Blog Post #5 : German Expressionism

The film I chose for German Expressionism is Last Laugh (1924) directed by F.W. Murnau. The director has created numerous German films. The background of the film is about a proud, happy hotel doorman who finds himself suddenly demoted to a washroom attendant. The man feels humiliated and because of that he struggles to carry on with his life. The Last Laugh refers back to the style of German Expressionism because the film involves the bold and exaggerated visual elements as the doorman drifts from dreams and nightmares, and different mental states throughout the story. The German Expressionistic scale of the hotel and the city is almost exaggerated and emphasized, to project how important it is to the doorman's identity. The themes that are inquired in the film by several synopsis were psychological, fantasy, madness, betrayal and murder as its creators used extreme distortions in expression to show an inner emotional reality rather than realism or what was on the surface. This film is also fascinating as I am reading the synopsis because the film does not whatsoever use sound or words. It is based on the movements and the actions of the characters to make this German film. 

I chose this photograph because it emphasizes the elements of Expressionism. It illustrates how all the shadows and lighting is mostly around the doorman in this particularly scene. It seems that the director of the film wants all of your attention on the doorman for some reason.