Reality is only a concept of how people perceive their surroundings. My perception of reality can differ from each person. This same idea translates in photographs and films. The piece’s sense of reality can be perceived differently depending on the viewer. In the case of the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, not only were the viewers sense of reality of the film changed, but also the characters in the film itself.
As the film began its conclusion, both the story line’s sense of reality and the viewer’s reality completely changed. Most of us all assumed that the film would conclude with a happy ending in which Dr. Caligari would be caught and peace would once again settle in the town; however, we were met with a different “reality” when Francis turned out to be insane and created a false sense of reality where Dr. Caligari, who was actually the director of the mental asylum that Francis resided in, wasn’t a psychotic murderer. In this sense, the viewer can see the multiple perspectives of reality. To us, the reality of this film was that Francis created a “false” sense of reality and was actually insane, but to Francis that was his “reality” and it was real and true. This film then thoroughly demonstrates this variation and flexibility of the definition and perspective of reality. This film really honed in on the idea that reality is extremely subjective and ambiguous.
This film also manipulated its setting and makeup in order to further the differences of its realities. In the beginning, Dr. Caligari looked like the typical quack doctor with wild eyes and dark shadows. This informed the viewer that he was indeed insane according to his appearance, but as the film concluded, his makeup was removed and instead looked like a “normal” and “typical” doctor and director. This change in makeup was a clear indication of the differences in reality. This was also evident when we saw the before and after of Cesare. In the beginning, Cesare had heavy makeup on his under eyes in order to show his insanity and creepiness. His actions were zombie-like and extremely aggressive, but by the end there was a complete flip. He was more passive and acted like a shy child. His characterization completely changed from this barbaric-like zombie to a passive and shy patient.
Setting also played a large role in skewing our definition of reality. In the beginning, the architecture was slanted, jagged, and almost unstable thus hinting to the viewer that this “reality” seemed almost fantasy-like and even trippy.
If I were to create a murder mystery in present day New York City, lights would be an imperative aspect in the film. The city is known for its endless streets of bright lights. By focusing on more cool-colored luminescent with streak-like patterns, this could create a sense of almost lucid dreaming thus skewing the reality of the film according the viewer. Like how the film used architecture to show a dream-like reality, I would focus more on lights and play with this wave pattern of lights. I’d also play around with the architecture. I’d bend the sky scrapers to have an almost melting element to further enhance this different sense of reality. To me, people react most to their sense of reality visually. By manipulating this “visual” aspect, playing around with the idea of reality would be more intriguing and thought provoking to the viewer.
Claire Ng
I like your use of lights. I agree, I think lighting has an interesting way of distorting an image in a sort of natural way. In addition to being blinding, the different colors and shapes you can get from lighting can alter reality without even a camera lens. If you bend the sky scrapers and give them an unrealistic structure, I think adding in light would make it more realistic. The dream aspect would bring sense into the melting backdrop and would tie in all of the elements together. I really love this concept that you came up with!