Themes of Modernity in Early Film

1. Individualism: Westerns

• The Great Train Robbery

2. The Non-Rational: German Expressionist Film

• Nosferatu
• Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

3. Alienation: Expressionism

• Fritz Lang, Metropolis

4. The Body and Perfectability: Nazi Propoganda

• Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will and Olympia

5. The Inevitability and Unreliability of the Visual: "Trick" Film

• Melies, A Trip to the Moon

6. Utopias and Dystopias

• Eisenstein, Battleship Potemkin
• Fritz Lang, Metropolis