Dark City

By understanding German Expressionism that emerged in the film industry, I will attempt to determine the German Expressionism elements found in the film "Dark City" (1998). 

German Expressionism is a number of creative movements that began in Germany before the first world war. It was a part of the expressionist movement in the European art culture. German Expressionism began emerging in films from 1919 till 1926, this is because they were influenced by the Expressionist movement in modern art at early 1900s. However, they started to fade in the 1920s because the German film industry tried to imitate and compete with Hollywood films, which caused them to dilute their expressionist tendencies. 

German Expressionism includes themes like revolt, self-analysis, madness and primitive sexual savagery. This genre spreads into cinema in terms of narrative, set and mise-en-scene, this could be seen in the set design and low key lighting.  The style in German Expressionism are oblique camera angles, Distorted bodies and shapes, bizarre and incongruous settings, low key lighting and contents of surreal and Gothic, usually about unnatural acts. 

John Murdoch wakes up in a bathtub and alone in a strange hotel to find himself wanted for a series of brutal murders.Problem begins to arise as he can't remember whether he had committed the murders. For a brief moment, he was convinced that he has gone completely insane. Murdoch begins to find ways to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

German Expressionism could be seen throughout the film with their low key lighting, distorted bodies and shapes, bizarre and incongruous settings and it is about unnatural acts. First of all, the city in the film is always dark as the title of the film is after all "Dark city". This provides and generates the sense of mystery of the film to the audience, it also enhances the investigative nature of the film. 

Moving on, the mise-en-scene of the film are bizarre and incongruous, distorted bodies and shapes are seen on the set. This could be seen during the scene where the strangers begins their process of installing new buildings as buildings could be seen twisting out of the ground. The strangers movement are similar with the Somnambulist in Dr. Caligari.

Primitive sexual savagery was also seen in the film as it plays the role of showing how evil the strangers are. This could be seen at the scene where Mr.Hand kills its victim by stripping them half naked and carves symbols on them. 

In conclusion, Dark city is under the influence of German Expressionism as the elements found in Dark City determines that the film has used German Expressionism.