This assignment requires students to analyze the motivations, reactions, justifications, and means of surveillance and justice employed by the characters and organizations in Fritz Lang’s film “M,” as well as paying attention to its use of sound, cinematography, and depiction

This week, we are watching another film by Fritz Lang, his first sound film. As with “Metropolis,” the events depicted in “M” (1931) take place in a big city, but not in a city of the future but on the streets of Berlin. It is the story of a serial killer and those who pursue him. It is the story of a city in the grips of paranoia and fear. It is also a story of conflicting and competing concepts of law, order and justice and of the competing forces that claim to restore order. Think about the following as you watch the movie: What motivates the characters, agencies, organizations portrayed in the film? How is society reacting to the presence of a serial killer? Made in the final years of the Weimar Republic with the National Socialist Party on the rise but not yet in power, there are unmistakable allusions to the ideological tensions of the time. How do the agencies and organizations portrayed in the film justify their actions? By what means to they hope to catch the murderer and bring him to justice? By whom are they authorized to act? What are the means of surveillance and who employs them for what purpose? As you watch the film, also pay attention to how Lang uses sound and to his innovative cinematography. What do you notice about framing? What about light and shadow and the use of reflecting surfaces? How is the city depicted? Both physically and as a social structure? How is the court scene staged and what are the arguments presented by each side? I would like to see more detailed responses in the “technical” sections of the FE – the sections where I ask you to comment on a specific aspect of narration, sound, photography, and editing. Pick a shot, scene, or brief sequence that you found particularly interesting or effective (don’t forget to provide the time-stamps) and describe it. link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdSL9FvCv0U

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