Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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debate over the term Expressionism has proceeded as a push-and-pull between those
who argue for an expansion and those like Salt who insist upon a contraction of the
definition (usually by limiting it to a precise set of textual or stylistic characteristics,
excluding judgements of intention, production, practice, mood or world view).
It has been useful to examine a range of texts on German Expressionism from those
written not long after the movement had lost momentum, to more contemporary views
on the topic, in order to gain an understanding of how views on Expressionism and its
impact have varied historically. Some contemporary writers have examined the
phenomenon of Expressionism in the light of recent concerns. For example, Patrice
Petro discusses the representation of women in the press and in film during the Weimar
period in Germany from a feminist perspective. 24 Most of the films Petro refers to are,
however, in the style of die Neue Sachlichkeit (“the new objectivity”) of the late 1920s,
rather than classic German Expressionist films. Marc Silbermann’s book German
Cinema: Texts in Context is a comprehensive study of German cinema that applies a
cultural studies approach to the development of German Expressionist cinema. 25 As
such, it offers some insights into the social and historical contexts and underlying
ideology of Expressionist film. A number of other books including Filmkultur zur Zeit
der Weimarer Republik, 26 Film und Realität in der Weimarer Republick, 27 Film and
the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From Caligari to Kuhle Wampe, 28 Weimar
Culture: The Outsider as Insider, 29 Weimar: A Cultural History 1918-1933, 30 and Art
and Politics in the Weimar Period shed light on the way in which the Zeitgeist of the
Weimar period in Germany exerted a strong influence on Expressionist cinema. 31 The
most recent comprehensive study of Weimar cinema is Thomas Elsaesser’s Weimar
Cinema and After: Germany’s Historical Imaginary. 32 Elsaesser re-evaluates both
24
Patrice Petro, Joyless Streets: Women and Melodramatic Representation in Weimar Germany
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1989).
25
Marc Silberman, German Cinema: Texts in Context (Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press,
1995).
26
Uli Jung and Walter Schatzberg, eds., Filmkultur Zur Zeit Der Weimarer Republik (Munich: K.G.Saur,
1992).
27 Helmut Korte, ed., Film Und Realität in Der Weimarer Republik (Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1978).
28 Bruce Murray, Film and the German Left in the Weimar Republic: From "Caligari" to "Kuhle Wampe"
(Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1990).
29 Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (New York: Harper and Row, 1968).
30 Walter Laqueur, Weimar: A Cultural History 1918-1933 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974).
31 John Willett, Art and Politics in the Weimar Period: The New Sobriety 1917-1933 (G.B.: Thames &
Hudson Ltd, 1978).
32 Thomas Elsaesser, Weimar Cinema and After: Germany's Historic Imaginary (London: Routledge,
2000).