The Emperor of California from Three Viewpoints

When one looks at Der Kaiser von Kalifornien as a Nazi film, several events in the film come to mind that highlight what could be considered propaganda significance. The first, and possibly most striking, is Suter’s anti-Napoleonic poster. Suter, a Swiss man, addresses the poster to “Deutsche Brüder.” An anti-French German nationalist movement, if one can even call it that, was only in its infancy at this time, and it was more likely to be present in northern Germany, not Switzerland. In any case, it is highly doubtful that Suter would have directed an anti-French appeal to “German” brothers. (There is also the small problem that the real-life Suter did not leave Switzerland until over 15 years after Waterloo, but one could just say that leaving under the conditions that he does in the film is simply more interesting). Thus, viewed as a Nazi scene, this scene looks like it is trying to create sympathy in the audience with the character Suter based on his nationalist feelings.

The film can be viewed as a Trenker picture as well. Two elements of the film come to mind. First, Suter’s futile struggle to preserve a pre-modern agricultural paradise seems congruent with what we discussed in class: Trenker’s glorification of blood and soil. Although one might see in this elements of Nazi ideology, I believe that the roots of disdain for the modern world go back farther in history than the Nazi movement. Besides, Suter’s agricultural community is worked by a multi-ethnic group of men, which would be highly problematic for Nazi thinkers. Second, the riot scene in San Francisco at the end of the film, besides being caused by the corrupting influence of money, also takes place in a city, which is crucial. Just as New York in Der Verlorener Sohn has a dark side beneath the tall skyscrapers, so the people of San Francisco, so recently employed in healthy work on Suter’s land, tear apart their city.

As a western, the film is much simpler to interpret. The villain of the film can be just that, a bad guy who doesn’t change his ways even when Suter defeats him. In addition, rather than being a symbol of modernity’s negative effect on humanity, the discovery of gold can instead be seen as something which destroys the wild west, something with value in itself. The land of noble Indians and open range for the taming declines and is lost to urban development.