For e-double-s, each group has been assigned a research topic. Ours is Expressionism.
Expressionism in film was almost entirely instigated by the emergence of German Expressionism in the 1920s. At the time, Germany had lost World War One, and Germany was very segregated from the rest of the world. Foreign film and books were banned – so the film industry in Germany was now having to produce it’s own content to amuse the German masses. Additionally, the German frame of mind was in a dark place – the people did not trust the government, the rest of the world, and there was a lot of resentment building.
This resulted in the German government finding ways to appear ‘good’ to the public, such as building rails, making the country more livable.
And one of those ways, was the film industry.
In 1916, the German government realised that other countries were able to use film as propaganda, and realised that Germany was missing out. If the government controlled the film industry, they would also be able to control the masses. So, the Supreme Army Command and War Ministry – as well as one of the German banks – put together a very large fund and purchased a lot of the standing production companies, forming a UFA – a large company – that was capable of producing many more films per year. Which they did.
But the one thing the company did not end up doing, was producing propaganda films.
UFA had issues from it’s foundation, with the top people disagreeing from day one. Eventually, the investing bank decided that it was best that UFA was run as a business, and it cut it’s ties with the German government.
Then – even though Germany was supposed to have segregated itself – UFA signed agreements with Paramount and MGM which allowed for them to bring German films into the rest of the world.
Now, UFA was not responsible for producing the first German Expressionistic film, but it was essential in distributing German film – and German Expressionism – into the rest of the world. Germany had become a part of the international film industry before it had even lifted it’s ban on imported film.
And after WW2, many German film makers left Germany and spread the use of expressionism anyway.
