Weimar Culture

Abbygail Fitzpatrick

Week 6- Weimar Art and Film

    The period after World War I until about 1924 was a dark time in Germany with poverty, hunger and inflation running rampant within the country. These terrible events leaked into culture and became expressed through many different forms of art. This includes a new genre of film that came out as a response to these events called expressionism. These films looked at all forms of social discontent. One specific subcategory of expressionism depicted homosexuality and the societal implications of repression. As indicated in the reading Less and More than Women and Men: Lesbian and Gay Cinema in Weimar Germany by Richard Dyer, these films were either censored or people tried to downplay the presence of homosexuality in the film. It was not uncommon for subjects, such as homosexuality that were considered taboo, like this to be shown in films, such as Madchen, at the time and to be criticized for it. These films were displaying some dark themes such as suicide and immorality that were not previously used in film and it gave rise to new genres that we see today such as Gothic Horror Movies and influencing filmmakers around the globe.

     One aspect of culture from this time that is not looked at as often as paintings or film are the forms in which music took on. Music, like other types of art, can be used as a way to express oneself and society as a whole. It can change along with the time and throughout the generations. The major genres of music in Germany during the Weimar era, specifically in Berlin, were classical, jazz and Cabaret. Each of these types of music were experienced in different ways by the population and all of them had some social implication that went along with them.

 Classical Music

One way in which classical music was enjoyed, aside from orchestral concerts, were in works of theatre such as those by famous composers of the time Alban Berg and Kurt Weill. Some of their operas were a social commentary set to a musical backdrop that was uniquely their own. Examples of this are: Wozzeck and The Threepenny Opera. Like the films and art that were looked at in class, these address different societal issues such as crime rates, prostitution and the morality of the lower class that persisted at the time. (0:14 -1:30)

Cabaret Music

During the late 1920's to early 1930's major cities across Germany enjoyed a very active night life. The middle class would go to clubs to listen to this form of music, which was at times satirical. The opera Threepenny composed by Kurt Weill actually coined the term cabaret. This music differed from theatre and plays because it was meant to be enjoyed in a more casual social setting with drinking and laughing. An example of a famous cabaret singer is Claire Waldoff who is seen in the video to the left. She was a known advocate against the socialist party and her music were usually political satires. When the Nazi regime began she was no longer allowed to perform. 

Jazz Music 

Jazz in the Weimar society was brought over from America, where the Jazz movement began. It was received relatively well and made popular during the mid-twenties. However, it was very different than the music native to Germany and incited some backlash that hindered its expansion. Due to the Nazi campaign and others who viewed Jazz as “un-German,” by the mid thirties it was all but non-existent in Germany. This picture (to the left) is an example of propaganda from the Nazi party that groups Jazz music, black people and Jewish people all together calling them degenerates. The caption says, "Degenerate Music: A Statement by the State Council."  

Overall the art and music of the Weimar period in Germany took on a unique stance to try and cope with the cultural uncertainty, economic hardships and social unrest. Depicting the hardships everyone had to face or satirizing the political and social climate through either art, film or music was a way to express their disgruntlement at current situations and try to call for change. Unfortunately, with the rise of Nazism a lot of this form of expression was eventually repressed, censored as exemplified by the poster above or completely eliminated like most cabarets.  

Sources
  https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/weimar-cinema/
  https://search-proquest com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/docview/1292670962/fulltextPDF/1F635B5131B04002PQ/1?accountid=14745
  Lareau, A. (1991). The German Cabaret Movement during the Weimar Republic. Theatre Journal, 43(4), 471-490. doi:10.2307/3207977