who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me
why is my reflection someone I don't know?
somehow I cannot hide who I am, though I tried
when will my reflection show who I am inside
-Mulan
The above quote is from Disney's Mulan. It has nothing to do with M, but the lyrics are very pertinent.
So we watched Fritz Lang’s M at our Tuesday night screening. It was his first talkie and easily one of his best films. M tells the story of a child murderer who is pursued by the police as well as criminals. Eventually the criminals catch the murderer, played by Peter Lorre, and try to execute him. Their efforts are interrupted by the police who formally arrest the murderer. Lang ends the film with three mothers of the deceased children preaching to the audience to look after their children. This is not the overall message the film. Clearly Lang wanted to draw parallels between the law enforcement and those who live outside the law.
I wanted to focus more on the symbolism of the film. First of all, reflections played a huge role in the film. The audience is not shown the character of Hans Beckert until well into the film when we see his reflection in a mirror. Then during several of his scenes, he back is shot looking into store windows where we can see his vivid reflection staring back at him. When Beckert realizes he’s been marked, he only sees the iconic “M” in his reflection. All of these symbols are explained during the “kangaroo court” scene when Beckert breaks down and explains his impulses. He says that he always feels like he is being followed by himself and that when he commits murder he does not remember the acts. Lang and Thea von Harbou, the scriptwriter, are alluding to a dual personality or a Doppelganger effect used in many other films, notably The Student of Prague. The idea is that man can have a split personality or double that commits evil while the other half remains oblivious. It is a very clever motif that Lang executed very well in his film. Another symbol that I wanted to discuss was the turning wheels. Kracauer notes that these appear in most German films of the time, symbolizing the constant struggle between authority and anarchy. These symbols are not absent from M. Several toys in shop windows spin in circles. One toy appears to be a Star of David rigged to travel in circles. I do not know why Lang chose to have that in the shot but clearly it must have been intentional. Along with circles and rotation, clocks make a serious appearance throughout the film. The clocks could contribute to the dystopian motif but they also might refer to time in general. I personally think that the clocks were meant to a message to the characters that they were always running out of time. Everything needed to be done quickly to avoid disaster. I think that symbol is very foreboding for German people because this film was made on the eve of the rise of the Nazi regime.
I wanted to focus more on the symbolism of the film. First of all, reflections played a huge role in the film. The audience is not shown the character of Hans Beckert until well into the film when we see his reflection in a mirror. Then during several of his scenes, he back is shot looking into store windows where we can see his vivid reflection staring back at him. When Beckert realizes he’s been marked, he only sees the iconic “M” in his reflection. All of these symbols are explained during the “kangaroo court” scene when Beckert breaks down and explains his impulses. He says that he always feels like he is being followed by himself and that when he commits murder he does not remember the acts. Lang and Thea von Harbou, the scriptwriter, are alluding to a dual personality or a Doppelganger effect used in many other films, notably The Student of Prague. The idea is that man can have a split personality or double that commits evil while the other half remains oblivious. It is a very clever motif that Lang executed very well in his film. Another symbol that I wanted to discuss was the turning wheels. Kracauer notes that these appear in most German films of the time, symbolizing the constant struggle between authority and anarchy. These symbols are not absent from M. Several toys in shop windows spin in circles. One toy appears to be a Star of David rigged to travel in circles. I do not know why Lang chose to have that in the shot but clearly it must have been intentional. Along with circles and rotation, clocks make a serious appearance throughout the film. The clocks could contribute to the dystopian motif but they also might refer to time in general. I personally think that the clocks were meant to a message to the characters that they were always running out of time. Everything needed to be done quickly to avoid disaster. I think that symbol is very foreboding for German people because this film was made on the eve of the rise of the Nazi regime.
So the fact that the "M" was marked on his back was symbolic of his other half catching up with him, yes?
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice the Star of David, good eye.
That's an interesting way of putting it, Sarah. The idea that the "M" is "catching up with him" speaks to the need to reconcile the division in the self. In reality, only one self exists. While Peter Lorre's character is initially unable to recognize the duality at play, his refection allows him the objectivity to recognize that his two selves are really one. This may have something to do with the momentary sense that one's reflection is a another person, a stranger--thereby allowing you to pass judgment in a more detached way.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of memory is also very interesting. The murder tells us he cannot remember his crimes. This might speak to national memory and to the repression Germany experienced around memories of the Holocaust.
I also really liked the way Kracauer addressed the idea of the doppelganger and comparing the film to a more evolved version of the two selves aspect of "The Student of Prague". I feel that it adds an entirely new level of disturbance to the film that had not been there before if one looks at it as a way of representing Germans in the 1930's.
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