Le manifestazioni sensibili dell’uomo moderno, da Simmel a Kracauer

Modern life has given rise to a novel human type living for the first time in large urban agglomerations. Here, processes of fragmentation and individualization, driven by monetary economics, compel individuals to simultaneously seek recognition and differentiate themselves from the masses of the metropolis. Meanwhile, cinema emerges as an independent art form capable of expressing and influencing the desires and impulses of the masses in a dialectical relationship with them. Drawing on Simmel's foundational ideas and methodological approach, Kracauer attributes the emergence of a deeper collective unconscious to those “surface manifestations of an epoch,” thereby delving into the unexplored realm of visual culture (visuelle Kultur) introduced by Béla Balázs in the 1920s. From Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror to the warning signs of National Socialism, the evolving visual culture unfolds new aesthetic interpretations of modernity.