Film and the Aesthetics of German Fascism

Abstract

This chapter analyses Benjamin’s writings on German film. Through an analysis of ‘Theories of German Fascism’ (1930), it assesses to what extent the failed reception of technology in Germany had an impact on cinema. Drawing from Benjamin’s remarks on the masses, the chapter analyses the film Metropolis (dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) as an example of the ‘architectonic quality’ that Benjamin detected in UFA productions during the Weimar Republic. The films by Leni Riefenstahl are analysed as an illustration of the corrupted representation of the masses performed by National Socialism. Finally, the chapter interprets the aestheticization of politics promoted by fascism from the point of view of Benjamin’s reconfiguration of aesthetics and the relationship between the historically constructed human nature and technology.