DARK CITY
On week 7, we watched Dark City in the class, and we learned about the theory of German Expressionism. Dark City is directed by Alex Proyas in the 1998, the film consists of several genres and is categorized as the Postmodernism Film, but the main goal of this essay is to talk about the German Expressionism approach towards the film.
German Expressionism refers to a creative movements which was beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. It was influenced by the Expressionist movement in modern art of early 1900s. The theme of the movement of German Expressionism are often contain of self-analysis, madness and primitive, sexual savagery. These developments in Germany were part of a larger Expressionist movement in Europe culture in fields such as architecture, dance, painting, sculpture, as well as film. It also spread into cinema in terms of narrative, set and Mise‐en‐scene. It is most apparent in set design and chiaroscuro lighting in order word low key lighting. The style of German Expressionism includes oblique camera angle, distorted bodies and shapes, gothic style in looking and framing, high contrast lighting that creates dramatic shadows, and the content is usually about surreal and gothic, unnatural acts or realities. All these style of German Expressionism is to deliver the sense of fear, anxiety and mystery to the audience which influenced a lot of horror movie. The theme of revolt is found through the character Dr. Schreber when he rival against The Strangers by re-imprinted John’s memory in order to reset the world. He believes that with John Murdoch’s abilities in tuning can make his revolution a success. Self-analysis is when the character trying to find or figure it out who he or she really is by finding details and information about it. Besides Dark City, another best example for German Expressionism on film is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Vampyr.
The story started in a scene where the main character, John Murdoch woke up in a hotel bathtub, and found himself could not recall or remember any memories. Soon, he realized that he was wanted for the suspect of murder crime. As he escape from a group of bald and distorted body proportion people who are called “The Strangers”. Murdoch is the only human that wakes up during the Tuning, because he has the power of tuning. The city was in the blend of reality and took ever by The Strangers to study human’s personality and mentality. They believed the outcome of experiment will help them to resolve the extinction crisis of their species. With the help of Dr. Schreber, Murdoch manages to jigsaws together puzzle of his past memories of his childhood, his love for Emma, and key of murders. At the end, he rival against The Strangers and reform the world to brightness.
There are some German Expressionism elements that we can found in this film. The chiaroscuro lighting is one of the important element in this film. So that it can create the mood of thrilling to the audience. In the film, the Strangers always appeal in dark and silhouette lighting, it kind of give the audience the feel of horrific element of monster. Self-analysis can easily been found in the beginning of the film where John Murdoch woke up in a hotel bathtub, found himself naked and unable to recall or remember any memories. He wondered around the hotel, hoping that he could find details or information about himself, then he found out that he was wanted for suspect of murder case, which is why he tested his killing desire by bumping into a prostitute. Dark City also show us the theme of primitive sexual savagery through the series of murder cases. Which is, prostitute was naked and was killed brutally and their bodies were drawn with circular lines, this shows the primitive behavior of The Strangers. Moreover, German Expressionism also talked about the distorted body proportion. The character has been set in different pattern of physical body movements and face movements to highlight the style of character. For example, Dr. Schreber walks with crippling leg and the weird movement of strangers to show the difference between them and from the human.
In conclusion, German Expressionism is an innovative film movement and it has inspired a lot of filmmakers. This movie has used the techniques and concept of the film movement, and extends it in terms of genre, narration, and Mise-en-scene. The lighting shows the contras of light and dark. Which is why the movement inspired a lot of filmmakers to create horror and noir film. Overall it was a pretty nice film, because I personally like the dark and gloomy style of film, which are shown in the film most of the time and the interesting concept of storyline, where it kind of make us thinks that what if the real world is not real.
German Expressionism refers to a creative movements which was beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. It was influenced by the Expressionist movement in modern art of early 1900s. The theme of the movement of German Expressionism are often contain of self-analysis, madness and primitive, sexual savagery. These developments in Germany were part of a larger Expressionist movement in Europe culture in fields such as architecture, dance, painting, sculpture, as well as film. It also spread into cinema in terms of narrative, set and Mise‐en‐scene. It is most apparent in set design and chiaroscuro lighting in order word low key lighting. The style of German Expressionism includes oblique camera angle, distorted bodies and shapes, gothic style in looking and framing, high contrast lighting that creates dramatic shadows, and the content is usually about surreal and gothic, unnatural acts or realities. All these style of German Expressionism is to deliver the sense of fear, anxiety and mystery to the audience which influenced a lot of horror movie. The theme of revolt is found through the character Dr. Schreber when he rival against The Strangers by re-imprinted John’s memory in order to reset the world. He believes that with John Murdoch’s abilities in tuning can make his revolution a success. Self-analysis is when the character trying to find or figure it out who he or she really is by finding details and information about it. Besides Dark City, another best example for German Expressionism on film is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Vampyr.
The story started in a scene where the main character, John Murdoch woke up in a hotel bathtub, and found himself could not recall or remember any memories. Soon, he realized that he was wanted for the suspect of murder crime. As he escape from a group of bald and distorted body proportion people who are called “The Strangers”. Murdoch is the only human that wakes up during the Tuning, because he has the power of tuning. The city was in the blend of reality and took ever by The Strangers to study human’s personality and mentality. They believed the outcome of experiment will help them to resolve the extinction crisis of their species. With the help of Dr. Schreber, Murdoch manages to jigsaws together puzzle of his past memories of his childhood, his love for Emma, and key of murders. At the end, he rival against The Strangers and reform the world to brightness.
There are some German Expressionism elements that we can found in this film. The chiaroscuro lighting is one of the important element in this film. So that it can create the mood of thrilling to the audience. In the film, the Strangers always appeal in dark and silhouette lighting, it kind of give the audience the feel of horrific element of monster. Self-analysis can easily been found in the beginning of the film where John Murdoch woke up in a hotel bathtub, found himself naked and unable to recall or remember any memories. He wondered around the hotel, hoping that he could find details or information about himself, then he found out that he was wanted for suspect of murder case, which is why he tested his killing desire by bumping into a prostitute. Dark City also show us the theme of primitive sexual savagery through the series of murder cases. Which is, prostitute was naked and was killed brutally and their bodies were drawn with circular lines, this shows the primitive behavior of The Strangers. Moreover, German Expressionism also talked about the distorted body proportion. The character has been set in different pattern of physical body movements and face movements to highlight the style of character. For example, Dr. Schreber walks with crippling leg and the weird movement of strangers to show the difference between them and from the human.
In conclusion, German Expressionism is an innovative film movement and it has inspired a lot of filmmakers. This movie has used the techniques and concept of the film movement, and extends it in terms of genre, narration, and Mise-en-scene. The lighting shows the contras of light and dark. Which is why the movement inspired a lot of filmmakers to create horror and noir film. Overall it was a pretty nice film, because I personally like the dark and gloomy style of film, which are shown in the film most of the time and the interesting concept of storyline, where it kind of make us thinks that what if the real world is not real.
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