Postmodernism & Deutschland 83

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 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.

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 as mediatization increases so the culture finds itself losing a sense of historical context. History is now reduced to ‘talking heads’ documentaries and historical knowledge is often based on media representations. Deutschland 83 displayed historical facts through media like the West being more westernised and American whereas the east having fewer privileges and more poor.

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

The modern rise of celebrities launched through reality television

programmes such as Big Brother can be seen as the culture

celebrating style over substance. Many celebrities are now

famous for being famous rather than for an identifiable talent or

ability.

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 was placed a lot in Deutschland 83 within the supermarket create a blurred line between high culture and low culture.

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

Bricolage - the juxtaposition of old and new art, images, ideas or narrative to produce a whole new meaning.
The title sequence of Deutschland 83 has examples of comparing old and new art.

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.

Surveillance- The show provides information about the Cold War and German 
Diversion- allows the audience to escape their world through the show and the music creates some nostalgia. 

7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task.

Representation- The West is capitalized and more and promotes the right-wing ideology. East german is fetishised and is represented as poor but the family life is seen has good.

Genre- The show is a combination of the genre spy genre and costume time period genre.

Ideology- Wehn Martin was stealing from the Generals Brief should be seen as evil however it is seen as good action and as an audience, we would agree.

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

The film has an unclear sense of ideology since the main character is praised for his actions even if they may have an underlining indication there not,

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

Supermarket Scene
-How the mise-en-scene is placed to represent 80's pop art
-The scene in the bench shows the difference between the west and the east

10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?

Gives the audience a sense of nostalgia and excitement.