Multiculturalism in GDR Films? An Attempt to Describe a Phenomenon That Might Not Have Existed
Andrzej Gwóźdź
gwan1@poczta.onet.plUniversity of Silesia (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-5942
Abstract
Based on films produced in the East German company Defa, the author presents a hypothesis of regulated multiculturalism of the GDR cinema. He indicates multicultural discourses in historical films about distant and more recent history: the multicultural borderland of West Prussia in the late 19th century (Levins Mühle, dir. Horst Seemann, 1980) and the confrontation of Prussian and Uruguayan culture at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries (Die Besteigung des Chimborazo, dir. Rainer Simon, 1989). Then he deals with issues concerning the meeting of East German and Polish cultures (Die Schlüssel, dir. Egon Günther, 1972/1974; Über sieben Brücken mußt du gehn, dir. Hans Werner, 1978). The author also discusses the propagandist use of the images of Angela Davis and Dean Reed in two films related to the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in Berlin in August 1973. However, the main emphasis is put on films thematizing political emigration from South America (Ein April hat 30 Tage, dir. Gunther Scholz, 1979; Isabel auf der Treppe, dir. Hannelore Unterberg, 1984; Blonder Tango, Lothar Warneke, 1986).
Keywords:
cultural memory, political emigration, GDR, culture-centrism, nationalism, ethnic minorities, national minoritiesReferences
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Authors
Andrzej Gwóźdźgwan1@poczta.onet.pl
University of Silesia Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-5942
Full Professor at the Institute of Cultural Studies, University of Silesia (Katowice). For many years he was also a researcher and lecturer at the University of Lodz, as well as a visiting professor at universities in Konstanz and Shanghai, and a lecturer at universities in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany and Latvia. He is particularly interested in the theory of film and new media, and the anthropology of imagery. His recent publications include two monographs on German cinema: Zaklinanie rzeczywistości. Filmy niemieckie i ich historie 1933-1949 [Enchanting the Reality: German Films and Their Histories 1933-1949] (2018) and Kino na biegunach. Filmy niemieckie i ich historie 1949-1991 [Rocking Between the Poles: German Films and Their Histories 1949-1991] (2019). Moreover, he is the author of Powtórka z Kutza [Revising the Works of Kazimierz Kutz] (2019), as well as the originator and editor of several dozen anthologies and collective volumes on media theory, history of film reflection, history of Upper Silesian cinema, and various filmmakers. His recent publications include: W poszukiwaniu polskiej Nowej Fali [In Search for the Polish New Wave] (in collaboration with M. Wach, 2017), Widzialność wyzwolona [Liberated Visibility] (in collaboration with N. Gruenpeter, 2018), Z góry widać lepiej. Niedokończone rozmowy z Kazimierzem Kutzem. Rozmawiał Andrzej Gwóźdź [You Get a Better View from Above: Unfinished Conversations with Kazimierz Kutz. Interviewed by Andrzej Gwóźdź] (2019). In 2005-2009 he was the president of the Polish Association of Cultural Studies; in 2006-2014 he was the editor-in-chief of the quarterly Kultura Współczesna. He is the founder and, since 2015, the vice-president of the Polish Society for Film and Media Studies.
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