Triumph of the Will articles
Time, Space and Political Identity: Envisioning Community in Triumph of the Will
This article discusses how the spectator's experience is framed and guided by the medium of film. Triumph of the Will is a visual narrative that constructs identified subject positions. A unified "folkish" Germany identity or "das Volk" shows an absence of class differences among Hitler's "faithful" and the medieval city of Nuremburg sets the tone of the Sociolist party's logic of the return to the ideal of the mythical past.
Response: The article talks about the irrational persuasive powers of Nazi visual propaganda. It is surprising that the Nazi Party was so successful in a time when western democracies focused on rational process of deliberation and free political discussion. Films like Triumph of the Will do not focus on rationality, but rather identification as subject positioning. The "documentary" (in quotes because this is questionable) was commissioned by Hitler himself. How can this film be completely unbiased and "purely a historical film" as Riefenstahl stated if he is directly involved and funding the project? It is not a straight documentary because it was carefully molded using camera tricks like low angle shots to establish Hitler as a superior and confident subject to the audience and included footage of muscular soldiers playfully going through their morning routine with enjoyment and satisfaction (appearing more like athletes than laborers) to convince the audience of Germany's productive future. Unity is stressed repeatedly throughout the film with individual representatives of the "folkish" identity. This creates German (Aryan) pride and a longing for the conceived "good times" of the past. Therefore the propaganda does not focus on rational thought or facts, but rather persuasive ideologies and promises of a better Germany. In such an economically desperate and hopeless time, one can imagine how a film (or propaganda) like this could be received positively by the public.
Triumph of the Will: Document or Artifice?
This article questions whether Triumph of the Will is a historical recording of events or carefully contrived propaganda. It discusses three areas of historical misconceptions:
1) Confusion over nature of certain historical events recorded in the film or occuring before it.
2) Confusion in making of the film because of conflicting statements made by the director Leni Reifenstahl
3) Confusion whether it was carefully molded and rearranged by the director or a straight chronological documentary
Leni Riefenstahl
This article traces Leni Riefenstahl's career from a ballet star, to alpine actress and finally film director. It talks of how her roles and experiences in Arnold Fanck's mountain movies influenced her own work later on and how his contribution no doubt launched her career and notority. She met Hitler before he came to power and developed a sort of social relationship with him so that he put her in charge of producing Nazi films.
This article discusses how the spectator's experience is framed and guided by the medium of film. Triumph of the Will is a visual narrative that constructs identified subject positions. A unified "folkish" Germany identity or "das Volk" shows an absence of class differences among Hitler's "faithful" and the medieval city of Nuremburg sets the tone of the Sociolist party's logic of the return to the ideal of the mythical past.
Response: The article talks about the irrational persuasive powers of Nazi visual propaganda. It is surprising that the Nazi Party was so successful in a time when western democracies focused on rational process of deliberation and free political discussion. Films like Triumph of the Will do not focus on rationality, but rather identification as subject positioning. The "documentary" (in quotes because this is questionable) was commissioned by Hitler himself. How can this film be completely unbiased and "purely a historical film" as Riefenstahl stated if he is directly involved and funding the project? It is not a straight documentary because it was carefully molded using camera tricks like low angle shots to establish Hitler as a superior and confident subject to the audience and included footage of muscular soldiers playfully going through their morning routine with enjoyment and satisfaction (appearing more like athletes than laborers) to convince the audience of Germany's productive future. Unity is stressed repeatedly throughout the film with individual representatives of the "folkish" identity. This creates German (Aryan) pride and a longing for the conceived "good times" of the past. Therefore the propaganda does not focus on rational thought or facts, but rather persuasive ideologies and promises of a better Germany. In such an economically desperate and hopeless time, one can imagine how a film (or propaganda) like this could be received positively by the public.
Triumph of the Will: Document or Artifice?
This article questions whether Triumph of the Will is a historical recording of events or carefully contrived propaganda. It discusses three areas of historical misconceptions:
1) Confusion over nature of certain historical events recorded in the film or occuring before it.
2) Confusion in making of the film because of conflicting statements made by the director Leni Reifenstahl
3) Confusion whether it was carefully molded and rearranged by the director or a straight chronological documentary
Leni Riefenstahl
This article traces Leni Riefenstahl's career from a ballet star, to alpine actress and finally film director. It talks of how her roles and experiences in Arnold Fanck's mountain movies influenced her own work later on and how his contribution no doubt launched her career and notority. She met Hitler before he came to power and developed a sort of social relationship with him so that he put her in charge of producing Nazi films.