Frank Wedekind created the Lulu character whose plays inspired the 1929 film Pandora’s Box.
Wedekind was a German playwright whose two Lulu dramas, Earth Spirit and Pandora’s Box, provided the source material for G. W. Pabst’s film. The plays examine sexuality, social hypocrisy, power, and the consequences faced by a woman who refuses to fit respectable expectations.
Pabst’s film adapts and reshapes both dramas rather than presenting a literal version of Greek mythology. Louise Brooks’s Lulu became the best-known screen interpretation, giving the character a visual identity strongly associated with silent cinema.
Wedekind’s title Pandora’s Box helped connect Lulu’s story with the ancient metaphor of a beautiful or tempting presence releasing disorder and suffering. The playwright is sometimes confused with later German filmmakers because the film is frequently discussed alongside the Weimar-era cinema of directors such as Fritz Lang and G. W. Pabst.