Dark City

When we watching a film, our expectation of a film is we want to enjoy the entertainment and satisfaction for our needs. Nowadays, audience expect for the movie that have colourful vision and fun to satisfy them. We never thought that we use another mentality to watch a different such as Dark City. After watched this film that Mr.Joe Yan gave us, I sudden have another experience in this film and this theory. They use another way to perform the art of a film. I didn’t said that I not really like the film, but I just learn many thing from this theory.

The German expressionism fully apply in the film- Dark City. German expressionism is filmic style that emerged in German from 1919-1926. Influenced by the Expressionist movement in modern art of early 1900s. Most of the filmmakers from Germany migrated to USA. They brought their filmmaking practice to Hollywood, influenced the film noir and horror film. Its themes are revolt, self-analysis, madness, and primitive, sexual savagery. The setting of lighting is low key lighting which create high contrast in a film. It tried to distorted set and bodies. It provides sense of mystery to audience. The scene of the film will saw like they oblique camera angle. The content is usually surreal and gothic, about unnatural act or realities. German expressionism’s famed predilection for chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro means the use of highly contrastive lighting, literally light and dark. Later will explain more detail how this theory apply in this film.

This first of what we can defined German expressionism from Dark City is self-analysis. It mean that we keep questioning our self who we are. Just like John Murdoch in the beginning, he just woke up from a stranger place. He lost his memories, so he keep advance to find the answer and get back his memories from himself. Because the strangers took Murdoch’s memories away in order that John Murdoch cannot remember his power to destroy the strangers. Next is primitive sexual savagery that can see in film is the strangers. The beginning of this film, the strangers trying to kill John Murdoch. The used violence ways to kill the people. The kid stranger bites Murdoch’s hand show that is dark primal instincts. Next is the film are used low key lighting high contrast to shows the heavy emotion. The lighting can make audience feel the fear of the strangers chasing John Murdoch. The lighting played important role in this film to show the horror to audience. Another mise-en-scene we can see is the distorted of all the props. We can see that the finger of the strangers, white face and the movement of their body where is abnormal form of human that we perceive in reality.

The conclusion, this film success to show the German expressionism. This theory play important role to apply in Dark City to show what director want to give audience. I hope this theory can apply to another new film to show a whole new expectation to audience.