Why does framing work for Caligari?
Even though it's considered "tacked on", I feel like the framing grounds Caligari a bit more than had it been the linear storyline that it was. As an early horror film, we are given three abstracts to fear: Death (the murders), Abuse of Authority (Caligari/the Asylum Director), and Insanity, or even just The Human Mind.
While the fear of death is pretty much a write off as easy to explain, here's my evidence that the framing can support the abuse of authority theme from the original story. I would argue that, while the ending on paper is seemingly hopeful, the director fo the asylum still has a threatening atmosphere about him from Francis's story. The fact that Francis is assulted and forcibly placed into a straight jacket while the director walks out calmly and says that he's found the cure sounds all the more suspicious to me about his intentions. In 1920, psychology as a science was in it's infancy. A lot of the accepted psychological practices back then were mostly shots in the dark as to controlling the mentally ill, such as giving lobotomies. Even the concept of "curing" the mentally ill back then was rare-- most who were committed ended up becoming life-long patients.
Post-WWI, the world was insane. After a meaningless war, the Lost Generation was grasping for any sort of meaning it could get its hands around. Similar to Francis, who reached into his own mind for a time and place that would put the people he interacted with at the asylum into a context for him. The idea of more senselessness, whether from violence or madness, probably struck a deep fear in most hearts from the world post-WWI. (Or you have the Dadaists, who lather-rinsed-repeated senselessness whenever they could).
Why Caligari works as horror stems from the three fears it presents, all of which were centered in the human psyche, whether ingrained from evolution (death) or from that particular period in time (Authority, Insanity). Caligari also gives us a sense of the modern Gothic style while defining horror as a film genre. The twisted scenery, play with lights and shadows, and darkly costumed heroes and villains are often repeated stylistically in contemporary films, comics, and novels defined as "Gothic." There's an embrace of the Victorian Gothic traditions in the costuming especially, as the men are dressed in frock coats, cravats, and top hats. Jane, as one of the few female characters, mimics the gothic ideal in ethereal white dresses and an almost Pre-Raphaelite beauty.
Hm, I wonder what mainstream director also adopted that modern gothic style? (hintwinknudge).
Just for fun, comparison picture of Cesare and Edward Scissorhands that I found on the internet:
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