The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Weine

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Weine is considered to be one of the first horror films of all times. The movie was filmed in the early 1920's in Germany. The movie invokes feelings of fear, suspense and anxiety. It follows the expressionistic art movement during that time.

One of the most terrifying scenes of the film is when the young Francis is searching for Dr. Caligari in the insane asylum. The setting of the asylum is very dark, although the building itself is white The entrance ways into the building from the garden are very dark with a glimpse of stairs that lead to somewhere. The scenery is very eerie, the viewer can already anticipate that something is wrong with this place. Even the doctors themselves look a little off, sort of what a mad scientist would look like with the long white lab coats and darkened eyes. Francis asks the staff where is Caligari and unfortunately, they inform him that Dr. Caligari is not a patient there. Puzzled the staff recommend that he see the head of the asylum.

As Francis is walking to see the head of the asylum, there is a change of background. The asylum walls are white with dark black swirls, while the door leading to the directors room is a very odd trapezoid shape. Again the background sets a very mysterious and eerie mood for the viewers. Here, lies the biggest shock of the movie, the apparent murderer in the story, Dr. Caligari, is actually the director of the asylum. He is seated with his white hair and glasses and darkened, crazed eyes. Francis sees this and is so terrified that he runs out of the room in a frenzy.

The movie is a very unique form of expressionism, perhaps even more along the lines of dadaism. The film emulates a lot of mixed emotions for the viewers through the set design and story line. The moment when Francis sees the crazed murderer as the head of the asylum, the audience immediately feels shocked and frightened. The sets are very obscure, using light and dark to make it more dramatic. The costume design resembles almost a zombie like crowd, with the darkened wide eyes.

Dr. Caligari is a murderer and also the director of an insane asylum. While Francis contrasts Dr. Caligari; he is sane but ultimately has no control over the situation. Francis is supposed to represent the people of Germany, while Dr. Caligari represents the German government. The nihilistic ideals of Nietzche are once again appearing, people can not follow others blindly. This way of just accepting other people's views and opinions allowed a crazed murderer to with hold power, so much that he is the head of the insane asylum. Here, the similarities between Dr. Caligari and Adolf Hitler are indisputable.

Robert Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is not only important for the social messages it had delivered in the past but for what it contributed to today's film industry. Weine accomplished many firsts with this film, such as being the first horror film, and integrating a surprise ending which was never done before.

Siddartha by Hermann Hesse Reflection

"Having been pondering while slowly walking along, he now stopped as these thoughts caught hold of him, and right away another thought sprang forth from these, a new thought, which was: 'That I know nothing about myself, that Siddhartha has remained thus alien and unknown to me, stems from one cause, a single cause: I was afraid of myself, I was fleeing from myself! I searched Atman, I searched Brahman, I was willing to dissect my self and peel off all of its layers, to find the core of all peels in its unknown interior, the Atman, life, the divine part, the ultimate part. But I have lost myself in the process.'"

Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, portrays a young Brahmans religious struggles and his journey away from religion in order to find one's purpose. Siddhartha is an interpretation of Friedrich Nietzche 'superhuman' of nihilism. Govinda, the antagonist, is the complete opposite of Siddhartha and whom represents the blind religious follower, describes Nietzche's problematic religious 'culture'. Hesse uses nihilistic central themes in the short novel Siddhartha. He is able to juxtapose the two characters and bring life the importance of the 'superhuman'. In this quote, Hesse brings to life the enlightenment of the young Siddhartha as he begins his transformation from the young Brahman to the 'superhuman'.

The quote represents a turning point within the young Brahman. The nihilistic Siddhartha comes to an epiphany and realizes that all his religious teachings have taught to be anything but himself. Here, he is awakened and understands that in order to be able to live a fulfilling life. In search of happiness within himself, Siddhartha must break away from his religious shackles and live life. He was always in question of his faith, because all his religious teachings have said that the Atman, which refers to the Hindu belief of recognition of one's self before identification with higher beings, was the way to Brahman. However, the religious teachers were teaching their followers the practice of "numbing of the senses" through meditation and fasting.

Since birth Siddhartha was destined to be a holy figure. He was able to meditate better and faster than any of his peers. He was able to convince people of his greatness so easily because of his piety. However, Hesse cleverly makes the protagonist lose all his ties to religion in order to become a "superhuman". Siddhartha realizes here that he must embrace the fact that he is human. After being able to experience greed, lust and love Siddhartha becomes more humane but also more powerful as a religious figure. Govinda's journey provides concrete evidence of this fact. Govinda who has always followed the religious Gotama still was unable to find peace and asks Siddhartha how he can come to this understanding of peace, at the end of the novel.

It is important for people today to be able to make judgment through there own self and not follow other opinions blindly. Experience life, learn from the good and the bad. Religion is a beautiful concept, but should not be followed so closely that people are constantly in fear of living or forming their own judgment on people. These are all important principles within Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, but also for people in everyday life.

Dada Manifesto Reflection

"How does one achieve eternal bliss? By saying dada. How does one become famous? By saying dada. With a noble gesture and delicate propriety. Till one goes crazy. Till one loses consciousness. How can one get rid of everything that smacks journalism, worms, everything nice and right, blinkered, moralistic, europeanised, enervated? By saying dada. Dada is the world soul, dada is the pawn shop. Dada is the world's best lily-milk soap. Dada Mr Rubiner, dada Mr Korrodi. Dada Mr Lilienstein. In plain language: the hospitality of the Swiss is something to be profoundly appreciated. And in questions of aesthetics the key is quality."
- Hugo Ball, Dada Manifesto 1916

Hugo Ball, a German poet, wrote the Dada Manifesto in favor of the Dadaism movement. In the quote, Ball tries to show how much importance is placed on the term "dada" even though it actually has no importance. The term "dada" literally is a nonsense word ie a word with no meaning. Ball glorifies this unimportant term by suggesting it is the key to success and eternal bliss. The reason why Ball does this is to show that anything without meaning can be given meaning. He is taking a jab at society around him. He feels that people are very easy manipulated and will believe anything during this time period.

I personally agree with Hugo Ball. I feel that a lot of people who are uneducated and ignorant follow the "dada". For example, when I say that my parents are from Afghanistan, people are so quick to ask me if I know where Osama bin Ladin is or whether I am involved with the Taliban. Funny, I was born and raised in America, and before 9/11 most of my peers did not know that Afghanistan was a country, but in today's society anybody who is associated with Afghanistan is part of the Taliban. This is the problem with "dada" as Hugo suggests, people whom do not do enough thinking for themselves but go along with society, will continue to be ignorant.

This is especially problematic with our society today. Media, religion and even the internet can easily manipulate their uninformed followers. Another example of today's "dada", are the social pressures to be a thin. Women are photo shopped to look smaller, and runway models are typically a size 2 when back in the 1950's they were of a healthier size 8-10. There are websites that can terribly influence women into becoming anorexic or bulimic. Celebrity are slandered and ostracized when they gain weight. These are horrible tools to manipulate women but, we as a society, fail to recognize this. Instead we further criticize and allow this to occur. Aren't we the educated America? Aren't we the land of the free thinking and free expression? It is scary to think how we as a society allow each other to disregard our responsibility to the society. This is one of Ball's central themes in the Dada Manifesto. How something like a person's weight can be so glorified like "dada" however, there are other important issues we should concern ourselves with in order to improve society.

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was born in Norway in 1863. After his mother died of tuberculosis in 1868; he was left to be raised by his father. Unfortunately, his father suffered from mental illness teaching his children to be fearful of hell and other deep seated issues. This is one of the major influences of Munch's dark emotions and undertones in his artwork. Edvard Munch had traveled to Paris in 1885 and was very impressed by the artists. Here, he mastered expressionistic techniques. Between 1892 and 1908 Munch was traveling back and forth from Paris to Berlin. His artwork played a major role in German expressionism and which helped to pave the way for Dadaism to flourish in Germany.  

Golgotha 1900

This painting depicts the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Munch juxtaposes light and dark within his painting. The lighter blue for Christ and a darker blue grey for the crowds. The crowd is a mix of emotions sad, happy confused and even diabolical. Christ's facial expression shows confusion although his head is upright. Munch portrays that although he may be at the stake, Christ does not feel defeated. The raised eyebrows of Christ suggest that he is fearful of what is going on. Munch does an excellent job of showing just how barbaric the crucifixion is. The crowd sort of mixes in together at the cross and looks more animal like. One of the central themes of this piece is hope. Although the holy savior is being crucified the mixed reaction of the crowd indicates that all hope is not lost. The nihilistic theme that is obvious here is the importance of the followers as opposed to the "super human". The crowd has more power over the "super human" even though they are ignorant of that fact. This is why today religion plays such an important role to people. The fear of God and religious leaders can be very limiting to their own power. However, if they can look past the religion they would be able to hold more power within their societies.

Evening on Karl Johan Street 1892

To understand this painting fully we must first understand where Karl Johan Street is located. Munch here a street in his native town of Oslow, Norway. The people of this town are very uniform, same style hats, same color clothing and even the same facial expression. The people of the town are all uniformly moving forward except the one bystander who is moving back. The people of Karl Johan Street have a mesmerized look on their faces, like they are all in a trance. Munch is showing the problems of conformity within society. Their is no room for diversity or expression. The people have lost touch with themselves as individuals. This is Nihilistic because it represents the dangers of society not being able to recognize they have fallen into these patterns of conformity. People can be easily influenced under these conditions, which then can turn this mesmerized society from a group of people walking down the street to a dangerous uniform force. For example, as with Adolf Hitler and the repressed German people, he was able to take control of the situation and society in his favor. Munch displays the importance of diversity by portraying the opposite, danger of conformity. This central idea is still important today because in order to be able to not conform to society one must overcome the society pressures against them. 

Anxiety 1894

The painting depicts many forms of anxiety. The woman's eyes in the front display a very somber anxiety. Something is troubling to her but she does not want to make it very obvious. However the man standing behind her to the left nearly has his eyes out of his sockets displaying anxiety, mixed with shock and possible terror. Using this form of expressionism to bring out other emotions rather than happy, euphoria, or even being sad was very dadaistic. However, the message behind the piece is not so harsh. There is definitely a silver lining underneath the clouds. This can be seen through the boats in the back with a brighter background unlike those that are walking in the picture in a darker grey black. Friedrich Nietzche would be a fan of this piece because he believed in good. His famous quote "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger" is portrayed in this piece. Anxiety here is still an emotion and people's emotions can change. Munch's message behind this painting is timeless; for those who are going through a string of sorrowful emotions can overcome them. Munch carefully places the boats far away underneath the light because when people are feeling anxiety must remember that better days may be far but they are still there. This is important for people today to be reassured that no matter what hardships may come tomorrow is another day do not lose hope.

Germany Politics

            Germany’s political system was ever changing from the time it was unified in the 1870’s, until many years after the Second World War. Some of its governments included monarchy, fascism and republic. The break in government, West Germany verse East Germany, was a major setback in Germany’s political infrastructure. Today, Germany’s government of civil law system has developed from independence, constitution and their branches of government.

            During WWII, Germany was a fascist totalitarian state under the rule of Adolf Hitler. Once the Hitler regime was brought down, the country split into two different governments, western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). West Germany modeled western economic ideals of capitalism whereas East Germany based their fundamentals on communism. By 1960, the split of the nation had peaked and the Berlin wall was built to separate the nation’s capital. West Germany flourished while their counterpart had major economic setbacks. With the decline of power of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the German people broke down the infamous Berlin wall in 1989. The unification of Germany occurred on October 3^rd, 1990 declaring East Germany free of the Socialist Party.

            The first governing doctrine of Germany was the Weimar Constitution written in 1919. Many of the principles of the Weimar Constitution were manipulated or revoked in order to enhance Hitler’s power. After WWII, a constitutional doctrine was redrafted and put into force on May 24^th, 1949 under the name of Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. The Basic Law was instated in order to prevent a dictatorship from reoccurring in West Germany. The framework of the Basic Law comes from the Weimar Constitution, however incorporating notions of human rights and dignity as central themes. Some of the defining principles of the Basic Law are democracy, republicanism, social responsibility and federalism. The Basic Law has had numerous amendments in order to keep up with the changes of a growing Germany.

            There are 3 branches of government within the civil law system the executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch consists of a chief of state, head of government and cabinet. The presidents are elected for a 5-year term and only for two terms, a precaution for dictatorship. Federal Council, the state governments, and the Federal Parliament, members whom are elected by popular vote, make up the legislative branch. There are two parts to the judicial branch, the highest court, which is made of the Federal Court of Justice, and the subordinate courts, consisting of the Federal Administrative Court, Federal Finance Court, Federal Labor Court, and the Federal Social Court. These branches offered a check and balance system in order to help maintain order and fairness within the German government.

            Since the independence from socialism, improved constitution and improved political system, Germany has become one of the most influential countries within the European Union. Germany has the fifth largest economy in the world and the largest in Europe. Industries such as iron, steel and coal are among some of the largest and most technologically advanced within the world. Each of these factors has contributed to Germany being one of the most powerful and influential countries in the European Union today.

Interpretation of Nietzche Quote

Blind pupils. -- As long as a man knows very well the strength and weaknesses of his teaching, his art, his religion, its power is still slight. The pupil and apostle who, blinded by the authority of the master and by the piety he feels toward him, pays no attention to the weaknesses of a teaching, a religion, and soon usually has for that reason more power than the master. The influence of a man has never yet grown great without his blind pupils. To help a perception to achieve victory often means merely to unite it with stupidity so intimately that the weight of the latter also enforces the victory of the former.

           from Nietzsche's Human, all too Human, s.122, R.J. Hollingdale transl.

            Friedrich Nietzche juxtaposes two main characters within this quote, the priest (any authoritative religious figure) and the religious follower. He describes the priest as being able to identify the fact that his teachings are not without flaws and imperfections. However, the priest will use this knowledge to influence those that are not as advanced as him. The pupil will listen to the ideals of the priest in order to better understand this idea of religion. The problem with this process is that priests do not allow room for interpretation about their religious teachings. Therefore, to be a “good” religious follower you must do so without using common sense, personal judgment or science. The priest becomes more like a dictator while his followers are his militia. Whether or not the intent of the priest is good, is irrelevant, because the influence the priest has amongst his followers is very high. As the priest obtains more followers, his power consequently also becomes greater.

            The importance of the role of the pupil must be further elaborated. Here, Nietzche describes the pupil as having “more power than the master”. Having just one follower is better than having no followers for the priest. This makes the pupil extremely valuable for the priest. A pupil that listens to the priest without questioning his ideals and does so in good faith has become invaluable; this is because the priest can more easily manipulate the pupil with his religious views. A pupil that is not ignorant to the flaws of the religious teachings of the priest can appreciate his teachings but make his own interpretations of how to appreciate “God”.

            I feel that this theory of the priest and pupil has been used throughout history and still are being practiced today. When Adolf Hitler was in power, he was able to convince the German people that by following his ideologies they will no longer suffer the aftermath of WWI. He also used his power of influence on people to commit horrible crimes against Jewish people during the holocaust. Today, use of this power occurs with Taliban in Afghanistan. Through the misuse of the Muslim religion they have succeeded in manipulating the Afghani people. Afghanistan has progressively digressed into the state it is today. A place where women were able to attend school freely has no such luxuries now. The Taliban have targeted Afghani people who are poor and are uneducated to initially start up their following. As their following grew, so has their tyranny within the country. In America, the teachings of the priest are used to target those who are seeking gay marriage. There is no reason why two people should not be allowed to be married to each other because they are of the same sex. However, those who are not homosexual follow the beliefs of their priest rather than judging themselves and having social acceptance for those who are different.