Post-Wall German Cinema and National History: Utopianism and Dissent - Couverture rigide

O'Brien, Mary-Elizabeth

9781571135223: Post-Wall German Cinema and National History: Utopianism and Dissent

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1571135227 ISBN 13 : 9781571135223

Editeur : Camden House Inc, 2012

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Post-Wall German Cinema and National History German history films that focus on utopianism and political dissent and their effect on German identity since 1989. Full description

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Pr�sentation de l'�diteur :

Since unification, a radical shift has taken place in Germans' view of their country's immediate past, with 1989 replacing 1945 as the primary caesura. The cold-war division, the failed socialist state, the '68 student movement, and the Red Army Faction - historical flashpoints involving political oppression, civil disobedience, and the longing for utopian solutions to social injustice - have come to be seen as decisive moments in a collective history that unites East and West even as it divides them. Telling stories about a shared past, establishing foundational myths, and finding commonalities of experience are pivotal steps in the construction of national identity. Such nation-building is always incomplete, but the cinema provides an important forum in which notions of German history and national identity can be consumed, negotiated, and contested. This book looks at history films made since 1989, exploring how utopianism and political dissent have shaped German identity. It studies the genre - including popular successes, critical successes, and perceived failures - as a set of texts and a discursive network, gauging which conventions and storylines are resilient. At issue is the overriding question: to what extent do these films contribute to a narrative that legitimizes the German nation-state?

Revue de presse :

Examining how Germany's divided past shaped its present, this study focuses on contemporary films that look back to the legacy of the postwar period. O'Brien argues that utopianism and dissent, as practiced in both German states, have emerged as a model for imagining German identity in the present. . . . (H)er close readings of 12 significant films are well written and accessible, providing a convincing overview of how contemporary cinema engages with Germany's contested past. Recommended. --Choice

16 powerfully expressive screenshots awake interest, a detailed index . . . makes locating things easy, the copious notes free up the discourse, which offers a convincing analysis of the corpus of the "history film" genre. Looking back at the Wende, the trauma of the Wall, and the Red Army Faction, the films appear as seismographs of the time. The recalling of then-topical conflicts opens broad perspectives. --Germanistik

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