dehumour1-4, Exercise 1: Cabaret and the film

Model answer (check the details):

1. Form. German Kabarett is a small-stage programme of topical songs, sketches and monologues linked by a master of ceremonies. The film and musical Cabaret show a nightclub floor show with dancers and a singer.
2. Content. The real cabaret was word-based and often political, with texts by writers such as Tucholsky; the film's numbers are mainly songs and dances, and the political story is on the edges.
3. Setting and audience. The cabaret was an intimate room with an audience close to the stage, often literary and middle class, whereas the film shows a seedy club with a mixed crowd.
4. Sources. The popular picture comes from The Blue Angel (1930) and from Isherwood's stories of Berlin (1939), reworked as a musical (1966) and a film (1972); these are fictions, mostly by foreign writers and artists.
5. Result. The film gives a vivid picture of Berlin's nightlife and of the threat of the Nazis, but it is not a record of German cabaret as a comic and political art.

Point: a famous work can replace the real thing in popular memory, so check what a name actually refers to.