MPF 327 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Frank Wedekind, Joyless Street, Karl Abraham
26 Aug 2016
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Mpf 327: film history & criticism before 1945. Unique characteristics of ww1: germans felt there was a supreme test of spirit, preventative war, resolved quickly, war as a mass" phenomenon. Railways (1 train ever 10 minutes: 550 trains a day over rhine) 1/2 million men moved to the front within first week: speed- ultimatum (july 23), response (july 25, newsreels. Between 1914-18 is the high point of german cinema. Defend homeland against barbaric russians, told they threatened to wreak chaos and destruction on german soil. Out of 11 million soldiers, 7 million killed, injured or wounded. Unintended consequences: war destroyed numerous social and cultural conventions as well as notions of respectability and faith in authority. Intense desire to grasp life at its fullest. Sexuality and unconventional relations flaunted, new theatre, new dances crazes. Rise of german film due to lack of access to american & british films.
