"Demonic" Obsession in Fritz Lang's "M" and "Fury"

Paper Summary:

This paper explores the numerous parallels to be found in Fritz Lang's films "M" and "Fury" to Hubener's "Germanic Exorcism," and Joseph Breuer and Sigmund Freud's hysteria. The author discusses mob violence and how the capability to violently purge that which has been designated undesirable by the majority has existed in society for a long time. The author discusses the connection between possession and hysterical disease, and how the dissociation of personality which is related to medical hysteria can be seen in Lang's protagonists. This paper contains MLA-style footnotes but does not include a works cited page.

Outline:
Mob Violence as Mass Possession
Mob Violence as Societal Exorcism
Self-Exorcism, the Hysteric, and the "Other Psychological Self"
Conclusion: The Necessity of Violence

From the Paper:

"There are several stages to the development and acting out of mob violence. Most often, it starts with a "precipitating event, in the immediate background, [that] evokes fear" in the community and then continues with "a period of lull....then [an] outburst of violence....claiming its victims, almost always in one-sided atrocity." The period of lull is the key to any intentional act of group violence. This is the time that "a widespread feeling of tension....centered on the fear of the enemy" is developed by the group. The basic provocation in both M and Fury is the disappearance and murder of young girls and the subsequent suspicion of who is responsible acts as the motivator."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hubener, Gustav, "Beowulf and Germanic Exorcism," in The Review of English Studies, vol. 11, no. 42. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1935, pp. 163-181)
• Brown, Peter, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," in The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 61, (London: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, 1971, pp. 80-101)
• Collins, Randall, Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008)
• Peterson, Kaara L., "Performing Arts: Hysterical Disease, Exorcism, and Shakespeare's Theatre," in Disease, Diagnoses, and Cure on the Early Modern Stage. Edited by Stephanie Moss and Kaara L. Peterson. (Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2004, pp. 3-29)
• Breuer, Josef and Sigmund Freud, Studies on Hysteria. Translated and edited by James Strachey. (New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1957)

More papers on "Demonic" Obsession in Fritz Lang's "M" and "Fury":

• Film Review # 119892 : "Mobs in Fritz Lang's Films"
• Analytical Essay # 59187 : "The Sound and Fury"
• Comparison Essay # 73400 : "Obsession in "In the Realm of the Senses" and "Sugarbaby"

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