The Hygienic Apparatus: Weimar Cinema and Environmental Disorder

The Hygienic Apparatus explores the environmental effects of industrialization in the cinema of Germany's Weimar Republic, focusing on classic films and documentaries, cinema architecture, and studio practices. It demonstrates how cinema envisioned and interrogated hygienic concerns about environmental disorder, framing them within the project of national reconstruction after World War I. The book reveals a set of ecological and biopolitical concerns that shaped cinema's relationship to modernity, and adds to a growing body of scholarship on biopolitics within German studies.

Format: Hardback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2022
Publisher: Northwestern University Press

This comprehensive study delves into the profound environmental impacts of industrialization that resonated through the cinema of Germany's Weimar Republic. In the early 20th century, the concept of hygiene emerged as a response to the challenges posed by the pollution, disease, accidents, and noise of industrial modernity. By examining classic films such as "The Last Laugh," "Faust," and "Kuhle Wampe," as well as documentaries, cinema architecture, and studio practices, Paul Dobryden showcases how cinema envisioned and interrogated hygienic concerns about environmental disorder.

Framing hygiene within the context of national reconstruction after World War I, "The Hygienic Apparatus" explores the material contexts of cinema alongside its representations of housework, urban space, traffic, pollution, disability, aging, and labor. Reformers initially expressed concerns about the health risks associated with moviegoing, but later utilized film to popularize hygienic ideas, encouraging viewers to see the world and themselves in relation to public health objectives.

Modernist architecture and design played a significant role in shaping theaters into regenerative environments for fatigued spectators. Filmmakers like F. W. Murnau and Slatan Dudow delved into the aesthetic and political possibilities of dirt, contagion, intoxication, and disorder, pushing the boundaries of cinematic expression.

Through meticulous research, Dobryden recovers a set of ecological and biopolitical concerns that fundamentally shaped cinema's relationship to modernity. This accessible yet persuasive book contributes to a growing body of scholarship on biopolitics within German studies and offers fresh insights into the workings of Weimar cinema's apparatus.

Weight: 482g
Dimension: 158 x 236 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780810144972