Telegraph / S2e1 Reference To The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari

Published April 25, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi guys,

What’s up shatsters? Long time listener, first time shatter. No theories or predictions here, just wanted to share some research that might help us navigate this journey to a valley beyond, in maze all rolled up in a deep and distant slumber.

In episode Journey Into Night, right after Maeve saves Lee Sizemore from being the moist treat of the cannibal gold miner the formerly flacid dramatist blurts out “It’s like the inmates are running the asylum!” (HBOGO 33:21) At first I thought this was just a throw away line, but on the second viewing the comment triggered my curiousity. A quick google search revealed that this line is a reference to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a German Expressionist silent film from 1920 oft cited as the world’s first horror flick. Is there any chance that this is mere coincidence or is this a generously marked rabbit hole? Supposing it’s the latter, let’s take a dive like a big, beautiful, mechanical bison.

Caligari is a movie about a series of murders connected to a sideshow performer and the pursuit by the narrator for the truth behind the performer’s master, Dr. Caligari. Without giving too much away, Dr. Caligari commands a somnambulist (a sleepwalker) named Cesare via mind control and keeps Cesare in a coffin-shaped cabinet. By day, Caligari puts on a show at the fair featuring Cesare as a fortune teller and human oddity. By night, Cesare leaves the cabinet and creeps around the town murdering on orders from his master. The film’s narrator, Frances, recalls Caligari’s visit to the village of Holstenwall and the aftermath of his spectacle at the fair.

There are many comparisons between Caligari and Westworld including:

* An invitation to question reality- both shows have narrator’s whose credibility is questionable and whose duality demonstrates how easy it is to slip into self-congratulation through the fantasy of heroism * The inherent malevolence of authority figures- an amoral Scientist, detached from society, lives and operates from within an amusement zone and enslaves inferior intellects to kill on his behalf… sounds like the kind of person to be avoided yet they somehow draw crowds, get investors and find conformists to follow them

* A story within a story within a story- so many layers of flashbacks and time jumps, a hallmark of the TV show and an important story structure for the film and it’s exploration of the distortions of mind

* The physicians are also the infected-why would the head of narrative lose control over the murderous inclinations that he himself drafted? Why does the director of the asylum fail to diagnose paranoia brought on because of a story that he himself told? For the same reasons Arnold’s personal problems infected the host’s code- humans toy with self destruction. It was Sizemore that suggested “(Dr Ford’s) gonna chase his demons right over the deep end,” and yet Lee takes on the assignment of forming the most diabolical and dangerous host from the same leader he attempts to undermine. Are these loops, man-made perhaps, that provide a kind of purpose, a reason to go on? Why build Frankenstein’s monster when you know it is bound to cause you trouble?

In Caligari, France is an unreliable narrator with a delicate psychology, one that hearkens to favorite Shat the Movies pick: Fight Club. Comparisons can be made here as well, though unlike Norton’s unnamed protagonist, Frances has no Tyler Durden to misguide his path towards realizing his potential. Instead, the psychosis of Frances is a variation on a theme provided by an external source, similar to the maze Bernard begins after exploring his own cornerstone memory. In Dolore’s Wyatt narrative a Tyler Durden-style Übermensch does emerge and grows in strength as the host invests more into the alter-ego’s belief system. Where all these threads come together is the Man In Black and his ongoing pursuit of violence to escape the perceived numbness of a domestic, normal life. The original twist that Westworld seems to provide is an exploration of how all these concepts relate to artificial intelligence in a culture and economy of automation.

I always knew I would watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari but I didn’t know when or why. Thanks to HBO and your wunderbar podcast I can check this one off my list. Anyone interested can find the full movie on youtube with English title cards, it’s a good watch and I highly recommend.

Best
GT from LA

P.S. Gene- I thought of you and all your Goth glory in the set design of Caligari; Dick and Rog don’t be jealous

P.P.S. I interpreted Karl Strand’s surname to imply that the humans had been “stranded” by the outside world

P.P.P.S. Please bring Kerri Gross to the Shat on TV Westworld podcast!!!!!!

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