The Cinematic Afterlife of German Romanticism

Johnson pursues two arguments: (1) that German Romantic philosophy has echoes in contemporary film; and (2) that contemporary film creatively alters central concepts of Romantic philosophy, thus contributing to an “afterlife” of Romanticism that remembers the past while conforming to present aesthetic and philosophical expectations. The films analyzed here re-represent and cinematically transform elements of early, or Jena, Romantic philosophy in particular. Johnson examines two films by German-speaking directors: Werner Herzog’s The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1984) and Joseph Vilsmaier’s Nanga Parbat (2010). She argues that these films both echo and alter characteristics of Romantic philosophy and thus contribute to Romanticism’s cinematic afterlife.