What Are Gender Roles In The Blue Angel

The Blue Angel is a 1930 film that was directed by Josef von Sternberg. The film main stars were Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. The story of the film was based on Heinrich Mann's novel “Professor Unrat” that was published in 1905.
The film illustrates the common social and sexual anxieties that the Germans were undergoing at that period of time. It also employs cinematic aesthetics alongside with new technology to create what would be considered as one of Germany’s first sound-supported films. Furthermore, it was the film that popularized its star Marlene Dietrich. The film is also known for combining elements of earlier expressionist works into its setting without becoming an expressionist film itself. It is important also to point out that the visual element has helped to balance the film easily against the backdrop the nightclub lifestyle that Lola leads the professor to fall into.

Professor Rath, portrayed by Emil Jannings, is a sexually suppressed literature professor at a prep school. He was introduced as a sensitive, caring person. His job puts him in a high social status. However, the daily life of this gentleman was about to change when he discovered one day a postcard of a nightclub spotlighting a woman named Lola Lola among his student's papers. Lola, portrayed by Marlene Dietrich, was introduced to be a very sexually active woman. She was comfortable in her skin. She knows that what she does is not ladylike, especially to the bourgeois values, but she treats the fact with acceptance. The professor’s curiosity led him that evening to go check the 'Blue Angel' nightclub. The club was located in a rather poor neighborhood. When he saw her on stage singing with her legs exposed, his heart was captivated. Suddenly, he fell in love with