Can modern film depict Schleiermacher's nature-obsessed 18th century Romantic mood? Probably not, but let's go.
I thought I better understood Husserlian phenomenology after reading Sartre's Nausea, which even in translation has some gripping prose. The clip above, from Werner Herzog's Nosferatu (1979) exudes both the German Romantic aesthetic, and a phenomenological approach of sorts. Bonus points if you catch the moment where subject separates from object. Plus, it stars the totally insane Klaus Kinski as Dracula. Not to be missed.
Maybe Schleiermacher's speeches were nothing but table-pounding emotionalism, but I think his proto-phenomenology elevated On Religion above the simple nature-worship that typified Romantic era poetry. Not that you could go wrong studying the poetry that inspired Schleiermacher, such as Novalis' Hymns to the Night:
Must the morning always return? Will the despotism of the earthly never cease? Unholy activity consumes the angel-visit of the Night. Will the time never come when Love's hidden sacrifice shall burn eternally? To the Light a season was set; but everlasting and boundless is the dominion of the Night. -- Endless is the duration of sleep. Holy Sleep -- gladden not too seldom in this earthly day-labor, the devoted servant of the Night. Fools alone mistake thee, knowing nought of sleep but the shadow which, in the twilight of the real Night, thou pitifully castest over us. They feel thee not in the golden flood of the grapes -- in the magic oil of the almond tree -- and the brown juice of the poppy. They know not that it is thou who hauntest the bosom of the tender maiden, and makest a heaven of her lap -- never suspect it is thou, opening the doors to Heaven, that steppest to meet them out of ancient stories, bearing the key to the dwellings of the blessed, silent messenger of secrets infinite.
-Daniel Horne
After watching this video, you might think Werner Herzog doesn’t have a romantic view of nature, but more of a bipolar one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xQyQnXrLb0
It seems to me he has more affinity for the pastoral lands of Europe than the jungles of South America.
Hi all,
Perhaps I was unclear on what I meant by the “Romantic mood” as opposed to a “romantic mood.” The “Romantic mood” and a “romantic mood” (or a “romantic view”) all convey very different meanings. Adopting a Romantic aesthetic in depicting nature doesn’t necessarily imply any affinity, like, love, admiration, etc., toward nature.
The Romantic aesthetic was primarily defined by depicting disorder over order; provoking emotional responses over rational ones. And horror is as much an emotional response as awe or admiration or love. In fact, the rise of gothic horror (e.g., the 19th C. interest in vampires) was a direct outgrowth of the Romantic aesthetic. Perhaps this better describes what I meant to convey:
http://www.humanitiesresource.com/romantic/romantic_aesthetic.htm
Hi Noah,
Yeah, I definitely don’t think Herzog himself has a romantic view of nature.
The moment when subject separates from object? Please, Daniel, do tell. I’d love to know what that looks like on film.
Hi David,
Unfortunately, describing the moment would objectify the experience!
When the camera turns to the sky?
Or when he meets the vampire.
Tell me so I can learn dude.