Propaganda & Perception On The Cinema Set Of Century:Research On Leni Riefenstahl’s Cinema

In the 20 th century,cinema became the dominant medium of art and culture,innovating public perception and being used as a propaganda tool.Propaganda influenced the two world wars and subsequent changes in the current situation,resulting in a change in the public perception of society.Cinema language,cinema propaganda,cinema perception,all three entwined and inseparably pouring out to the masses.The 20 th century can be described as the "century of cinema," the "century of propaganda," and the "century of perception."Leni Riefenstahl is undoubtedly one of the most important directors of the 20 th century.Leni Riefenstahl’s artistic career and cinema creation have always been accompanied by controversies.She made outstanding contributions to the world of cinema,but also indirectly committed the crime of propaganda for the Nazis through her works,and was plunged into a double crisis of morality and ethics in the post-war period.This thesis is a comprehensive research on Riefenstahl’s cinema production,from her early Bergfilms The Holy Mountain(Der Heilige Berg)and The Blue Light(Das Blaue Licht);to her neglected first documentary Victory of the Faith(Der Sieg des Glaubens);Triumph of the Will(Triumph des Willens)and Olympia,which are regarded as "the most successful Nazi cinema propaganda;" to her Nuba tribal photography in the 1970 s.By systematically laying out the historical context,exploring the mechanism of creation,and analyzing the cinema language and its propaganda and perception,this thesis will lead to a new way about Riefenstahl’s research,to explore the subsequent echoes of her creation: the "war" of the Wartime Documentary Movement between the Nazis and Hollywood.In fact,Riefenstahl’s cinema language and aesthetic characteristics,as well as her personal life experiences and life transitions,are all inextricably linked to the European and American Wartime Documentary Movement.Through a comparative study in this direction,this thesis places Riefenstahl in the overall perspective of European and American cinema history.Thus,the conceptual differences of Riefenstahl’s cinema language,cinema propaganda and cinema perception are explored.On this basis,this thesis will attempt to unfold the issue of the ontological reflexivity of the cinema from the case of Riefenstahl as an artist.This question leads to a triple transmutation of the image in wartime.In this way,the turbulent position of Riefenstahl in the cinema history is re-understood.