The Negotiation of Collective Identities in German Cinema after Unification

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Negotiation of Collective Identities in German Cinema after Unification

AU - Bechmann Pedersen, Sune

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - This article analyses the negotiation of German identities in two films of the ‘newer German cinema’: Sonnenallee/Sun Alley and Schultze Gets the Blues. It argues that the former represents a defiant stance towards a dominant West German narrative that devalorizes the lived experiences of former GDR citizens. As a consequence, East and West are consolidated as relevant categories of identification. In contrast, the article argues that Schultze Gets the Blues represents a post-national tendency in newer German cinema, which dissolves the East-West axis and instead foregrounds regional and post-national identities.

AB - This article analyses the negotiation of German identities in two films of the ‘newer German cinema’: Sonnenallee/Sun Alley and Schultze Gets the Blues. It argues that the former represents a defiant stance towards a dominant West German narrative that devalorizes the lived experiences of former GDR citizens. As a consequence, East and West are consolidated as relevant categories of identification. In contrast, the article argues that Schultze Gets the Blues represents a post-national tendency in newer German cinema, which dissolves the East-West axis and instead foregrounds regional and post-national identities.

KW - post-communism

KW - nostalgia

KW - German film

KW - GDR

KW - unification

KW - post-national

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2040-350X

VL - 3

SP - 53

EP - 68

JO - Studies in Eastern European Cinema

JF - Studies in Eastern European Cinema

IS - 1

ER -