contemporary influences on fritz lang in the 1920s
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Contemporary influences on Fritz Lang in the 1920s. The Nibelungen. Looking back to a mythic past. The film is based on mythology about an Aryan hero, who suffers a great downfall at the hands of a corrupted monarchy. The fall of the German hero. Note the literal ‘stab in the back’. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Contemporary influences on Fritz Lang in the 1920s
The Nibelungen
Looking back to a mythic past
The film is based on mythology about an Aryan hero, who suffers a great downfall at the hands of a corrupted monarchy
The fall of the German hero. Note the literal ‘stab in the back’
The Nibelungen – majesty turns to defeat
The final hour is essentially a depiction of doomed trench warfare against a ‘primitive’ eastern foe
Metropolis
Themes of psychic control – sleepwalking, into defeat, etc.
The dehumanising effects of industrialisation
Literal dehumanisation
Man and machine
Religious references
The power of speech and effect on a mass audience
Revolution and mob rule – Rosa Luxemburg & Spartacist League – in 1918 in post armistice riots advocated resistance to the new Weimar government. She lost control of rioting workers and was herself murdered by the Freikorp paramilitaries.
Fritz Lang’s unintentional influence on German propaganda in the 1930s
Leni Riefenstahl
