Hypnosis, chaos and violence: about the master-slave dialectic in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’s characters

Abstract

German expressionism was born as a trend in the interwar period, and it is in this historical, political and social context that the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) comes to light. This article aims to analyze this film paying special attention to the interpersonal relationship established between the characters Caligari and Cesare. Fundamental to this are the proposals on aesthetics, film theory and philosophy coined by Siegfried Kracauer. The objective of this paper is to show how the Hegelian dialectic allows us to reflect on how german cinema has expressed fears and social tensions that will later be materialized in the political and social reality of Germany at the time.