Aniki vol.4, n.º1 (2017): 108-132 | ISSN 2183-1750 doi:10.14591/aniki.v4n1.267 Psychological landscape films: narrative and stylistic approaches David Melbye 1 This discussion serves to address the narrative and stylistic ap- proaches to imbuing natural settings in films with a psychological dimension, or, in other words, cinematically mobilizing landscapes to function beyond their usual function as a backdrop. “Narrative” here indicates that certain storylines, according to their psychological el- ements, configure characters within given natural settings differently than do conventional modes of storytelling. And “stylistic” indicates that such approaches to visual representation tend toward a charac- ter-centered, subjectivized point of view, as opposed to more observational and/or objective means of cinematic depiction. Ulti- mately, then, both a certain kind of story and the manner in which this story is presented cinematically determines when a given film should be deemed what I am calling a “psychological landscape film.” Instead of human characters portrayed within an authenticating wil- derness, as in the classical Hollywood Western, the precise topography of the landscape in such films becomes reflective of a particular human consciousness. As such, it is productive to consider these narrative and stylistic approaches as akin to the larger subjec- tivity suggested through the skewed and contorted sets found in Robert Wiene’s seminal German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1921), whose narrative context is only clarified when we learn the narrator is actually a patient in a mental asylum. This film’s psychological wonderland of human derangement, however synthetic, becomes analogous to certain techniques of re-contextualizing natu- ral outdoor settings beyond the mere establishment of setting. But rather than depending on a climactic narrative twist to indicate a subjective mode as in Caligari, a psychological landscape film typical- ly relies on the established premise of a protagonist’s introspection, ranging from serene contemplation to dramatic internal conflict. As we shall see, I find global and historical tendencies lean toward the latter extreme. 1 United International College, Division of Culture and Creativity, Cinema and Television Programme, 519085, Zhuhai, China.