How has German Expressionism influenced the films of Tim Burton?
So for my History of Cinema class, I have to write a research paper on how German Expressionism has influenced Tim Burton’s films. I would just like to know some of the key points that I should include in my paper. And also, would it be okay to state that German Expressionism ‘branched’ into the horror genre? Tim Burton was greatly influenced by Universal 1930’s horror films. No BS answers, please.
I wrote a paper on German Expressionism for the film section of my local newspaper last year.. The main points you want to know are lighting, set, and acting. German Expressionist films tended to be dark (Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligary”, F.W. Murnau’s “Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde,” “Faust,” “The Last Laugh,” “Sunrise,” “Nosferatu”, and Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” and “Dr. Mabuse” series..) and the sets were pretty elaborate and bizzare.. Definitely the classic form of cinema, oppose to realism– which includes on location shooting, etc. The acting, self explanatory, very expressionistic because there was no sound yet in cinema (this was the 1920s and 30s), much like the films of Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Anyways– all these elements have somewhat influenced Tim Burton’s films.
As for “branching into horror,” it’s a bit hard to say. Murnau seemed to be very much included supernatural elements into his films, and Nosferatu, Faust, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde were all early horrors, but actually German Expressionism eventually branched into Film Noir (early Hollywood crime cinema) as some of the German directors– Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, etc. moved to America. Once again, many of these elements discussed you can find in Film Noir.
Hope that cleared some things up.
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