2025 Winning Essay – Daniel da Silva Campos Almeida

Take a look at one of this year’s winning entries to the Immerse Education Essay Competition from the Film studies category.

Congratulations to all participants and in particular to those who have won 100% scholarships!

How Does German Expressionist Cinema Influence Contemporary Filmmakers?

by Daniel A

In all forms of art, expressionism is remembered as an oneiric, mystic aesthetic that aimed at an externalization of the spiritual. According to Lotte Eisner, the origins of cinematic expressionism are intrinsically connected to the “restlessness” of German society after World War I (Eisner, 1969, p. 17). Nevertheless, the notable box office achievements of Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024) — a remake of the 1922 expressionist classic — demonstrate the extensive influence that this movement still has in filmmaking. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to analyze the characteristics of 1920’s German expressionist films that exert a significant impact on contemporary filmmakers. For this purpose, I will reference the works of Lotte Eisner, Alfredo Suppia and Bertrand Lira, along with various motion pictures as case studies.

First of all, the translation of a pure emotion onto the screen is, by itself, an undeniable inheritance from classic expressionist cinema. As David Thorburn declared, innovative German directors from the early 20th century — Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau and Robert Wiene, to cite a few — had become aware of their “power […] to explore human subjectivity” (Thorburn, 2016). Thus, the surreal scenes that accompany Teddy Daniel’s deliriums in Shutter Island (Scorsese, 2010), as well as the imaginative sequences of the 2024 Oscar winner Oppenheimer (Nolan, 2023) are directly affected by Destiny (Lang, 1921), The Cabinet of Doctor Galigari (Wiene, 1920), The Last Laugh (Murnau, 1924) and other expressionist features.

Furthermore, it is essential to recognize the dramatic use of lighting as an indelible legacy of German expressionism. That is to say, the cinéastes from such movement were able to “create an atmosphere of strong symbolic power” (Lira, 2008) through the use of “piercing chords of light and shadow” (Eisner, 1969), which are revered in several films from the last three decades. This baroque contrast between bright and dark was heavily explored in the sombre mood of Tim Burton’s Batman Returns (1992), as well as in The Lighthouse (Eggers, 2019) and in the nocturnal scenes of Good Manners (Rojas Dutra, 2018).

Additionally, German expressionism was crucial for the development of plentiful popular genres in 21st century film. In effect, the visual guidelines of such avant-garde “reconfigured the images of American cinema” (Murari Pinheiro, 2012), conceiving the noir subgenre — particularly influenced by Fritz Lang’s M (1931). On the other hand, the remarkable architecture and dystopian storyline of Metropolis (Lang, 1927) shaped iconic science fiction features such as Blade Runner (Scott, 1982). In the words of Suppia, Ridley Scott “revisits aesthetic, narrative and ideological characteristics already addressed by Lang in 1926” (Suppia, 2002). Finally, Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) inaugurated numerous conventions of contemporary horror, reflected in The Witch (Eggers, 2015), Interview with the vampire (Jordan, 1994) and Twilight (Hardwicke, 2008).

In the final analysis, German expressionist cinema still impacts filmmakers due to its tendency for the representation of an inner emotion, its unique use of lighting and its thematic novelty. The assemblage of these claims, then, highlights the relevance of classic cinematic expressionism to present-day directors, actors and cinematographers.

Bibliography

Rojas, J. & Dutra, M. (Directors). (2018). As Boas Maneiras [Film]. Globo Filmes.

Burton. T. (Director). (1992). Batman Returns [Film]. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner [Film]. The Ladd Company & Shaw Brothers.

Wiene, R. (Director). (1920). Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari [Film]. Decla-Film.

Lang, F. (Director). (1921). Der müde Tod: ein deutsches Volkslied in sechs Versen [Film]. Decla-Film.

Murnau. F. W. (Director). (1924). Der letzte Mann [Film]. UFA.

Eisner, Lotte H. (1969). The haunted screen: expressionism in the German cinema and the influence of Max Reinhardt. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Jordan, N. (Director). (1994). Interview with the Vampire [Film]. The Geffen Film Company.

Lira, B (2008). Luz e Sombra: Uma interpretação de suas significações imaginárias nas imagens do cinema expressionista alemão e do cinema noir americano [PhD Thesis, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte]. Repositório Institucional UFRN. https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/13678

Lang, F. (Director). (1931). M – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder [Film]. Nero-Film AG.

Lang, F. (Director). (1927). Metropolis [Film]. UFA

.Silva, T (2022). Metrópolis, a sinfonia da cidade-máquina. Garrafa, 20(1), 169-183. https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/garrafa/article/view/55771/30217

Murari, L. & Pinheiro, F (2018). O expressionismo alemão e suas múltiplas derivações americanas.O Mosaico, 7(1), 132-144. https://doi.org/10.33871/21750769.2012.4.1.72

Eggers, R. (Director). (2024). Nosferatu [Film]. Maiden Voyage Pictures.

Murnau, F. W. (Director). (1922). Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens [Film]. Prana Film.

Nolan, C. (Director). (2023). Oppenheimer [Film]. Syncopy Inc.

Scorsese, M. (Director). (2010). Shutter Island [Film]. Paramount Pictures.

Suppia, A (2002). A Metrópole Replicante: de Metropolis a Blade Runner [Master Thesis, Universidade Estadual de Campinas]. Repositório de Produção Científica e Intelectual da Unicamp. https://doi.org/10.47749/T/UNICAMP.2002.286045.

Eggers, R. (Director). (2019). The Lighthouse [Film]. A24.

Eggers, R. (Director). (2015). The Witch [Film]. Maiden Voyage Pictures.

Thorburn, D. via MIT OpenCourseWare. (2016, March 16). 6. German Film; Murnau [Video Lecture]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/BgozyEIGsuc?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63wurgwdJKo6UEYBWDLnmCj

Tiellet, B (2009). O imaginário estético moderno e pós-moderno no filme hollywoodiano: Batman Returns(1992) de Tim Burton [Master Thesis, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul]. Repositório Institucional PUC-RS. http://hdl.handle.net/10923/2170Hardwicke, C. (Director). (2008). Twilight [Film]. Temple Hill Entertainment.

Why Apply To The Immerse Education Essay Competition? 

Are you a highly motivated student aged 13-18? Have you ever wanted to experience studying at one of the world’s top universities?

The Immerse Education essay competition gives you the chance to submit your own essay for the opportunity to be awarded a scholarship to attend one of our award-winning academic or career-based summer schools.

Your summer school experience could be the start of a deeper journey into film, storytelling, and visual culture. If you’re fascinated by how directors use lighting, atmosphere, genre, and symbolism to shape an audience’s emotions, our film studies summer school could help you explore cinema with a more critical eye. If you’re more interested in the creative process behind moving images, from visual design to screen-based storytelling, our film and animation summer school could help you develop your ideas in a practical, imaginative setting. If you’d like to continue developing that creative perspective beyond the classroom, our online summer school gives you a flexible way to explore film, storytelling, and visual culture with expert tutors.

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