The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Gueswende yerbanga

LEH 355

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari assignment

     The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) is a German silent horror film also considered as impressionable movie. This film became a huge success in Germany and throughout the rest of the world. In my following lines, I will choose a scene from the film and describe the scene, then write your interpretation of the scene and finally say why I chose this scene and how it relates to the class.

     The scene is an extract of the scene 2 of the full movie. The scene start with Alan who is reading a book, then he went out to his friend’s house whose name is Francis. Alan went there to invite him to go with him to the fair. Then, we saw in the following action Dr Caligari who met a gentleman and he asked him about the Town Clerk. This gentleman answered by saying the town clerk is in a bad mood today. But Dr Caligari insisted and he gave his card with his signature on it to the gentleman who guided him to the town clerk. As soon as he arrived to the man and he wanted to talk but the town clerk told him to wait. So he went to sit at a corner and wait. After, a few minutes he went back to him but told him to sit down and even insult him by saying fool. Consequently, he sat down still at the same corner until the town clerk finished. Dr Caligari told him he wants a permit to operate his concession at the fair. Then the town clerk asked him what of kind of show he wanted to do; Dr Caligari answered by saying Somnambulist. Then, the town clerk left leaving Dr Caligari alone.

     According to me, this scene is the enthusiasm of the upcoming fair. It is mentioning how people are proceeding to get a permit to be able to participate at this fair. In instance, Dr Caligari went to see the town clerk who received him badly; but he stayed patient and explain what he wanted from the town clerk. Also, in this scene Dr Caligari introduced a theme which is going to be developed all along the film.  

     I chose the scene for the reason that it is telling us what is going to be about in the all film. Also the main characters are shown in the scene. In addition to that, I chose this scene because of its use of impressionant painting: we can see in the scene some shadows and light, strange, irregularly shaped, jagged, stage sets of objects and images.

     Nihilism  in Latin nihil (nothing) is “the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life”.  Nihilism was developed in Germany. One topic of the Nihilism in Germany is to look at the different artistic and cultural objectifications of Nihilism: painting, scene, style, language …

     This scene is in somewhat related to my class in the sense that there is a use of naturalism, impressionism, expressionism, painting, nice demonstration of scene, coherent language and style. Therefore because of that the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was considered one of the first horror films, but more importantly, it is considered to be one of the first expressionist films because of it naturalism, impressionism, expressionism painting. The film also used stylized sets, with abstract, jagged buildings painted.

     In conclusion, Nihilism in Germany was important because of it art, culture. the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari gain success because of it use of naturalism, impressionism, expressionism, painting, nice style and language.