* Creator/FritzLang
30	* Creator/PaulLeni
31	* Creator/JoeMay
32	* Creator/FriedrichWilhelmMurnau
33	* Creator/ArthurRobison
34	* Creator/PaulWegener
35	* Creator/RobertWiene
36
37	----
38	!!Notable films included:
39
40	* ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' (1920)
41	* ''From Morn to Midnight'' (1920)
42	* ''Film/TheGolem: How He Came Into the World'' (1920)
43	* ''Destiny'' (1921)
44	* ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' (1922)
45	* ''Phantom'' (1922)
46	* ''Film/DrMabuseTheGambler'' (1922)
47	* ''Film/WarningShadows'' (1923)
48	* ''Film/TheHandsOfOrlac'' (1924)
49	* ''Film/{{Waxworks}}'' (1924)
50	* ''Film/{{Variety}}'' (1925)
51	* ''The Student of Prague'' (1926)
52	* ''Film/{{Faust}}'' (1926)
53	* ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' (1927)
54	* ''Film/{{Sunrise}}'' (1927) - The film is notable for lacking the more disturbing and Gothic aspects popularly associated with German Expressionist cinema, instead using techniques such as oversized sets, ForcedPerspective, and overall deliberate and overt artificiality in service of a heartwarming melodrama.
55	* ''Alraune'' (1928)
56	* ''Film/{{M}}'' (1931)
57	* ''Film/{{Vampyr\|1932}}'' (1932)
58	* ''Film/TheTestamentOfDrMabuse'' (1933)
59	[[/index]]
60
61	----
62	!!Notable visual artists included:
63
64	* Creator/WassilyKandinsky
65	* Creator/ErnstLudwigKirchner
66	* Creator/OskarKokoschka
67	* Creator/FranzMarc
68	* Creator/EgonSchiele
69
70	----
71	!!Notable composers included:
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73	* Music/AlbanBerg
74	* Music/ArnoldSchoenberg
75	* Music/AntonWebern
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77	----
78	!!Notable tropes [[TropeMakers made by]], [[TropeCodifier codified by]] or [[TropeNamers named after]] German Expressionism in film include:
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80	* AIIsACrapshoot
81	* CircusOfFear
82	* CityNoir
83	* EvilHand: from ''Film/TheHandsOfOrlac''
84	* TheFutureIsNoir
85	* KubrickStare: Yes, this predates Kubrick himself
86	* LooksLikeCesare: After a major character in ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari''
87	* LooksLikeOrlok: After the title character in ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''
88	* LorreLookalike: After Creator/PeterLorre, the star of ''Film/{{M}}''
89	* MadnessMontage
90	* PivotalWakeup
91	* ZombieGait: Cesare, a sleepwalking character from ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', has this sort of a walk
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93	----
94	!!Other tropes frequently associated with the genre:
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96	* ArtificialHuman
97	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}
98	* {{Chiaroscuro}} (''Helldunkel'')
99	* CityInABottle
100	* CrapsackWorld
101	* TheGreatDepression: Though the genre went to decline during that time, and Hitler's takeover finished it, early examples strongly resemble the atmosphere.
102	* MadScientist
103	* MentalWorld
104	* NightmareFuel
105	* SurrealHorror
106	* UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic: Similar to UsefulNotes/{{Dada}}, in the film world, the style was largely born out of German directors' reactions to the horror that was UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. Themes of devastation and questioning authority abound in many films.
107	* WretchedHive
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Context Main / GermanExpressionism