The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory 1909-1947(1)

The emergence and triumph of cinema in the first half of the 20th century provoked an inventive debate in the German-speaking world over fundamental questions of art, human perception, and the relation between media and society. Among those participating in the dispute over modern mass culture and its alternatives were Thomas Mann, Béla Balázs, Walter Benjamin, and Bertolt Brecht. One of the earliest relevant documents is Alfred Döblin’s 1909 report “Theater of the Little People”, one of the latest is Theodor W. Adorno’s and Max Horkheimer’s 1947 essay “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”. Our readings in this seminar can start from the anthology “The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory,” which Tom Gunning justly called a “treasure trove of insights and ideas.”