German expressionism affects black and white cinema by enhancing the effect of shadows and highlighting the sharp contrast of shadowy shapes. It influenced a lot of the horror genre in America due to its exaggerated features. These high contrast lighting techniques used in German expressionism would be used in film noir. The themes found in these films, crime, greed, etc., are enhanced by the black and white imagery (lightness vs darkness). Black and white enhances other genres by visually communicating other elements of a story ( e.g., who's the villain vs. hero, character internal conflict, etc.).
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