The Fritz Lang's Cinema and the Uneasy Inheritance of Populism: From M (1931) to Fury (1936)
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The article analyses the evolution of the ideas embodied by Fritz Lang in M (1931) and later reformulated in Fury (1936), exploring their relation to populism and justice in democratic contexts in crisis. Of particular note is Gabriele Tergit's critique of M, pointing out its ambiguity regarding revenge and people's courts in a period marked by the instability of the Weimar Republic. Lang, initially influenced by this atmosphere, shows in M a discourse that lends itself to populist readings. However, his exile and his insertion in Hollywood lead him to reformulate his vision in the subsequent Fury, where he denounces lynching and advocates institutional justice. Through a comparative analysis of the two films, the article explores the shift from a morally ambiguous position to one closer to classical liberalism, and how these ideas are marked by the political and social changes between interwar Germany and American democracy in the 1930s.
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