The Infographics of Dr. Caligari

In the today of today, I have been informed, anybody who has anything to say had better say it using an informational graphic - that is an "infographic" - or not say it all.

What is an "infographic"? In our new digital environment, the fast pace of information transfer has made it necessary to distinguish between plain old information, and the essential  informative information, or as I like to call it, "infoformation". Since, according to Goonberg's theorem, a picture is worth approximately 1024 words in most Indo-European languages, the substitution of images for sentences has been deemed the most efficient and cheerful way to get the point across...

But what is the origin of the infographic? Anything but cheerful and lighthearted. Like many other modern amenities such as rockets and transvestites, the infographic had its genesis in the Weimar Republic era of German history. In the advent of post-war malaise, futurism, nihilism, and especially expressionist film, the raving geniuses of the era grasped this new and powerful means of communicating like Death, the fiend, grabs at the quivering candle-flame of human life.

 Indeed, it has recently been discovered that, in order to make ends meet, many of the most famous German expressionists tried their hand at the avant-garde art of "das Infografik". An examination of Weimar era magazines and newspapers reveals a treasure trove of infographic commissions by no other than F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, and Hermann Warm. The following examples demonstrate how the infographic kosmonauts of the 1920's captured the Zeitgeist of their era in a tour de force of pictorial efficiency comparable to our own:

Exhibit A: KAIN und ABEL (F.W. Murnau, 1919):

This was originally commissioned by the Kinder Surprise Chocolate firm to illustrate the percentage of German youth who enjoyed Kinder Surprise eggs vs. other chocolate products. Unfortunately for Murnau, the Kinder people were not terribly pleased with his interpretation of the data they provided him, and he was refused payment. Here we see the symbolic shadow-play typical of the early F.W. Murnau at work.

Exhibit B: Beginner's Guide to Investment (Fritz Lang, 1922):

Fritz Lang was commissioned to do this cheerful piece on how to invest in the stock market. It was designed to show the burgeoning class of first-time investors the basic statistics that would help them orient themselves and make the most of their portfolio. Note Lang's characteristic use of emphatic text combined with imagery of mass alienation.

Exhibit C: Twix o'Clockopolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)

Besides inventing the famous rocket ship "count-down" in Frau im Mond (1929), Lang is also credited with developing the advertising slogan "Twix o'Clock" for the delicious treat. Piggy-backing off the success of his film Metropolis, Lang fused design, advertising, chocolate, and powerful Verfremdungseffekt  imagery to stimulate a spiritual renaissance in the Weimar chocolate industry.

Exhibit D: Das Pie Chart des Dr. Caligari (Hermann Warm, 1928):

The Frankfurter Allegemeine were eager to get a comparative pie chart showing the housing situation in the different regions of Germany. What they got was Hermann Warm's trademark angular approach to architectural mise-en-scene, a few hastily tacked on statistics, and a dire warning for pie-lovers everywhere. This was among the last attempts of German expressionists to use infographics before the movement lost both steam, and funding.

Now that these powerful and unsettling pieces have come to light (or is it shadow?) can we expect a revival in expressionist attempts to convey scientific facts to an ever more info-hungry user-base? Will the public demand not just easily digestible facts, but deeply emotional artistic expression? Will the collective psyche of the Internet flit ever and anon between the light of true beauty and the darkness latent in the human soul?

To all these questions, this author raises a fourfold allegorical eyebrow, and asks "Warum nicht...Nicht...Nicht?"