Sunrise - paper

In this paper I will prove how F.W Murnau’s 1927 film “Sunrise, A tale of two humans” is a perfect example of the struggle between the modern and anti-modern values of the 1920’s. Originally a short story by Hermann Sudermann “Die Reise nache tilsit”, Sunrise was a major achievement in modern film making. Winning a wide range of awards at the first ever Oscars and deemed culturally historical by the United States library or congress, and was voted on being on the best films of all time. Murnau’s expressionistic approach was something very new to American, so when the film his streets it had quite an impact on the public and film makers alike. Coming out in 1927, the year the first ever “talkie’ was made Sunrise was a silent film.

The film depicts the life of one man, with a strong inner conflict. He is torn between two lives, one life with his wife, on a farm with a child. Yet at the same time he is having an affair with a city woman. The man’s life on the farm represents the anti-modern, traditional life style that most people at the time were used to, his wife fulfilling the role of the traditional wife as a mother, committed housewife etc, which is expressed in many different ways. One example of this is shown in the director’s use of animals. All the animals in the film are a symbol of consciousness, almost as if the animals themselves are people and influence the characters as such. There is a sequence when the man is taking his wife out on the boat, and a dog which is tied to a fence, observes the couple and is barking loudly as if he knew what was coming.


The dog even gets loose and jumps into the lake swimming up to the boat and clings to the woman. The man takes it upon himself to remove the dog in an odd emotionless fashion, only strengthening the theory of animal influence.

Throughout the film his wife is seen as the polar opposite of the city woman. The wife is depicted in a bright light, she has light features, hair, eyes, smile, and is seen in daylight constantly, and represents many traditional anti-modern values. Where the woman from the city represents modern values, she is independent, smokes, wears bearing clothes like skirts and small shirts, which at the time was new and was coming along with the new views the 20’s created, where women, went to the city to start a life of their own. But she directly represents the man’s desires for new exciting things. When the city woman tells the man to drown his wife and move to the city is becomes clear that that idea appeals to him, the attraction of city life and modernist values seem so appealing that he is willing to commit murder to break free from his boring life. One example of just how diluted the man was while he was under the city woman’s spell was how after collecting murder accessories, he sneaks back into his own home, worried and nervous, and wakes up the next day in a panic visualizing the bull sprouts he had collected the night before in his wife’s bed.

The two women in this film represent the shift in values during the 1920’s. The woman from the city embodies many aspects of femininity. She represents the woman as a sexual being. In one sequence you can get a strong sense of the modern dominating the anti-modern. When the city woman leaves her shack on her way to see the man, she has a woman from the

village polish her shoes. In comparison every scene the wife is in she is seen, cooking, caring for animals or her child. The man is quite literally torn between two completely different lifestyles. After a turn of events the leads the man and his wife to the city, which in its own respect is ironic, it can be said the idea of the anti-modern life moves into a new light that is not so appealing, and the idea of living in the city seems appealing not only to the character but the audience too. The couple experiences a fast paced lifestyle unknown to them which can be seen in the shot where the man and his wife are the cause of a major traffic jam. After the couple rekindles their love in the church, where the man finally realizes the wrong he has done, and breaks down in tears, begging for his wife to forgive him. As night came about the couple was at a fair, a frantic paced party, where the man cannot seem to stop himself from playing games. Shows parallels, how the man cannot control himself from cheating.

When the pig escapes and the chase scene begins, I personally saw that entire sequence as the man’s chase with his own happiness. But ultimately by the end the couple realizes that they belong in the village. After a storm nearly killing the two on their way home, it can be said the man is forever changed. The man completely forget about the city woman and he dismisses her and nearly strangles her to death, another ironic event, the man was first going to kill his wife and now the tides have changed. The movie truly is a roller coaster of emotions, the mood is changing constantly throughout which give the viewer an idea of just how hectic things must have been for this man. One strong overtone that is woven throughout the film is the concept of the anti-modern community. At the begging when the husband goes to meet the city woman


The villagers are seen gossiping about the two later on. When the wife is lost in the water, the entire community comes out the look for her. The anti-modern seems to be favored in this film by the title of the film itself, “Sunrise”, where the woman from the city represents the modern, who is seen only at night, emphasized by a full moon. In contrast to the wife, who is seen in daylight throughout. Day and night are generally associated with good and evil, which strengthens the argument of the anti-modern over the modern. The title, in a sense, refers to the anti-modern literally rising over the modern.