How do the cabaret songs and routines comment on the social issues which are the background?

Bob Fosse uses the songs and routines as artful tools of social commentary, forming the background of Cabaret. By using a musical this gives Fosse the power to choose how the music is incorporated into the events occurring outside the Kit Kat Klub. Cabaret contains an odd display of humanity and is symbolically located underground. The artists perform to us as well as to the array of Berlin’s society present in the crowd; escapists of the world outside “leave your troubles outside, in here life is beautiful.” The songs and routines both unfold and for tell the world of Berlin in 1931.

As the camera moves from the distorted mirror to the peculiar masked face of the Master of Ceremonies (Joel Grey) it is essential to note that it is through the MC himself that we establish our initial identifications: the relationship with Brian (Michael York) is secondary, even though he is leading man. As is the audience, the MC is an observer criticizing the world of Berlin. The establishment of Sally (Liza Minelli) the leading lady, is also set forward in the opening routine, her character is far from distinctive as she stands on the stage with the “Cabaret Girls” near the back of the stage, the audience may not realise that she even existed in the opening routine, as the audience of the Cabaret may not have.

The first song seen preformed by Sally entitled “Mein Heir’ suggests that Sally couldn’t keep a steady relationship and had many different lovers “ But I do what I can, step by step inch by inch, mile by mile, man by man” Sally also sings “A tiger is a tiger not a lamb Mein Herr” As Sally preforms on the stage of a near deserted Kit Kat Klub she sings passionately, and for the only time not exaggerating her sexuality. This indicates that Sally cannot be changed by the way that she goes from “man to man,” but we soon see that she can be changed when she falls in love with Brian, which is shown in her second performance ‘Maybe this time.’ In this song she sings about how unlucky she has been in love “Maybe this time I’ll be lucky, maybe this time he’ll stay.” And that she wants to have a stable relationship with someone (Brian) “Lady peaceful, lady happy that’s what I long to be.” This song shows the change that Sally has gone through with her thoughts in love. The inter cuts of the footage throughout the song of her and Brian’s relationship show how caught up in their relationship they both are, Fosse deliberately exaggerates the distance between them to make us thing that the relationship may not work out.

The song ‘Money Money” is included within the film because of the things that are occurring outside in the ‘real world’ of Berlin, the film is set just after the Great depression took place. The song’s main point is “Money makes the world go round…” which is true, especially in 1931, “ When you haven’t any shoes on your feet and your coats thin as paper and you look thirty pounds underweight.” This part of the song narrates what is happening outside of the Kit Kat Klub to people that are affected by the depression. You could also say that it has a great deal to the introduction of Maxamillion, as he is seen as a rich man. He also states “It is my duty to corrupt you” as Brain finally accepts the cigarette case, his duty has been for filled within there homosexual relationship.

The whole political point throughout the movie was about the Nazi party taking over and not liking Jewish people mainly Fritz and Natalia, as the song preformed by the MC and a Gorilla showing the relationship of Natalia and Fritz, “When were in public together I hear society moan” This is showing that Fritz and Natalia’s relationship is not accepted in the community as they are Jewish. The MC also sings “If you knew her like I do it would change your point of view” which says that he didn’t fall in love with her because she’s Jewish, he fell in love with her as a person. The closing line in the song is the most significant, as from the performance with the Gorilla; the audience doesn’t understand how the song is linked to the burden of society with the Nazi party taking over and killing the Jewish people, but as the MC sings “But if you could see her through my eyes she wouldn’t look Jewish at all.” This makes the audience understand the significance of the song.

It looks as though Fosse has deliberately left the opening song “Wilkommen” as the finale. In doing this, he is able to comment on how Berlin has changed since the start of the film to the end. It is also very obvious that the fist thing we see is the distorted mirror and fussy people, and cannot recognise any Brown Suits (Nazi uniforms) But as the camera shows the distorted mirror as the closing scene, we can make out that there are Nazi’s within the club, which is a significant change as they were kicked out the start of the film.

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