Start a new thread for this post. In your post, engage with the film and the readings in a thoughtful and meaningful way. You should be organized in your thoughts and ideas and provide evidence of critical, university-level thinking making connections to our course materials and other relevant experiences. Please try your best to contribute to the learning community by being creative in your approaches to film and readings and by making an effort to motivate the discussion. Avoid summarizing the film or the readings as all members of the learning community have seen the movie and read the assigned chapters in the book. If you quote from our textbook or other sources, please use MLA style. Be aware of spelling, grammar, and sentence mechanics and use proper etiquette. Remember that being respectful is critical. Your Discussion Analysis Post has to be at least 200 words long.
The following ten questions offer possible topics that you might want to discuss in your Discussion Analysis Post.
The questions are there to help you to critically reflect on the film and readings for this week. Please feel free to engage with as many or as few of them as you see fit in your post. At the end of your post, please include any further questions that you bring to the movie.
Carefully look at the picture below which shows one of the sets used in filming The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Describe in detail what you see in the image. Why do you think the director decided to make the settings look so strange and unrealistic? How are light, darkness, and shadows used in the movie and to what effect?
What do you think of Dr. Caligari? What are some of his characteristics, and do you think he develops over the course of the movie, i.e. is he a static character (no development) or a dynamic character (noticeable development)? Why?
Please describe your experience of watching this silent film. What feelings do the lack of audio-dialogue and the soundtrack of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari provoke? Why?
What role do female characters play in the film and how are they depicted?
Caligari’s story is a story told to somebody in the film. Why is it presented as a story within a story? What is the function of embedding the story within the narrative frame of the conversation of the two characters on the bench in the courtyard of a madhouse at the beginning and end of the movie?
How is insanity depicted in the film?
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari belongs to the era of German Expressionist cinema. The term Expressionism refers to a movement in modern art around WWI in which the image of reality is distorted in order to make it expressive of inner feelings or ideas. In other words, internal emotions are externalized in images. How does the film do this?
How is the film influenced by the historical and cultural context in which it was made?
What was Germany like in 1920 and how can we see this reflected in the movie?
Think about the title of the film – The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. What do you think the title might mean or symbolize? How does it relate to a main message or a theme in the film?
If you could ask director Robert Wiene one question about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, what would you ask? What do you think his answer might be?
Sample Solution