1) As the film progresses, in what ways do figures such Cesare (a.k.a. the somnambulist) and Dr. Caligari challenge the viewers' everyday perceptions of reality?
In the film The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, the author used characters such as Cesare and Dr. Caligari to challenge the viewer’s everyday perceptions of reality in various ways. As the film progresses, the readers are forced to take everything that they see with a grain of salt because they realize that not only are the characters insane but also the narrator is insane. The narrator manipulates the reader to believe that “reality” itself is unreasonable. In this case, Cesare was 23 years old and had been sleeping for 23 years that means that he had been sleeping since birth but yet upon awakening he is told to go kill someone. This contradicts reality because how could someone be absent their entire life, but
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Caligari demonstrates that relying on our perceptions and/or our memories as ways of knowing truth can sometimes be misleading. The narrator makes it clear that Dr. Caligari is evil, but does not provide us with details that will allow us to visualize how far his evilness and craziness will drive him. Therefore, we imply that he’s just a regular evil and insane man that we’ve seen in past films. However, our memories fail us when Dr. Caligari runs to the asylum center making us think he’s seeking the help that he actually needs only to come to find out that he is the director where he has others doing his dirty work. Similarly, throughout the film we the narrator provided us with information that led us to perceive Francis was the most “normal” person because he noticed trouble and acted accordingly. However, by the end of the film the viewer is confused and begins to question not only the wellness of Francis but the authenticity of the entire film. Essentially, relying on our perceptions and our memories may be the most convenient thing to do but not always the