Danse macabre. Medieval elements in Fritz Lang's "Metropolis"
Workshop with Prof. Franz-Josef Holznagel and Silke Hoklas (Universität Rostock)
Location: Beehive 2.20
Time/Date: 11th February 2010, 09:00 - 13:00
This bi-lingual (English and German), interdisciplinary workshop will look at the vogue for medieval elements in German film in the 1920s, starting with the famous ‘danse macabre’ scene in Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”. The workshop will be led by Prof. Franz-Josef Holznagel and Silke Hoklas (both from Rostock University, an Erasmus partner with the School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University) who combine expertise in medieval studies and in film studies. The workshop is devised for students of GER2038 (‘Introduction to medieval studies’), GER 4011 (‘Early German cinema’) and GER4008 (‘A cultural history of Berlin: Capital, Cabaret, Catastrophe’) but is also open to other interested students and lecturers in Film studies and German studies.
A free screening of the film will take place on the preceding afternoon, Wednesday, 11 February, 2pm, in the Fine Arts Lecture Theatre
Programme (download as pdf-file)
9am Introduction:
§ Fritz Lang
§ German Silent Film Production in the Weimar Republic (Deutsche Stummfilmproduktion in der Weimarer Zeit)
§ The Middle Ages as archive for fashioning cinematic worlds (Das Mittelalter als Archiv für die Gestaltung von Kinowelten): Nibelungenfilm; Der müde Tod; etc.
§ Middle Ages and futuristic utopia (Mittelalter und futuristische Utopie): Metropolis
10:15am Tea
10:30 Group Work: The Danse Macabre in ‚Metropolis‘ (Die Totentanz-Sequenz aus "Metropolis" und ihre Gestaltung in den verschiedenen medialen Repräsentationen)
1. The ‚Danse Macabre‘ fashion in medieval studies of the 1920s (Der Totentanz und seine Rezeption in der Mediävistik der 1920er Jahre)
2. The seven deadly sins (Die 7 Todsünden)
3. Film music and the sequence ‘Dies irae’ (Die Sequenz "Dies irae" und ihre Rezeption im 19. und 20. Jh.)
11:30 Plenum: Results from the Group Work
12:00 Lunch Break
13:00 Plenum: The function of the medieval elements in the ‚Danse Macabre‘ sequence in „Metropolis“ (Die Funktion der Mittelalteranleihen in der Totentanz-Sequenz aus "Metropolis")
§ Film extract and presentation of results from group work
§ Round table discussion: Middle Ages and futuristic utopia (Neues Medium - Zukünftige Welt - Archive der Vergangenheit. Was leisten die Mittelalteranleihen in "Metropolis"?): What contribution do the medieval references make in Metropolis?
Published: 8th January 2010