Research Assessment on a Personality in the Twentieth Century: Leni Riefenstahl a) Describe the major influences that led to the rise to prominence of your chosen personality in her nation’s history.
The major influences that led to Leni Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence includes a fateful event that kindles her fascination with film, the continual influence of mountain (Berg) films and acclaimed director Dr Arnold Fanck as well as her first début as a director and producer.
In 1925 Leni Riefenstahl injured her knee whilst dancing in Prague which threatened to end her dancing career. Fatefully, it was this injury that introduced her to mountain films as she came across an advertising poster for Berg des Schicksals (Mountain of
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As the film opened in Germany and around the world it became obvious that Riefenstahl had achieved overall success, beyond all expectations. In America, specifically New York it was called “flawless” and “a highly fascinating fantasy”. The Blue Light was even awarded a silver medal at the first Venice Biennale that year. Riefenstahl still saw herself primarily as an actress, but after her new found success, expected to continue filmmaking as a career. If The Blue Light had not influenced her career path she would not have reached her prominence with her films such as Triumph of the Will and Olympia to come. Riefenstahl did not only gain wider international fame, she also gained the admiration and support of Adolf Hitler. According to Audrey Salkeld, “Hitler was already an admirer of hers, having been won over by her first dance of fluttering veils in her first movie.......From then on, he had followed her career with interest, The Blue Light in particular catching his imagination.” Indeed the success of The Blue Light was one of the determining influences on Riefenstahl’s rise to prominence as she states, “This film was pivotal in my life, not so much because it was my first successful effort as a producer and director, but because Hitler was so fascinated by this film that he insisted I make a documentary about the Party rally in Nuremberg. The result was Triumph of
The influential career of Leni Riefenstahl has been a point of great contention amongst scholars and filmmakers over the last few decades. The legacy Riefenstahl leaves behind are her achievements and failures of her
The paper discusses how the critical reception shifts over a period of time. The paper is mainly focused on the film "Sunrise", directed by F. Marnau in 1927. Initially the movie got mixed reviews from the critics; however this film became to be known as a cinematic masterpiece in future decades.
Directions: Using the matrix, list at least five events or major concepts from each of the three periods in the history of modern personality psychology.
1933 through 1945 was a devastating period for Europe. Nazi Germany had taken over a significant part of Europe. In the result of the Genocide of six million Jews, but the killing of seventeen million total. Two works capture the horrors of this time. Elie Wiesel is a Jew from Transylvania, Romania who had been taken prisoner in 1944, and transported to Auschwitz with his family. During that time he had spent his time as a worker in a factory with his father, never wanting to leave him behind. Elie Wiesel shared his experience in his autobiography, Night, Published in 1960. After the war Elie Wiesel had become a College Professor, Nazi investigator, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Then we also have Life is Beautiful, an Italian movie released in 1997 about an Italian Jewish family won the the Academy Award for the best foreign language film. Roberto Benigni, the director of Life is Beautiful won the Academy award for best actor in his role. Both Night and Life is Beautiful deal with the importance of the family relationship during the Holocaust, but they approach this horrific time in vastly different ways.
However, as Wolfgang Ruge argues, “the Nazi party developed a propaganda apparatus whose activities far eclipsed all previous heights of the demagogy of German imperialism.” On this note, it is widely agreed by historians that the regime was highly successful in one of Friedreich's principles; control of the increasingly powerful mass media in German society as a mechanism for public control. Primarily coordinated through the work of propaganda minister Goebbels, Hitler was portrayed as a leader who was at the same time moderate and reasonable who put the national good before his own interest. Other themes highlighted images of strength and authority which appealed to the highly nationalist German population; epitomised by Hitler appearing out of the sky to lead the German people depicted in Riefenstahl's 1934 film Triumph of the Will, still widely considered the most influential propaganda film of all time. The radio, state produced to be inexpensive, become the regimes number one weapon as it allowed propaganda to not only infiltrate but permeate as many homes as possible.
The film Triumph of the Will was created in 1934 after Hitler was named Fuhrer of Germany. At the time, Hitler was eager to improve the public image of the NSDP (National Socialist German Workers ' Party). After his election as chancellor in Early January 1933, Hitler gave Leni Riefenstahl the job of filming the annual NSDAP conference in Nuremberg, Germany . Riefenstahl accepted the offer and agreed document, direct and edit the Conference. As years pasted, the infamous “documentary” began to be speculated as possible Nazi Propaganda.
Triumph of the Will is a documentary of the Nazi Party conference in 1934 in Nuremberg. From the first frame of the film, Riefenstahl captures every essence of how worshiped Hitler
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s creation Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise (1931) is a complex visual demonstration of the modern architecture and design, which gains particular importance in the historical context of the Great Depression in the 1930s. The filmmakers of the time, very aware of the educational power of the cinema, undertook the task of portraying American life in such way that the dejecting circumstances of the crisis could have been lightened by the believable positive images on the screen. Thus, “one of the most compelling ways to convey these social messages was visually through sets, props, decor, and lighting—through the very design of the film.” In 1930s, the film designers were enabled to experiment with the materials and technologies
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,
At a very early age she was starting to show signs of all the troubles that her life was going to bring onto her. “In 1913 at age 6, Frida was struck with Polio which made it difficult for her to use her right leg properly and it was left damaged” (Griffiths, 2014). This accident was one of the reasons why Frida began wearing long colorful skirts because she used them as a cover up for her deformed leg. “In the year of 1925, the year that Frida had just turned 18, she was injured in a near fatal street accident in which a bus collided with a tram” (Rogers, 2009), this accident caused her to break her pelvic bone and spinal column. It was cause of this accident that the doctors that were looking after her at the time of the accident were starting to question if she was going to be able to survive. This accident caused her to continue having back surgeries throughout her lifetime. This accident was also the reason why she started painting. Frida Kahlo once stated “I don't paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.” This quote acknowledges how bizarre a lot of paintings that Frida Kahlo made were but to Frida Kahlo it was all reality, her life as well as accidents were real bizarre. “In the year of 1926 Frida Kahlo spends time at the hospital recovering from all her injuries at the time while at the Hospital she learns that she
Frida’s emotional and physical state was impacted by many tragic and difficult events in her life. These tragic events lead to her obsessive tendencies and neurotic behaviors. She struggled most of her life with physical and emotional pain. Her artwork was her therapeutic outlet and illustrates her pain and tragic life.
Describe and discuss political ambitions. Identify and discuss three deliberate steps that she took to legitimize her status:
Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov are among the most identifiable names in early Soviet film. Their contributions to film, in the areas of montage and documentary film respectively, have helped to structure film, as we know it today. However, apart from their theoretical contributions to the field, both directors played an imperative role in Soviet film during the 1920s and 1930s. This paper examines historical revisionism within their film, how their theories of montage influenced the revisionism, and how they were persistent in the use montage throughout their careers as filmmakers to assert themselves as artists.
At one point or another, we all have been exposed to unconventional woman in art who has been more recognizable by her signature unibrow and flower headdresses. This woman is known as Frida Kahlo, a well known Mexican American surrealist artist who went through many struggles in dealings with a challenging upbringing in a time of revolution and a lifetime of pain. But with a challenge, there is also strength. Kahlo possessed many strengths that allowed her to prevail against these factors that went against her and become an icon in art.
Ingmar Bergman is considered as one of the most influential of all time. He brought a new fresh and stayed productive by his knowledge and his play-within-a-play style. His films are various and creative with different genres. Despite the critics, he managed with the new gen-eration of the young directors. Earning numerous awards among his career, he conquered the international field. As Tytti Soila wrote, he “had and had been given a place apart in the histo-ry of Swedish cinema when viewed from several angels”