Expressionism

Screen
The screen where Francis requested to see the Head of the Institute, and surprised to see Caligari, as the Head of the institute, the person he traced to the mental institution

I choose this scene because, Fancis got confused and looked stupid for seeing Caligari as the Head of the institute. it is also part of the framing device intended by the producer of he film and also seems to put the audience at suspense. 

1. What is the symbolism of Caligari's power over Cesare?
Caligari's power over Cesare is the representation of peaceful sleepwalker forced to carry out the delirious idea  of his show-master, with touching, terrifying and also to attract the viewer's attention immediately.
" Cesare is like all the young soldiers who are hypnotically drilled into becoming killing machines on the battlefield."(page 7)

2. How does the profit motive affect cultural production in the modern age?
The decision to have a framing device and twist ending in the film production motivated the profits in the modern age." The ending would presumably have the effect of reinforcing traditional authority assuming the audience receives the message in the intended way." (page 8)

3. How would evaluate the frankfurt school's elitism regarding mass culture? 
They found it very hard to connect themselves with the mass culture due to their elitism. Their artistic work was writing in German language, and the style was known to be ambiguous. Most of their writing work was not translated into English until the 1970's.

4. Explain three aspects of the film that relate to the attributes of the culture industry
(A) Cultural industries tend towards monopolies like other industries : The scene where Caligari goes to apply for a permit to open his artistic exhibition and was rudely attended to by town clerk.
(B) The Profit Motive and not the artistic integrity of the product: The use of framing device and twist ending to motivate the audience in order to make profit. This is where the scene came back to the opening scene in the garden, which the whole story was a fantasy by Francis who is a patient in the hospital along with Cesare, Jane and Alan, and Caligary is the true head of the hospital.
(C) The Culture Industry incorporates all the most recent advances in technological development
The use of lights and shadows as a dramatic effect, these are the scenes where the shadow killed Alan and where Cesare is moving through the shadow to see Jane.


5. Why does Kracauer interpret the film as a choice between tyranny and chaos?
Kracauer interprets film as a choice between tyranny and chaos because, he saw the Germans going through the choice of tyranny on one hand and chaos on the other hand, and which is  what he called "unsolvable dilemma" in the 1920's and 1030's

6. Why was there increased pressure to develop the German film industry after the first world war? The film industries was seen as a very important export for Germany's economy because, their economy was desperately struggling to survive.

7. How would you evaluate the claim that expressionism breeds excessive inwardness and withdrawal  I do not agree with the claim because, expressionism tends to analyze or explain the content of the inner mind as being subjective.

8. How does the film foreshadow the Nazi regime according to Kracauer?
Caligary foresee Hitler, and the screenwriters determined to represent the German military command, even though the screenwriters did not know Hitler at that time.

9. What is praxis and how does it relate to cultural criticism?
Praxis is the mixture of theory and practice. It relates to the cultural criticism because, the intellectuals tend to  study only the theory in isolation from the practical. This is regarded as "Practice without theory, they say, is misguided action or at worst just blind expressions of rage that serve no purpose"