Kracauer's: Democratic Values vs Authoritarian pre Nazi Films Essay

Later theorist have rejected Kracauer's suggestion that films made per Nazi period reject authoritarian and promote democratic values and it is Kracauer's suggestion that I agree with. Lets take a quick look at the three films we have watched (The Blue Angel, 'M' and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). The Blue Angel is about a young attractive free spirited woman named Lola working at a night club. At the club she dresses provocatively and is sort of a shared woman among the other men of the nightclub. Rath ends up going crazy because of the jealousy created in his love for Lola and through rejection and humiliation he dies. This 1930s film reflects democratic values because during this time in history the woman's role was to stay home and mind children. They had no say and were treated in submissive roles.  But here we see Lola represents all of that the typical woman is not at this time, independent, strong willed, doesn't seem to have any children and works for her own money. She represents a change, a free democratic society. In the 'M' we see the same democratic values when we see the town is looking for the child murderer. The city intensifies their search for the murderer and so the city's criminal bosses get together and organize an underground manhunt for the child murderer through beggars. When they find Beckert, instead of taking him into the police they actually have their own secret underground "trial" to convict him for his crimes. The police sort of rescue him in time. Here we see a society rejecting authority when the community decides to take the law into their own hands to punish the villain. And lastly, we have The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari which was a difficult film to interpret. I see this film as huge film marking one of films greatest form of silent horror expression. It went against all other films of its time. Because of the I see it representing democratic values because it shows free reign of expression.