New realism slides with sound
- 1. LECTURE FOUR: New Realism in late 1920s Weimar Germany
- 2. Concentrating on ‘New Realism’ or ‘New Objectivity’ What is ‘New Objectivity’? How is ‘New Objectivity’ characterised? Who were the main proponents of this aesthetic in the arts? What influence did it have on the Weimar Cinema?
- 3. But rarely purely objective Degree of social criticism Hyper-reality Ugliness Distortions
- 5. Movement in the arts (though characterised more as a ‘spirit of the age’) Ran alongside Expressionism but came to its height during the Weimar period’s only period of economic stability in the latter half of the 1920s The movement traditionally associated with the Weimar period (arguably more than Expressionism)
- 6. First coined in relation to the fine arts Used as a title of a fine arts exhibition in Mannheim in 1925 Term not invented by the artists themselves, but by curator of this exhibition Used to refer to a spirit in the arts which had emerged alongside Expressionism
- 7. Emanated from a spirit of disillusionment and critical irony
- 8. Influence in the arts that was REALIST (figurative as opposed to abstract visual art for e.g.)
- 9. Thematised modern contemporary life: MODERNITY
- 12. Advances in technology: TECHNOLOGY WELCOMED e.g. Metropolis – not technology itself which is at fault as much as the need for a benevolent (but still autocratic) leader
- 13. Changing sexual mores
- 17. The commercial entertainment industry (bars, cabaret, bright lights etc)
- 20. Americanism and commercialism Masquerade of identities, such as sexual or working identity Some branches: committed, political art New thinking about art forms and above all artistic ‘apparatus’ and spectatorship (self-reflexive)
- 21. Detachment and coolness Full of critical irony: ‘the cold surgical gaze’ (Richard W. McCormick on The Blue Angel) Portraying contemporary life, but simultaneously criticising it. Sometimes to the extent of parody
- 22. Think of the differences between Expressionism and New Objectivity Relate these to the first two screenings on the module Both movements were visual art movements which transferred to film
- 23. Women entering mass employment, Americanism, birth control etc led to the emancipation of women. Some, but not all, women experienced: Financial independence Sexual independence Liberated class known as the ‘New Woman’ The Weimar of the cabaret: Fashion, music, dance, pleasure