Minutes for September 22, 2003

By: Drew Frost

-First Dr. Reimer had us write down what our topic was going to be on our essay.

-Then we got into groups to discuss The Blue Angel, and the questions from the worksheet. (see minutes of previous class)

-In my group we first discussed the sound: One of my group members said that the sound was very over dramatic and that it was not just there to fill up space.  Also, that it was not realistic when sudden silence would occur.  Next, we discussed the heavy-handed symbols.  The clown was the first symbol we discussed.  He would come in when Prof. Rath and Lola would be talking and look gloomy.  We thought he might have been a previous lover of Lola’s.  Then we discussed the films dramatic structure.  We said we could tell that something was going to happen to Prof. Rath, that there couldn’t be a happy ending.  One of our group members thought of Lola as a black widow, use ‘em and leave ‘em.  We thought the film was a reflection of Germany at that time.  The music was the next topic of discussion.  All of the songs were foreshadowing.  You could also get a sense of what the song was about just by listening to the feel of the song.  The songs were fast paced like Lola’s life.  Lola was characterized as being like Julia Robert’s character in Pretty Woman, also compared to Marilyn Monroe, a sex symbol.  We compared the magician to Dracula.  And we thought Prof. Rath was a respectable man, but a hypocrite. 

-Then we got out of our groups, and had one representative from each group report our findings to the rest of the class.

-The first group answered question one: sound.  They said that there was inconsistency in the sound.  That they noticed a food tray clinking noisily with objects but when he began to eat there was complete silence.

-The second group also answered question one.  They said that they noticed actions going on but that there was no sound.  When the open and closing of the class window happened, you heard a loud chorus, but when the window was closed, complete silence.

-Dr. Reimer then stated: “Make virtue out of necessity.”  Dr. Reimer said that in The Blue Angel they had to use what they had.  That they were going to show off their technology but it won’t be perfect.  Dr. Reimer also said that except for the parts with sound, The Blue Angel was made like a silent film, or seemed like one.  That they let the visuals tell the story.  That emphasis was put on music and the performer, which was the foreground of what was in the future, music. 

-The fourth group answered question two: symbols.  They said there was a time when Prof. Rath looked into a double-sided mirror, and that this showed his change as a man.  He also stopped wearing his top hat.

-One student said that the figures on the clock were set on a track.  And compared that to the characters in the film.  Lola was a cabaret dancer, and Prof. Rath was a teacher, and that getting off that track could just not be done.

-Dr. Reimer then started to discuss the title of the film: The Blue Angel.

-He said that first off in the title Angel is referred to, which angels have wings.  Then he started to discuss the bird imagery.  The feathers on the cards, the professor crowing like a rooster, and the bird that was dead.  Rath needs something, he is a dead bird.  A rigid society where he can’t move around without harming something.  Lovebirds are at Lola’s, and eggs are broken over his head, Rath is cuckolded.  The pigeon also comes out of his top hat.  The director made Dietrich’s career in America. 

-Dr. Reimer said that the elements were expressionist style.  We even see the motif of the  Doppelganger, meaning, double, in the clown, a motif we have seen in the films before this.. 

-Then the class discussed question four: music.  Most of the music sung by Lola was specific to the story of the movie.  The symbolism is very blunt.  All songs say, don’t, hands off.

-Question five was then discussed: characterization.  Lola was: Femme Fatale, dangerous, strong, independent, sex symbol, and an opportunist.  One student said that it wasn’t Lola’s fault that men wanted her, because she warned them.  Prof. Rath is very rigid, structured, and a hypocrite.  Dr. Reimer said that he was destroyed by his own rigidity.  The magician punished Rath because earlier in the film Prof. Rath slapped him.

-Then Dr. Reimer began to talk about the website: www.imdb.com.  He said that it gives you a good head start, if you don’t understand what you’ve just watched.  That it will tell you cultural stuff that you might not already know.