Dark City

Introduction
The goal discussion of this blog is about the German Expression found in the film which called ‘Dark City’.  Besides that, the genres that we found in this film is science fiction. Dark City is a 1998 American-Australian neo-noir science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay was written by Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer. The film stars Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, and William Hurt. Sewell plays John Murdoch, an amnesiac man who finds himself suspected of murder. Murdoch attempts to discover his true identity and clear his name while on the run from the police and a mysterious group known only as the "Strangers".

Synopsis
John Murdoch awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. While trying to piece together his past, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of beings known as The Strangers who possess the ability to put people to sleep and alter the city and its inhabitants. Now Murdoch must find a way to stop them before they take control of his mind and destroy him.

Theory discussion
German expressionist films were prevalent in the 1920s. Amongst the most well remembered are films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Weiner, 1920), Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau, 1922), Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) and Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927). These films were united by highly stylized visuals, strange asymmetrical camera angles, atmospheric lighting and harsh contrasts between dark and light. Shadows and silhouettes were an important feature of expressionism, to the extent that they were actually painted on to the sets in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.

The story lines of German expressionist films matched the visuals in terms of darkness and disillusionment. Often sombre in mood and featuring characters from a corrupt underworld of crime, the films’ dramatic effects produced motifs of claustrophobia and paranoia. The same words could be used to describe 1940s Hollywood film noir, a genre hugely influenced by German expressionism (Koral, n.d.).
It also spread into cinema in terms of narrative, set and mise-en-scene. It is most apparent in set design and chiaroscuro lighting. Styles included high contrast (low-key) lighting creating dramatic shadows.
Analysis
Dark City is film directed by Australian film maker Alex Proyas. The influences of German Expressionism begins with the films "image".
Another element of German Expressionism that is noticeable in Dark City is the use of shadows. In German Expressionism shadows were dark and heavy. The trailer for Nosferatu exemplifies this style.
Characters in German Expressionist films are also dark and exaggerated. And below is an image from Dark City. Note dark clothing, dark background, and purposeful lightening that exemplify the character's face (Mohamed, 2014).



The central theme of madness in German Expressionist films can be observed in the nature of the story world and the characters living through their vexation. Eddie Walenski becomes insane from realizing the truth, spending his days in recluse and drawing spirals in his room. He commits suicide in a jolly state, calling it “a way out”. In fact, the whole world is crazy for not noticing the obvious in which there is no daytime at all in the city. People could not explain the oxymoron in how they could not remember important details in life and the way to Shell Beach but are still comfortable living in the realm. The landscape of the city changes every so often and no one is able to tell any difference after their sleep. John too turns to the madness within himself when he knowingly accepts the desirable part of his artificial memory and changes the world into a place he acknowledges, becoming the new “Stranger” of the story world himself.  

Revolt is represented by John Murdoch, from the triggering event of his resistance to the memory injection to later on his fight against the Strangers who have long exercised control over humans.

Self-analysis is another German Expressionist theme present in the film, whereby the characters would constantly be looking for themselves, their identities. John Murdoch is a solid example of self-analysis being portrayed explicitly as he has been searching for his identity all along.

Conclusion
Overall Dark City is quite an interesting film by having fantastic visuals elements and storyline. It consists of several genres and by breaking the conventions of traditional films, Dark City is definitely worth to study on.

Bibliography

Koral. (n.d.). MUBI. Retrieved from GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM: THE WORLD OF LIGHT AND SHADOW: https://mubi.com/lists/german-expressionism-the-world-of-light-and-shadow
Mohamed, M. (2014, March 13). browse. Retrieved from Influences of German Expressionism In Alex Proyas' Flims: https://storify.com/mmohamedec2700/influences-of-german-expressionism-in-alex-proyas
Helms, Michael (May 1998). "Dark City: Interview with Andrew Mason and Alex Proyas". Cinema Papers. North Melbourne: Cinema Papers Pty Ltd. (124): 18–21. ISSN 0311-3639.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Maltese falcon

Image
Introduction The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of the most popular and best classic detective mysteries ever made, and many film historians consider it the first in the dark film noir genre in Hollywood. It leaves the audience with a distinctly down-beat conclusion and bitter taste. The low-budget film reflects the remarkable directorial debut of John Huston (previously a screenwriter) who efficiently and skillfully composed and filmed this American classic for Warner Bros. studios, with great dialogue, deceitful characters, and menacing scenes. The precocious director Huston was very faithful to Dashiell Hammett's 1929 novel The Maltese Falcon, that had originally appeared as a five-part serialized story in a pulp fiction, detective story magazine publication named Black Mask. However, for an early preview audience, the film took a different, short-lived title, The Gent From Frisco. There were two major differences between the book and film: (1) Gutman was killed by Wilmer, and (
Read more

Breathless

Image
Theory Discussion French New Wave, which is also known as French Nouvelle Vague, can be considered as one of the most influential film movements that took place in the history of cinema. The ripples created by this cinematic movement can even be felt today. A group of critics, who wrote for a French film journal called Cahiers du Cinema, created the film movement. It began as a movement against the traditional path that French Cinema followed, which was more like literature. The French New Wave had the potential to bring a radical change to French cinema. Before 1950s & 1960s, French films were mainly literary adaptations i.e. fictional tales published in books and adapted to cinema. These films were usually filmed within the studio system or on big budget spectacles and international co-productions. The late 1950s and early 1960s saw the rise of a new generation of filmmakers around the world. In country after country, there emerged director born before World War II but gro
Read more

Bicycle Thieves

Introduction The neorealist movement began in Italy at the end of World War II as an urgent response to the political turmoil and desperate economic conditions afflicting the country. Directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, and Luchino Visconti took up cameras to focus on lower-class characters and their concerns, using nonprofessional actors, outdoor shooting, (necessarily) very small budgets, and a realist aesthetic. The best-known examples remain De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, a critical and popular phenomenon that opened the world’s eyes to this movement, and such key earlier works as Rossellini’s Open City, the first major neorealist production. Other classics of neorealism include De Sica’s Umberto D. and Visconti’s La terra trema, but the tendrils of the movement reach back to De Sica’s The Children Are Watching Us and forward to Rossellini’s The Flowers of St. Francis, as well as to some filmmakers who did their apprenticeships in this school, Michelangelo Antonio
Read more