Editing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (section)

===Point of view and perception of reality===
Another major theme of ''Caligari'' is, Stephen Brockmann writes, "the destabilized contrast between insanity and sanity and hence the destabilization of the very notion of sanity itself".<ref name="Brockmann64" /> By the end of the film, according to Brockman, viewers realise the story they have been watching has been told from the perspective of an insane narrator, and therefore they cannot accept anything they have seen as reliable. The film's unusual visual abstractions and other stylised elements serve to show the world as one experienced by a madman.<ref name="Brockmann61-62">{{Harvnb|Brockmann|2010|pp=61–62}}</ref> Similarly, the film has been described as portraying the story as a nightmare and the frame story as the real world.<ref name="LoBrutto62" /> John D. Barlow said the film exemplifies a common Expressionist theme that "the ultimate perception of reality will appear distorted and insane to the healthy and practical mind".<ref>{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|p=35}}</ref> The film serves as a reminder that any story told through a flashback subjectivises the story from the perspective of the narrator.<ref name="Kaes54" /> At the film's conclusion, the asylum director shows no indication of ill will toward Franzis; in fact, he appears to genuinely care for his patients, at least from Barlow's perspective. But Franzis still believes he is being persecuted, and thus, in his version of the story, Caligari assumes the role of persecutor.<ref name="Barlow50-51" />

However, the Expressionistic visual elements of the film are present not only in the main narrative, but also in the epilogue and prologue scenes of the frame story, which are supposed to be an objective account of reality.<ref name="LoBrutto62" /><ref name="Peary50" /><ref name="Kracauer70" /><ref name="Brockmann61-62" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Budd|1990b|p=29}}</ref> For example, the frame story scenes still have trees with tentacle-like branches and a high, foreboding wall in the background. Strange leaf and line patterns are seen on the bench Franzis sits upon, flame-like geometric designs can be seen on the walls, and his asylum cell has the same distorted shape as in the main narrative.<ref name="Barlow45-46">{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|pp=45–46}}</ref> If the primary story were strictly the delusions of a madman, the frame story would be completely devoid of those elements, but the fact they are present makes it unclear whether that perspective can be taken as reliable either.<ref name="LoBrutto62" /><ref name="Brockmann62" /><ref name="Barlow45-46" /> Instead, the film offers no true or normal world to oppose to that of the twisted and nightmarish world as described by Franzis.<ref name="Hirsch54">{{Harvnb|Hirsch|1981|p=54}}</ref> As a result, after the film's closing scene, it can be seen as ambiguous whether Franzis or the asylum director is truly the insane one, or whether both are insane.<ref name="Brockmann62" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Barlow|1982|pp=52–53}}</ref><ref name="Budd30">{{Harvnb|Budd|1990b|p=30}}</ref> Likewise, the final shot of the film, with an iris that fades to a close-up on the asylum director's face, further creates doubt over whether the character is actually sane and trustworthy.<ref name="Budd30" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Brockmann|2010|pp=63–64}}</ref> In Brockman's words, "In the end, the film is not just about one unfortunate madman; it is about an entire world that is possibly out of balance".<ref name="Brockmann62" /> Mike Budd notes that, during the scene in which asylum doctors restrain Franzis, his movements closely mimic those of Caligari from a similar scene during the main story. Budd says this suggests a "dream logic of repetition" that throws further confusion on which perspective is reality.<ref name="Budd30" />

Beyond Franzis's individual circumstances, the use of the narrator's perspective in ''Dr. Caligari'' can be seen as reflective of a [[worldview]] of the screenwriters. Mayer and Janowitz were pacifists opposed to what Eisner described as the willingness of Germans to commit themselves to the dark forces, such as demoniac magic and supernatural powers, that led to death on the battlefield.<ref name="Eisner9">{{Harvnb|Eisner|1974|p=9}}</ref> Although he does not think it possible to reduce the narrative or the film to the beliefs of its makers, Eisner claims Franzis can be seen as embodying the politics of Expressionism's anti-naturalism, through which a protagonist does not see the world objectively, but has "visions" that are abstracted from individuality and psychology.<ref name="Eisner11–12">{{Harvnb|Eisner|1974|pp=11–12}}</ref> The framing device of an insane asylum, for Eisner, has a broader connotation as a statement on social reality in the context of the "[[state of exception]]". Here, Eisner claims, the militarist and imperialist tendency of [[monopoly capitalism]] is combined with what [[Sigmund Freud]] would later refer to as the longing for protection by a tyrannical father figure, or what Kracauer characterised as "asocial authority".<ref name="Eisner19"/>