How is German Expressionism evident in Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari? What “values” do these expose?
German Expressionism is evident in both Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, although each in different forms. After the First World War Germany was blamed for the outbreak of war and as the defeated, Germany was forced to pay reparations to the allied nations, not only did they suffer a physical defeat, they also suffered a moral one. Reality was very intolerable for these German people; therefore, they turned to the arts, especially theatres and films to enjoy the fictional world as an imaginary escapism from their harsh lives.
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari in relation to German expressionism is very theatrical, with painted sets full of geometric shapes and weird angled shots to create a feeling of dream state. The acting styles are very mannered and melodramatic. The makeup is very stark and exaggerated as faces seem to be painted white and the eyes are darkened and surrounded in black.
Painted settings and distorted angles are used for example; in reality building’s walls are supposed to be perfectly upright, but in this film we can see all of walls or houses were constructed in a strange and slanting composition, or otherwise we may see the scene where Cesare carries a girl upwards the illustrated setting of a hill, that hill was also an example of the director leading the audience to the theme of human’s mental uncertainty. Most of the scenes on The Cabinet of Dr Caligari were projected in low-key lighting