This journal's focus will be mainly discussing on German Expressionism. It is a filmic style that emerged in Germany from year 1919 to year 1926. The advent of this filmic style was influenced by the Expressionist movement in modern art of early 1900s. Expressionism was not limited to painting only, but was manifest in literature, theatre and architecture. Besides, there are several themes included in German Expressionism such as revolt, self-analysis, sexual savagery and madness as well as primitive.
Theory Discussion
According to Zilvertong (2014), Corpse Bride consists of many elements that are used by German Expressionism, as the features included distorted perspective, disturbed relationship and angles, use of strong contrast and shadows (para.1). Not only that, according to Film Theory (2014), the dominant characteristics of expressionism include the use of heavy atmosphere, the evoke of mystery and hallucination, as well as the set of camera in unexpected angles which gives different perception (para.5). Follow by, some of the scenes in Corpse Bride will be mentioned to further explain these traits.
Synopsis
Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot were betrothed because the Everglots needed money and the Van Dorts wanted to gain social status (XxCherrySodaxX. n.d.). Though it was the first meeting, they fall for each another. After Victor bungled the wedding rehearsal, he went practising his vows in the forest. Victor put his ring on a branch-like finger, which then awoken Emily - the corpse bride. Emily claimed Victor to be his groom and brought him to the land of the dead. As the Everglots could not wait for Victor's return, they decided to marry Victoria off to Lord Barkis. Victor, feeling betrayed, planned to end his life and marry Emily. As Emily realized she was denying Victoria's chance at happiness, she let go of Victor and transformed into swarm of butterflies under the moonlight (Wikipedia, n.d. para.6).
Analysis
There are two themes from German Expressionism which could be found in Corpse Bride (2005) - revolt and self-analysis. For the first theme - revolt, it could be seen from the scene where Victoria escaped from her room by the window after she was locked in the room by her parents. As Victoria told her parents that Victor was forcibly wed to a corpse bride, they thought that she had lost her mind and planned to marry her off to Lord Barkis. Though her rebellious action was at last of no use, but it proved that Victoria had tried to oppose her parents by seeking help from the pastor.
The next theme in the movie is self-analysis. This theme was shown vividly in Emily - the corpse bride. She was very stubborn in having Victor as his groom initially. When she discovered the real reason of Victor's request for returning to the land of the living, which is to meet with Victoria, she was very angry and chanted "Hopscotch" to bring both of them back to the afterlife. Her self-analysis occurred when she saw Victoria hiding behind the pillar as Victor was about to consume the poisonous drink. "You kept your promise. You set me free. Now I can do the same for you." was the last sentence she said when she realized her selfish doing was wrong.
The following analysis will be on the traits of German Expressionism. The first trait will be distorted bodies. For example, Victor, the shy and clumsy protagonist, has strange physique, which include extraordinary big eyes, big head, stick-like body and hunched back. This character provides a sense of similarity with the protagonist from the movie - The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920). Both of the protagonist also walked in a strange way. To be exact, most of the living characters in this movie had strange bodies. Victor's mother bloated in a strange way whereas Victor's father looked exactly like him.
The use of strong contrast and shadow was also applied in this movie. When Victor's vows awoken Emily from death, the low-key lighting created a dramatic shadows. This scene evoked a strong sense of fear in the audience. Apart from that, the other scene with high contrast was the scene when Victor finally found the ring he accidentally fall onto the ground. This scene heightened up the audience's expectations of how Victor was about to be condemned by his reckless behaviour.
Moreover, the content in the movie was surreal and gothic. The unnatural realities could be observed in the land of the dead such as singing skeleton, moving head and skeleton pet dog. Besides, according to What is Goth (n.d.), gothic could be defined as things that someone find it beautiful whereas the others find it to be dark (para.1). Emily could be the best example of element "gothic" found in the movie. Her appearance was frightening yet alluring at the same time.Conclusion
Corpse Bride (2005) is a movie which consists of elements which vary from what we could perceive from ordinary film. It metaphors how cruel the real life looks like and changes how the audience could perceive the afterlife. This movie enables audience to view things differently by distorting things visually and cognitively. The value that can be learnt from this movie is to let go of thing that does not belong to oneself.
Reference
1. Film Theory (n.d.). German Expressionism. Retrieved from
http://filmtheory.org/german-expressionism/
2. The Guardian (n.d.). 'Corpse Bride? It's just a love story with skeletons'. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/oct/14/2
3. What is Goth (n.d.). What is Goth. Retrieved from
http://www.whatisgoth.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpse_Bride
5. XxCherrySodaxX. (n.d.). Corpse Bride (2005) :Plot. Retrieved from
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121164/plotsummary#synopsis
6. Zilvertong. (2014). The Influence of German Expressionism in Corpse Bride. Retrieved from
http://zilvertong.tumblr.com/post/105864280329/the-influence-of-german-expressionism-in-corpse
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