Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog tasks

 Media Magazine - A Postmodern Reimagining of the Past

Media Magazine 73 has a feature exploring Deutschland 83 as a postmodern media product. Read ‘Deutschland 83 - A Postmodern Reimagining of the Past’ in MM73  (p18). You'll find our Media Magazine archive here - remember you'll need your Greenford Google login to access. Answer the following questions:

1) What were the classic media representations of the Cold War?

The Cold War era in Germany normally fit into the ‘good Vs evil’ category. The West and East are normally presented as binary opposites; with the Communist East presented with a grey, stark, no billboards, culture or entertainment and strict limitations of the freedom of movement amongst citizens and availability of certain goods. In contrast to the Capitalist West with its presentation as a world of department stores, cars, pop culture , entertainment and freedom of movement. A truly consumerist culture, similar to the one we have all around western society today. In the media there is usually a sense of ‘pro- west’ consensus with the ‘them Vs us’ / ‘good Vs evil’ ideological viewpoint presented through the narratives of the episodic narratives or characters within the film/show. 

2) Why does Deutschland 83 provide a particularly good example for postmodern analysis? 

All postmodern texts create a relationship with the past, Deutschland 83 does this very well from the first episode. With a woman sitting in front of the Tv watching President Reagan’s (at the time) speech about the Soviet Union being the ‘Evil Empire’. This intertextual footage solidifies the show as an excellent example for postmodern analysis.

3) Pick out some of the aspects of the opening of episode 1 and explain why they are significant.

When the man breaks Martins finger, he wakes up in West Germany, unbeknownst to him. He is clearly disoriented, conveyed through the low angle that rises with him as he gets up front the bed. As he walks around the house we can see that it’s furnished head to toe in plated golds in the walls, strips of dark/forest green and varnished wood. With this representation of Western houses alone creates a stark contrast between the East and West living accommodations. If we take into account Martins mother’s house with the stair case , the dark yellow light and concrete stairs- no design at all. In comparison to Tobias’s spiral stair case that seems to go on for miles, varnished and polished wood giving the whole house and uninhabited and expensive look.

There is also an aspect of  Todorov’s equilibrium- of Martin carrying out his work for the Stasi - as he is soon displaced as we return to the conversation between Lenora and another high ranking Stasi official about sending Martin to the West.

4) How does the party scene at Martin's mum's house subvert stereotypes of East Germany in the Cold War?

Many thought that East Germany was a terrifying dictatorship where having fun was utterly unheard of. But what many seem to forget is that just because a place is under a dictatorship doesn’t mean they don’t do human things just like the rest of us. At Martin’s mum’s house, the entire family was having fun, children running around giggling, food, music and love are still flourishing. They just live a slightly different life than those who don’t live under a dictatorship. It opens the audiences eyes to different ways of living. 

5) What aspects of the episode set in West Germany offer postmodern elements?

When Martin/Moritz was running through the supermarket the song ‘Sweet dreams’ plays - a very popular pop song of the 80s in the West specifically America. As well as when he is standing in the supermarket with the soup cans all lined up in place- this is a post modern reference to the artist who painted a soup cans similar to that still image- paying homage to him. 

6) Finally, how does the article apply postmodern theory to Deutschland 83 and link it to the potential target audience?

The break down in distinctions against high and low art as well as incorporate elements of pop culture are key to a postmodern treatment. Something that the article does well in identify with Deutschland 83’. It explores the music, the genre and insertion of pop culture references, as well as the fact that the protagonist is a communist who is being manipulated his own - indicating that this text appeals to a post- unification audience who are ready to challenge the fixed Cold War versions of ‘reality’. 

Postmodernism Factsheet

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet #54: Introduction to Postmodernism. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. If you need to access this from home you can find our factsheet archive here (you'll need to use your Greenford login).

1) Read the section on Strinati's five ways to define postmodernity. What examples are provided of the breakdown of the distinction between culture and society (media-isation)?

The media reality of an event or an object can be more ‘real’ for audiences than the object itself. 

Advertising can make or break a company irrespective of the quality of the product they are selling, a poor quality product can be commercially successful if it has great advertising whilst an excellent product can fail without it. Where once the reality of the product would create its success or failure (e.g. how well itworked), now the media reality of advertising determines the success of products.

* The characters Bruno and Borat have more ‘reality’ for film audiences than their creator Sacha Baron Cohen. Cohen’s films rely on the fact that the characters he creates are seen as ‘real’ people and he is able to get away with saying and doing things that a ‘real’ person could not. Cohen is only ever interviewed ‘in character’ so his creations have a voice but he does not.

• In The X Factor contestants perform cover versions of cover versions of songs (they copy copies). In a Queen themed night John and Edward sang ‘We Will Rock You’ – but they performed ‘the Five version’.

2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?

He argues that mediaization increases so the culture finds itself losing a sense of historical context. History is now reduced to ‘talking heads’ documentaries and historical knowledge is identified based on media representation. This can be applied to Deutschland 83’ as this entire preface of the show is to convey history through entertainment 

3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?

This is where contemporary cultures place value on appearance over function. 

An example of this is increased consumerism. Where people are buying things because of the branding no the actual product. Jameson argues that this is cultural depthlessness- as like Baudrillard he sees the culture as being one where meaning is lost and all that’s left is surface representation. However Jameson also highlights that sometimes this is counteracted by outrageous claims for extreme moments of intense emotions. For example with the death of a celebrity, that shared cultural grief, Jameson claims is a way of “replacing the shallowness of ‘style over substance’.”

4) What examples from music are provided for the breakdown of the distinction between art and popular culture? Can this be applied to Deutschland 83?

Pop music(low art) often samples classical music(high art) - 
Sweet Dreams, 99 Luftballons and Major Tom are all examples of the breakdown between art and popular culture. 

5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?

Bricolage refers to the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas or narratives to produce whole new meanings.  Deutschland 83’ takes the real events of the 80s and the Berlin Wall creating a whole new event around the real happenings. 

6) How can the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 be linked to postmodernism? Read 'The decline of meta-narratives' and 'Media texts and the postmodern' to help answer this.

 

The decline of meta narratives means the decline of grand narratives ie. Religion and political/economic theories, some recent examples in the last 100 years are Communism, Fascism, Liberalism and Socialism. These ideas/ concepts help to explain how and why the world is the way it is and human history is full of them. However in postmodern society people no longer believe there is an absolute way to explain reality. As postmodernism denies that there can be a singular reality as most of our cultural understanding is based on interpretations form the media representation that dominate our culture. The handover pleasure is Deutschland 83’ are diversion, personal relationships, entertainment etc. These are all up to how we view things personally, whether audiences identify with the characters personally or not, or if they like watching them, vicariously living through them. 

7) Now look at page 4 of the factsheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?

Western society is somewhat demonised as Tobias says their government keeps them - “lazy and complacent” - due to the foods they consume. It paints the East in a better light, almost taking sides against the West; with the Garden party and Martin laughing with his colleague after confiscating the Shakespeare books. It places a light hearted feel to the East, humanising the East.  

8) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?

The supermarket scene with the soup cans- references Campbell’s soup cans 

The files that Martin/Moritz takes secret pictures of - they’re the real documents from the time and what inspired the shows creation in the first place 

The woman watching Regan’s speech about the “Evil Empire” - real footage from the time. 

There is a lot of challenging work here - you will have plenty of time to complete it so take it slowly, read around the subject and re-watch the scenes from the first episode on All4 to help develop impressive academic answers to these questions.