ebaeschnbliah:sherlockshadow:monikakrasnorada:221bloodnun:221bloodnun:German Expressionism Modernize
ebaeschnbliah:sherlockshadow:monikakrasnorada:221bloodnun:221bloodnun:German Expressionism Modernized in Sherlock(Why EMP & Staging A Play Aren’t Mutually Exclusive.) I’ve already written a whole list of meta about individual films that enter into various seasons of Sherlock, but mostly S4. This is just to give a few examples of camera work, set design, character studies, etc, and a short definition of German Expressionism in film, for those that aren’t familiar with it.Two genres that were especially influenced by Expressionism are horror film and film noir. Carl Laemmle and Universal Studios had made a name for themselves by producing such famous horror films of the silent era as Lon Chaney’s The Phantom of the Opera. German filmmakers such as Karl Freund (the cinematographer for Dracula in 1931) set the style and mood of the Universal monster movies of the 1930s with their dark and artistically designed sets, providing a model for later generations of horror films. Directors such as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder (yes, the director of TPLoSH), Otto Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Carol Reed and Michael Curtiz introduced the Expressionist style to crime dramas of the 1940s, expanding Expressionism’s influence on modern filmmaking.The first Expressionist films made up for a lack of lavish budgets by using set designs with wildly non-realistic, geometrically absurd angles, along with designs painted on walls and floors to represent lights, shadows, and objects. (Remember the claims that the glowing skull was due to having a low budget, and bulbs burning out?) The plots and stories of the Expressionist films often dealt with madness, insanity, betrayal and other “intellectual” topics triggered by the experiences of World War I (as opposed to standard action-adventure and romantic films). (Sherlock as a series is basically one battlefield after another, and always the intellectual battle as well). ( x )Gatiss: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was ambitious, and startingly original, and it’s cast a shadow over cinema ever since. The film is the story of a sleepwalking killer who is manipulated to fulfill the murderous urges of his own psychiatrist. Caligari boasts some daring narrative twists…subtlety was never an aspiration (of German expressionism). Expressionist art offered a heightened, stylized experience that made inward, psychological states, outwardly visible. That’s what the makers of Caligari hoped to achieve with their set design. The result, is one of cinema’s most distinctive visions. NosferatuThe Third Man (Orson Welles film)The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles film)The Avengers (Also associated with Mycroft’s umbrella gun.)German Expressionism was the result of WWI, and several Rathbone/Bruce Holmes films entailed them fighting the Nazis, which is where Moffat and Gatiss have been hinting we’re headed next. “And we have joked about doing one in black-and-white where they fight the Nazis. So maybe that’s what we’ll do.” - Radio Times The Film “Stay” and How it Brings Things in Sherlock Together ( x ) Lit, Film, and TV References Master Post: ( x ) EMP/Unreliable Narrator/Alibi/Editing All Give Sherlock His Audience ( x )Tags under the cut… Keep readingFor people wondering about all the eyes in Sherlock S4, that is also an element in German Expressionism and film noir (which was heavily reliant on GE). I’m not saying John didn’t get shot in the head or lose an eye or whathaveyou, but there is a different explanation. It’s also the way I can reconcile the first thing that bothered me about TFP: Little Eurus has brown eyes, but adult Eurus has to wear contacts to achieve the same color, because her eyes are blue (besides the Moriarty Effect). Dr. Caligari’s CabinetMetropolisDali art for Hitchcock’s Spellbound@monikakrasnorada @mrskolesouniverse @johnlockiseternal @sherlockshadowThis makes much more sense, @221bloodnun than the thought that they would have John lose an eye. The same sort of ‘clues’ had scores of the fandom believing Sherlock would go blind this series as well. That it’s merely symbolic is much more plausible to me.Absolutely. There’s a ton of eye metaphors that can be applied here. Seeing through John’s eyes, love is blind, the mind’s eye, the eyes are the window to the soul, etc. TD12 drug goes well with symbolism for blinding one of the truth. Sherlock keeping John in the dark about his emotions.Reblogging for the very interesting comments. Here’s another ‘eyes & art’ connection in a movie.@221bloodnun @monikakrasnorada @sherlockshadow -- source link
#sherlock meta