Mid Term Assignment

Nihilism is the idea that old norms must be destroyed and replaced with new ones in order to create a better society. This idea was very popular in Germany after World War I. It was at this time when the German people felt as though the war had destroyed their economy and society. The responses to Germany’s participation in the war came in the form of art work such as Dadaism and films such as Blue Angel and Dr. Caligiri’s cabinet. We have been studying different forms of nihilism throughout the semester. The Dada artists tended to express their ideas by meshing aspects of humanity with technology while fiction such as Ernst Junger’s On Pain and Herman Hesse’s Siddartha expressed their ideas by exploring the meaning of reality and life.

Dadaism was an anti-war cultural movement which started after World War I and took particular interest in Germany. The artworks in this movement present a negative portrayal of society. Whereas the industrial advances of Europe were widely seen as a great achievement, the dada artists saw these advances as steadily destroying humanity and taking away from the human imagination. Raoul Haussman’s “Direktion,” is the perfect example.

The head and upper part of the body are the first noticeable parts of a person. In Haussman’s picture, the upper body’s internal organs are exposed. The chest cavity and vessels are emphasized with bright colors, red and blue and significant detail meaning it is easy to see the texture of the chest cavity. The head on the other hand has been replaced with a dust colored kind of clock. In examining this picture, the focal point for the eye would be the chest cavity. The clock is in direct contrast with these human features. This picture is saying that technology is turning humans into brainless robots who do not have to think because now technology is doing that for them.

With Haussman’s intergration of humanity and technology, we are getting a negative depiction of the two. He is saying that both entities cannot coexist because technology takes away from human creativity. In another of Haussman’s paintings, Dada Seigt, we are shown how machinery affects human activities. It seems as though, Haussman is saying that machines ignite the flame of war.

In Ernst Jungers’ novel On Pain, his feelings towards technology are somewhat ambiguous. This was discussed in the class blog as well where it was mentioned that the use of technology is counterproductive to human society. Its emergence takes away jobs and makes people feel useless. Technology in itself takes away from basic human nature and brings out vicious a quality which in turn leaves the whole of society in a disarray.

On one hand, Junger is against technology for those reasons. On another hand, Junger supports the use of technology because it forces people to leave the past behind and seek a better future. “The masses kill with machines, they tear apart and trample underfoot; by contrast, the lumpenproletariat is directly familiar with the joys of torture. The masses are moved morally; they unite in situations of excitement and indignation. They must be convinced that the opponent is evil and that they are prosecuting justice against this evil. The lumpenproletariat is beyond moral valuations and thus always and everywhere ready to seize the opportunity, i.e., with every disturbance of the social order regardless of origin. The lumpenproletariat therefore functions beyond the more limited space of politics; instead, one must regard the lumpenproletariat as a kind of underground army reserve that the social order keeps on alert.” (p.26) Junger. This quote is saying that even though this integration between technology and humanity causes chaos, it prepares society for change.

Another work that we have discussed in the class blog as well as on our separate blogs is Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. This book was written in 1922 shortly after the end of World War I. Siddhartha, which is a mixture of two words meaning “Achieve” and “Wealth”, is a young man who leads a very sheltered life until he decides to seek a path of enlightenment.

Siddhartha feels as though something is missing and even though he follows the rituals of his religion to a tee, he still unsatisfied. He leaves his father’s home because he feels he has learned all his father knows. Siddhartha goes through various stages of development on his path to enlightenment. First, he decides that in order to become one with the universe, one must detach themselves from their wants and desires. He and his best friend Govinda travel with the Samanas in order to learn how to rid themselves of their desires.

After traveling for some time, Siddhartha comes to the realization that this is not the way to reach nirvana. “Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas; he learned many ways of losing the Self. He traveled along the path of self-denial through pain, through voluntary suffering and conquering of pain, through hunger, thirst and fatigue. He traveled the way of self-denial through meditation, through the emptying of the mind through all images. Along these and other paths did he learn to travel? He lost his Self a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it.” (34) Siddartha, then, makes the decision to leave. He makes the decision to wander around the village and observe the townspeople in which he becomes disgusted at the hypocrisy he sees.

He then meets Gotma who convinces him that there is no specific way to achieve enlightenment. Siddartha then leaves Gotma and comes to the realization that every religion has their own ritual. So he decides to find the ritual that is best for him. It is on his path that he meets Kamala and develops a relationship. In this relationship with Kamala, he experiences love and loss, which in turn helps him find peace and finally nirvana.

Siddhartha’s rejection of all things known is in exact correlation with the ideals of Nihilism. He rejected the old norms in order to find himself and once he was able to completely shed himself of all past habits, he was able to do so. Herman Hesse’s book was a reflection of Germany’s nihilist attitude post world war I.

In conclusion, the ideas we have studied differ in many ways but they all reflect one idea: Nihilism. Raoul Haussman’s art work mocked technological advances and mourned humanity which led to the inference that he wanted these ways to be destroyed so that new ones could surmount. Ernst Junger essentially supported technology and its causes because he believed it would eventually transform humanity. Siddartha worked hard to drop his habits in order to find his true self.

Picture this... Photography!

Photography, then, is an expression of our peculiarly cruel way of seeing. Ultimately, it is a kind of evil eye, a type of magical possession. One senses this very clearly in places where a different cultic substance is still active. The moment a city like Mecca can be photographed, it falls into the colonial sphere sphere

This quote relates to the art work of the Dada artists that we have studied. The art work of Raoul Haussman and others are examples of how photography can be manipulated. In the case of the Dada artists, photography was manipulated into a mockery of society.

Aside from the quotes relevance to the work we have studied. The quote expresses the feeling toward photography. Essentially photography takes away from the actua beauty and reality of an object. Hence the line"If the city of mecca were to be photographed..."The light captures and emphasizes what it wants thus leaving a certain imprint on the human mind. Photography in a sense takes away from the human imagination.

I chose this quote because I study photography. I feel differently. I think photography is a beautiful expression of art. It does capture details but these details are sometimes unseen by the human eye. I think that photography is also a back up for the human memory. We will not and can not remember everything. Having photos will keep our memories in tact.

Unconsciously............

"Isn't it strange how we are misled by words, how we give names to streets, events and people, and form judgments about them, just because we are too lazy to change our habits?"


I chose this quote because as humans we are creatures of habit. And we never seem to pay attention to what we do which causes us to work on autopilot and become mindless in a sense. It shows that humans in a sense lack creativity if we have to keep the same names. Or perhaps we have bad memories. I especially gravitated this part ?Isn?t strange how we are misled by words?? It shows that we can use language as a form of manipulation and as humans we tend to take words and statements and turn them into what works for us.

Reflection

The two films that we have watched have personified Expressionism. These films have helped pave the way for modern Hollywood films. The Cabinet of Dr. caligiri reminded me of the movie Shutter Island with Leonardo Di Caprio. These movies show that there can be different themes present in one story. It pretty much leaves room for interpretation and I think that is interesting.

The plays on reality as seen in Dr. caligiris cabinet are something that has yet to be explored. You can tell that the themes often affect the feelings or mood of society.

Three Things I Hate About You. Assingnment 4.

The three themes that can be found in Dr. Caligiri’s cabinet and the Blue Angel are the deception of Beauty, Insanity (servere confusion) and Irony.

Ceasare is taken aback by Jane’s beauty and cannot bring himself to murder her at first. It shows how taboo beauty can be after complete debunkery. This becomes Ceasare's downfall as it cause him to be killed later, for waiting too long to proceed with the Jane's slaying.

In the Blue Angel, Professor Rath, although warning his students of the Blue Angel, gets himself in a whirlpool with Lola, a vivacious night club singer. After catching her cheating on him, he goes insane. The theme of irony is present in both films. Ceasare predicts someone’s death and incidentally he dies later on in the film. In The Blue Angel, the professor warns the children about going to the Blue Angel and he is ironically captured by her beauty.

These themes channel Nihilisim in the sense that they reflect all the ideals the Germans were rejecting during this depressing time in their country. I believe that the women and their power of beauty would symbolize what Germany once was and how that beauty of their country betrayed its own people. That betrayl and the Great War caused a depression and a sort of "insanity" which eventually destroyed everything the German people believed in.