Which playwright created Lulu, the central character in the 1929 film Pandora’s Box?

Frank Wedekind created Lulu, the central character in the 1929 film Pandora’s Box.

The character originated in Wedekind’s plays Earth Spirit, first performed in 1895, and Pandora’s Box, first performed in 1904. Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 film combines material from both plays rather than adapting the ancient Greek myth directly.

Wedekind was a German playwright whose work often challenged conventional morality and examined sexuality, repression, and social hypocrisy. Lulu became his most famous creation and has appeared in numerous stage, film, and operatic adaptations.

Alban Berg later based his unfinished opera Lulu on Wedekind’s plays. This connection can cause confusion because the character appears in several major works with the same name, but the literary source for Pabst’s film is specifically Wedekind’s two Lulu dramas.