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Review
...[Elsaesser] ingeniously stitches together many of his well-known articles of the last decade or so to present a far more comprehensive portrait of the era, its filmmakers, films, institutions and audiences than ever before... Highly recommended for research libraries.
Product Description
German cinema of the 1920s is still regarded as one of the 'golden ages' of world cinema. Films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Dr Mabuse the Gambler, Nosferatu, Metropolis, Pandora's Box and The Blue Angel have long been canonised as classics, but they are also among the key films defining an image of Germany as a nation uneasy with itself. The work of directors like Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau and G.W. Pabst, which having apparently announced the horrors of fascism, while testifying to the traumas of a defeated nation, still casts a long shadow over cinema in Germany, leaving film history and political history permanently intertwined.
Weimar Cinema and After offers a fresh perspective on this most 'national' of national cinemas, re-evaluating the arguments which view genres and movements such as 'films of the fantastic', 'Nazi Cinema', 'film noir' and 'New German Cinema' as typically German contributions to twentieth century visual culture. Thomas Elsaesser questions conventional readings which link these genres to romanticism and expressionism, and offers new approaches to analysing the function of national cinema in an advanced 'culture industry' and in a Germany constantly reinventing itself both geographically and politically.
Elsaesser argues that German cinema's significance lies less in its ability to promote democracy or predict fascism than in its contribution to the creation of a community sharing a 'historical imaginary' rather than a 'national identity'. In this respect, he argues, German cinema anticipated some of the problems facing contemporary nations in reconstituting their identities by means of media images, memory, and invented traditions.
Weimar Cinema and After offers a fresh perspective on this most 'national' of national cinemas, re-evaluating the arguments which view genres and movements such as 'films of the fantastic', 'Nazi Cinema', 'film noir' and 'New German Cinema' as typically German contributions to twentieth century visual culture. Thomas Elsaesser questions conventional readings which link these genres to romanticism and expressionism, and offers new approaches to analysing the function of national cinema in an advanced 'culture industry' and in a Germany constantly reinventing itself both geographically and politically.
Elsaesser argues that German cinema's significance lies less in its ability to promote democracy or predict fascism than in its contribution to the creation of a community sharing a 'historical imaginary' rather than a 'national identity'. In this respect, he argues, German cinema anticipated some of the problems facing contemporary nations in reconstituting their identities by means of media images, memory, and invented traditions.
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First Sentence
The German cinema of the early 1920s, sandwiched by film historians between the pioneering effort of American directors Griffith, de Mille and Chaplin in the 1910-19 era and the Soviet cinema of the late 1920s (Eisenstein, Pudovkin and Vertov), is invariably associated with 'Expressionism'. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
The German cinema of the early 1920s, sandwiched by film historians between the pioneering effort of American directors Griffith, de Mille and Chaplin in the 1910-19 era and the Soviet cinema of the late 1920s (Eisenstein, Pudovkin and Vertov), is invariably associated with 'Expressionism'. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A New Take on Weimar Cinema
27 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Professor Thomas Elsaesser's text approaches the topic of Weimar cinema from a new and fresh angle. After checking the book out from the university library only to have it recalled every time after only a week, I decided to buy it. I'm so glad I did. Although I need to transcribe the notes from the public copy onto cards, it's a relief to own a seminal piece on Weimar cinema, the area in which I'm writing my doctoral dissertation. Elsaesser's approach is innovative and allows for interpretations that were limited by the previous two giants of the field: Eisner and Kracauer. Thank goodness for the coming of (both Kaes and) Elsaesser. Great text for anyone seriously researching Weimar cinema.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Here Nor There.
18 Mar 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Oh, Thomas Elsaesser.
Okay, so the first thing I noticed about how this is written: This guy loves insanely long sentences. He uses the rhetoric a lot, one of his introductory paragraphs consisting of maybe 30 'questions' that one might ask about Weimar Cinema. How annoying. Yes, we are wondering these things, that's why we got the book! However, if you get past all the rhetoric mumbo-jumbo and look at the facts, it is actually a fairly well researched and presented book about expressionist cinema.
I do think that this book, unlike "Caligari to Hitler" and "The Haunted Screen" is better organized. But this is probably because he wrote this book after the prior and often references them in this book. I'm not so sure I want to say he 'regurgitates' all that information to pass off as his own, but like any research, you will find lots of repetition of facts. It doesn't qualify as a summary of both "Caligari" and "Haunted" as both of those books have their own specific thesis' and are both biased for the author. You'll find that in any book, but of the three I think that "Haunted" seems to be the most objective.
"Weimar Cinema and After" really seems to pick and choose really specific topics and films to discuss, so there doesn't seem to be as much of a range over the entire period as "Haunted" presents. What I do like, though, is that some of his choices are good ones and he does go incredibly in depth when he covers these topics. For example, covering UFA, the film production company in Germany. He spends a lot of time researching and talking about it, where its facts seems to be scattered all about history books otherwise. He talks about G.W. Pabst and goes in depth to talk about "Pandora's Box", which is a terrific film. The counter balance of all this is that he'll talk about something totally random that doesn't seem to be historically one of the significant films, movements, or directors within expressionism.
Another bummer is that his long drawn out sentences are not accompanied by images. In the entire 450+ page book there are only 36 images to enjoy. I always feel that when talking about film, and especially when making references to specific visual elements, it must be accompanied by images. Must.
So there you have it. If you're really keen about Weimar Cinema, then this would probably be a good addition to your collection but if you want a good starting point, I'd opt for "Haunted Screen" first. Probably the least biased of all I have read thus far.
Okay, so the first thing I noticed about how this is written: This guy loves insanely long sentences. He uses the rhetoric a lot, one of his introductory paragraphs consisting of maybe 30 'questions' that one might ask about Weimar Cinema. How annoying. Yes, we are wondering these things, that's why we got the book! However, if you get past all the rhetoric mumbo-jumbo and look at the facts, it is actually a fairly well researched and presented book about expressionist cinema.
I do think that this book, unlike "Caligari to Hitler" and "The Haunted Screen" is better organized. But this is probably because he wrote this book after the prior and often references them in this book. I'm not so sure I want to say he 'regurgitates' all that information to pass off as his own, but like any research, you will find lots of repetition of facts. It doesn't qualify as a summary of both "Caligari" and "Haunted" as both of those books have their own specific thesis' and are both biased for the author. You'll find that in any book, but of the three I think that "Haunted" seems to be the most objective.
"Weimar Cinema and After" really seems to pick and choose really specific topics and films to discuss, so there doesn't seem to be as much of a range over the entire period as "Haunted" presents. What I do like, though, is that some of his choices are good ones and he does go incredibly in depth when he covers these topics. For example, covering UFA, the film production company in Germany. He spends a lot of time researching and talking about it, where its facts seems to be scattered all about history books otherwise. He talks about G.W. Pabst and goes in depth to talk about "Pandora's Box", which is a terrific film. The counter balance of all this is that he'll talk about something totally random that doesn't seem to be historically one of the significant films, movements, or directors within expressionism.
Another bummer is that his long drawn out sentences are not accompanied by images. In the entire 450+ page book there are only 36 images to enjoy. I always feel that when talking about film, and especially when making references to specific visual elements, it must be accompanied by images. Must.
So there you have it. If you're really keen about Weimar Cinema, then this would probably be a good addition to your collection but if you want a good starting point, I'd opt for "Haunted Screen" first. Probably the least biased of all I have read thus far.
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