"Vampyr"

[ellenkushner]

This Friday night at 9:30, I'm introducing a film at the Rubin Museum of Art's pretty amazing Cabaret Cinema film series inspired by their current exhibit, Carl Jung's Red Book.

Perhaps this public forum is not the place to announce that I know absolutely nothing about Dreyer or German Expressionist Cinema - or even much about Carl Jung . . . I can vamp on Vampires some, but for now I'm, ah, looking for inspiration, insight, and a few good factoids (besides those easily found on Wiki). Anyone?

Here is a very cool flyer about the event.

If you're around, you should come! There's a bar, and free gallery admission, and a scary movie - and me!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

German Expressionism conjures for me a very stark, sharp exhibition of German Expressionist painting that I saw in London years ago and which has haunted me. Pictures with no space for the subject to hide.

[csecooney.livejournal.com]

What little about German Expressionism I know I learned from watching the _Cabinet of Doctor Caligari_ -- and wasn't THAT a trip! Best stage sets I've seen in a FILM!

If you haven't seen _Cabinet_ yet, I'd recommend it, or finding articles about it if Googling "German Expressionism" or "Vampyr" is unhelpful.

Now you've made me want to see _Vampyr_. Dang.

[csecooney.livejournal.com]

But!

I just remembered someone VERY CLEVER whom I might ask! I will write if I hear anything!

[(Anonymous)]

Allright, if you want fiction references there's "Flicker" by Theodore Roszak. It's sf, conspiracy theory, alternative history for film buffs, fascinating read. And it's mostly about German Expressionism. And you might mention "Pandora's Box" - the main character Lulu, played by Louise Brooks, has appeared in e.g. comics by Hugo Pratt & Milo Manara and some genre books - "Aristoi" by Walter Jon Williams comes to mind, and she has a cameo in Kim Newman's Anno Dracula.

And Dreyer's Passion de Jeanne d'Arc is one of my favorite films ever. Don't know if it counts as GERMAN, though... The ending of Alien3 resembles greatly the scene of Jeanne/Maria Falconetti in the pyre, holding the cross to her chest - as Ripley/ Sigourney Weaver holds the alien tat has burst through her chest, before they both die. Even their hairdos are same!

Hope this helps a little :-)

Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo

[(Anonymous)]

Here's an insightful article on Dreyer - doesn't mention Vampyr but perhaps there's something you can use, like this:

"The fact that Dreyer was an adopted child may have informed his sympathy for the emotional pariah, in his films usually women. His works were prematurely feminist, or more accurately, feminine in their depiction and respectful treatment of female characters. His take on women was never fetishistic – and they figured largely in his work – as he seemed to be more interested in delving into their spirit and intuition than casting a male, eroticised look at them (as in Gertrud)."

http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/carl_dreyer.php

Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo

[ellen-denham.livejournal.com]

If you have time to get to a library in the meantime, I suggest reading at least the first couple of chapters of Jung's autobiographical book, Memories, Dreams and Reflections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memories,_Dreams,_Reflections).

It's been years since I read it, but I remember it as one of the most interesting autobiographies I've read, because he was so candid about thoughts that we all have but that most people would consider to be odd. This is relevant to the Red Book because, as I understand it, the Red Book is even more personal and autobiographical. My guess would be that to read a bit of "Memories..." is like getting a taste of the Red Book.

[(Anonymous)]

Another good one about Vampyr:

"...early in the film when Gray meets the doctor at the chateau there is a mysterious exchange between the two of them about dogs and a child, which have not been seen in the film. To the viewer this is utter mystery, but in fact there was an important scene in Dreyer’s original script about a young boy chased by dogs controlled the old blind woman, that for some reason he cut from the film. It is this scene to which the curious conversation refers."

http://filmsufi.blogspot.com/2009/10/vampyr-carl-dreyer-1932.html

Johanna

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Ack. I knew this would happen. We're going to be in CT Friday night. And I've never seen this flick.

I'm sure you've already found it, but here's the wikipedia article on German Expressionism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Expressionism

The one thing the article doesn't discuss much is the importance of mood and atmosphere in German Expressionism. To tie that idea into fantasy writing, the importance of atmosphere and mood in GE can be said to be very much the same as the importance of place in fantasy. The difference is that the GEs took their ideas to extreme, anti-realist lengths, whereas fantasy often uses the detail of place to lull the reader into accepting what is actually magical and unreal.

Hmm. Sounds like a Readercon topic.

[dryfoo.livejournal.com]

The charming Ms Cooney has a great suggestion in "Caligari". Too late now for your lecture, but by all means rent it asap. It's a terrific intro to the whole GE thing, and once you're hooked you can go from there.

Take special note of the names of those cinematographers, lighting designers, production designers, etc. A lot of them fled Europe -- when the real world got even weirder and nastier than their films -- and when they landed in Hollywood, they were just in time to give us the glimmering light-within-dark, the long mysterious shadows, the disorienting camera angles, etc. of our film noir mysteries and thrillers.