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Cinematic Responses to Fascism

Page history last edited by TJ Rivas 14 years, 5 months ago

  

Cinematic responses to Fascism began with the extremely panoptic oppression occurring as a direct result of the emerging Fascist regime. Many artists (along with  many other people) in Europe fled their homelands for their own safety. Those who continued to practice their various art forms both in and out of the country drew heavily on the experiences they had endured, interpreting many of them through cinema. Many cinematic responses to Fascism are still prevalent to this day, albeit by many who have experienced the subject indirectly.

    

Filmmakers have always found inspiration through their own interpretations of struggle; idealistically, any great feat of knowledge must be invoked by some form of struggle. Pain propagates understanding, which evolves into interpretation, usually via some form of commercial medium. From the silent era up to the present day, many films are based around various interpretations of oppression and violence. 

  

A Brief History of Nazi Propaganda

  

Nazism created an elaborate system of propaganda, which its' creators viewed as an instrument of enormous power. Their techniques incorporated nearly every available technology. The slogans they used were aimed directly at the instincts and emotions of the people they wished to transfix. The primary goal of their film policy was to endorse escapism, something they felt would appropriately distract the public and maintain high spirits throughout the country. [4] Under the administration of Joseph Goebbels, the Deutsche Filmakademie Babelsberga (a state-run professional school for politically reliable film-makers) was founded, and membership for the Reichsfilmkammer (a professional Nazi film organization) was made mandatory for all actors, film-makers, distributors etc. The censorship levels, which had already been systematized during the Weimar Republic, were increased, with the Reichsfilmdramaturg (a National Film Dramaturgist) pre-censoring all manuscripts and screenplays during the initial stages of production. Likewise, film criticism was strictly prohibited. [3]   

 

Triumph des Willens is one of the most widely-known Nazi propaganda films ever made. Adolf Hitler himself commissioned filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl to film the six Nazi Party Congress, which was being held in Spetember of that year. [6]

 

Unlike Fascism, Anti- Fascism Does Have Some Variety

 

Since people first began responding to fascism, they have been doing so in a variety of interpretave ways. In many aspects, oppression brings out more creativity than it kills. Many anti-fascist films could be seen as comical (The Great Dictator), some as serious (Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma), and others an odd mixture of the two (Inglourious Basterds); however, no matter the genre, the message remains the same: "absolute power corrupts absolutely."

 

People & Films

    

In 1933, German director Fritz Lang responded to the rise of the Nazi party through the creation of Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse, which incorporated Nazi slogans, as well as direct quotations from Hitler's Mein Kampf into the mouths of Dr. Mabuse and his henchmen, all of whom were depicted as debauched zealots. The film was almost immediately banned in Germany by Volksaufklärung und Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, who had been tipped off by Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou - who would go on to become a screenwriter/director in the service of Nazi Germany. [1]

 

Rumor has it that after being alerted by von Harbou, Goebbels summoned Lang for a meeting, during which he astonishingly offered him a prominent position in the UFA, which was now completely under Nazi control; he also surprisingly agreed to overlook the "crime" committed by Lang's mother, who was of partial Jewish ancestry. Lang's quick reasoning skills served him well, as it was no surprise who had tipped off Goebbels. He reluctantly accepted the deal, but kept his subsequent agenda carefully hidden until he had the time to act. This claim is sometimes refuted as another one of Lang's fictitious stories, as there is no historical proof that a meeting between he and Goebbels ever occurred.

 

Regardless of if there ever was a meeting between he and Goebbels, Lang abandoned his homeland, his fortune, and the negatives of all his films in order to promptly escape to The United States - where he would be joined by many other fleeting German-born contemporaries. He continued his career in the film industry as a director at MGM, working as a filmmaker with an indirect mission - to fight against the ideals of fascism.

 

1940 saw the release of The Great Dictator, starring Charlie Chaplin. The film is noteable in that it was one of the only films during its time period to satirize both Nazism and Adolf Hitler [5]. Chaplin undertook dual roles for the film, playing both the Jewish protagonist and Adenoid Hynkel - a parody of Adolf Hitler. The film itself has strong anti-fascist undertones, poking fun at idiosyncrasies like the tension between Hynkel and Benzino Napolini (an obvious parody of Benito Mussolini), imprisonment within a Nazi concentration camp, and the preconceived eventual rise and preservation of democracy.

 

The scene below is an excerpt from The Great Dictator. Listen to Charlie's words and consider how they are a direct response to fascist ideology.

 

 

 

In 1949, Jean Cocteau released Orphée, a movie based on the Greek myth of Orpheus. In the film, Cocteau references many elements from the culture he grew up in: the messengers of the Princess of Death are grim, leather-clad motorcyclists, the Underworld is represented by various structures in France which were demolished after World War II, and Orpheus's trial in the underworld is presented in the form of a hearing held by officials of the German occupation attempting to discover members of the French resistance.

 

Much later, in 1975, a young director by the name of Pierre Paolo Pasolini made a movie influenced by the infamous unfinished novel by the Marquis de Sade (120 Days of Sodom), calling his version Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma. The film, which is set in the Republic of Salò during Mussolini's reign over Italy, depicts four wealthy fascist libertines (a Duke, a Bishop, a Magistrate, and the President) who kidnap an equal number of 8 adolescent girls and 8 adolescent boys for the sole purpose of locking them within the confines of their chateau in order to subject them to four months of sexual violence and sadistic torture. Though the novel and film share the same plot, albeit the transposition of location  from 14th century France to 1944 Italy, as well as the novel's much more graphic nature and unfinished status, Pasolini himself claimed the film to be highly metaphorical; the primary focus being the portrayal of many capitalist and fascist ideals as morally corrupt. Upon watching the film, one is immediately able to infer what Pasolini's intentions were: there is a heavy air of suffering lined throughout evey character's words and actions, and privacy is completely negated in all aspects. None of the prisoners, though chosen because of their beauty and livileness, are ever allowed to so much as question anything proposed by the libertines in charge. [2]

  

 

Noteable Films Containing Responses to Fascist Ideology

Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse (1933)

The Great Dictator (1940)

Man Hunt (1941)

Casablanca (1942)

To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Hangmen Also Die (1943)

Above Suspicion (1943)

The Holy Mountain (1973)

Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975)

Romper Stomper (1992)

American History X (1998)

The Good German (2006)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

  

A Short History of Film (Dixon, Foster) [1] 

http://www.cine-holocaust.de/cgi-bin/gdq?efs00s03243.gd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal%C3%B2,_or_the_120_Days_of_Sodom [2]

Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and It's Afterlife. Rentschler, Eric. Harvard University Press (October 1, 1996) [3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism_and_cinema [4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator [5]

Schneider, Steven Jay. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You DieNew York: Barron's, 2008. [6]

Comments (3)

Sean Desilets said

at 1:38 pm on Oct 12, 2009

It would be great to see something about _The Grand Illusion_ on this page.

TJ Rivas said

at 12:13 am on Oct 9, 2009

Ian, thanks for the redesign!

Sean Desilets said

at 10:45 pm on Sep 30, 2009

* Citations somewhat vague (seem to refer to whole paragraphs)
* No reference to _The Grand Illusion_, which seems odd
* Excellent if selective work with other films
* This is a page that we will have to keep working on
* Need some sense of the broad *kinds* of reactions to fascism. So how is Lang's work anti-fascist? Ho about Renoir's?

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