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Then

Strindberg’s dream logic

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Now

David Lynch — Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive

Identities split and merge; scenes obey emotion, not cause and effect.

Then

Expressionist crooked sets (Caligari, 1920)

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Tim Burton, Batman’s Gotham, film noir shadows

Space distorted to show a mind’s state.

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Ubu Roi’s crude tyrant

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Political satire, South Park, meme-ified leaders

The grotesque clown as a mirror for power.

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Surrealist automatism

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Everything Everywhere All at Once, Being John Malkovich

The unconscious and the absurd as plot engine.

Then

Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty

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Immersive theatre (Sleep No More), horror cinema

Bypassing reason to hit the nervous system.

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Dada sound poems & chance

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Absurdist internet humor, glitch art, TikTok non-sequiturs

Meaning broken apart for laughs and protest.

Then

Expressionist ‘types’ (The Man, The Cashier)

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Severance, Black Mirror

People reduced to functions inside systems.

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Symbolist mood & mystery

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A24 elevated horror, music videos, concept albums

Atmosphere and image over explanation.