Postmodernism & Deutschland 83

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 classic media representations of Cold War-era Germany often fit a stereotypical binary ‘good vs evil’ The Cold War – the state of tension and hostility between the Soviet bloc countries and the West from 1945 to 1990 has inspired a series of film and media texts within the spy genre. These texts often present the East and West as binary opposites through codes and conventions. The communist East is presented grey and stark, no billboards, culture or entertainment and strict limitations of citizens’ movements and availability of certain foods (e.g. coffee and bananas). "

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

-"Deutschland 83 is an example of a text that reimagines the past by blurring the established views of the Cold War through a postmodern treatment. Postmodernism is characterised by the self-conscious use of historical styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, including the playful use of intertextuality, blending of fact, fiction and genre hybridisation, pastiche, parody and irony. "

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

-"The location is the ‘East German Diplomatic mission’ situated in Bonn, West Germany in 1983. A woman is listening to US president Ronald Reagan’s ‘Evil Empire’ speech on a television set. This intertextual footage with its message to ‘pray’ for those who live in ‘totalitarian darkness’ creates ambiguity."

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

-"The party scene at Martin’s house when he returns from leave in East Germany is probably the most revealing. Martin arrives and embraces family members in a bright, sunlit garden setting. In the living room, young people (including his girlfriend, Annett) are drinking beers and dancing and singing to the Cold War era protest song ‘99 Luftballoons’ that is later played in the West German barracks too. This scene reimagines the representation of the East beyond the operators of the restrictive state to the humanity, care and affection of everyday family and friends."

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

-Martin’s first taste of western consumerism, in the supermarket scene is playfully underscored by the Eurythmics 1980’s pop song ‘Sweet Dreams are Made of This’ as Martin wonders at the volume and choice of products available in the West.

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

-"Ultimately though, the fact that our protagonist is a communist who is being manipulated by his own side indicates that this text is appealing to a post-unification audience who are ready to challenge 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)?

-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.

1-The breakdown of the distinction between culture and society – (mediaization).

2. An emphasis on style at the expense of substance and content.

3. The breakdown of the distinction between high culture (art) and popular culture.

4. Confusions over time and space.

5. The decline of meta-narratives.

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 mediaization increases so the culture finds itself losing a sense of historical context.

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

-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 (low art) often samples classical music (high art). This can be applied to Deutschland 83 as in East Germany they play pop music at the party at Martin's house and their lifestyle in general can be described as pop culture so for the masses, whereas in West Germany no music is played throughout the garden party apart from the daughter of the General singing a classical song which reflects the high culture and sophistication." 

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

-This idea of mixing references is referred to as bricolage (meaning jumbled). Bricolage refers to the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas or narratives to produce whole new meanings.

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 spy thriller genre in Deutschland 83 provides an audience with the pleasure of diversion/ entertainment. This can be linked to Baudrillard's theory of hyper reality, where he argues that this culture perceives the media representation as more real that the ‘original’ and stated that we live in a culture where the ‘fake’ is more readily accepted than the ‘real’. Since the young audience Deutschland 83 is targeting was not around during Germany in 1983, we don't know what is fiction and what is actually real therefore we trust any source of media representation of any text." 

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

-"Modern texts may react against the postmodern in an attempt to reintegrate more structured ideas - these texts can be seen to be creating more conventional and reassuring ideas in their construction. They create hyper-realities but the ‘perfect’ reality is a structuralist one which attempts to provide the comfort of meeting narrative and generic expectations and providing clear ideological answers to conflict between binary oppositions. This is seen in Deutschland 83 due to the whole narrative of Martin being an undercover spy in the West which is solely to provide us entertainment and make the show more interesting."