Postmodernism and Deutschland 83

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?

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). The capitalist West, in contrast, is a world of department stores, restaurants and cars, pop-culture and entertainment and free movement. These texts traditionally offer a pro-West ‘them versus us/ good versus evil’ ideological viewpoint through their narratives and how characters are represented.

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

It is an example of a text that reimagines the past by blurring the established views of the Cold War through a postmodern treatment, perhaps accounting for its success (it was the first German language TV programme to air on a USA network; it has become the highest-rated foreign-language drama in UK history). 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.

There is a conversation shown between Lenora and another high-ranking Stasi official about sending
Martin to West Germany to spy on General Edel, who is thought to be colluding with America. The decision is made to recreate 1980s offices this tense and reflective exchanges that perfectly imitate and pastiche the period.

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

In the living room, young people 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 glimpse of West Germany connotes western opulence – a chandelier, the lavishly colourful images of Gustav Klimt’s painting ‘The Kiss’ strategically placed within the wide shot. However, 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. In homage to the gadget-saturated spy genre (think of Q in the James Bond movies) there is a sequence where Martin’s mentor, Tobias Tischbier, trains him in espionage techniques. The surveillance equipment used in the scene encodes the spy genre. However, the montage editing, jump cuts, soundtrack and humorous insertion of pop culture references as Martin learns different pronunciations of German words blends different artistic styles into an effective pastiche.

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

Postmodern theorist Baudrillard, Simulacra reveal that there is no fixed, absolute truth; and Deutschland 83 certainly challenges our preconceptions of this period of history. This links to how a potential audience can be mixed from people who feel nostalgic to others who want to explore more of history through a modern viewpoint.

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. Where once the reality of the product would create its success or failure (e.g. how well it worked), 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.

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

Fredric Jameson argues that as medialization increases so the culture finds itself losing a sense of historical context. This can be applied to Deutschland 83 as it has become modernised in order to fit a narrative and is no longer reflecting the true times of the Cold War.

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

People will pay high prices for products which bear the logo of a fashionable label regardless of the actual quality of the product. Jameson argues that this creates a cultural depthlessness as he sees the culture as being one where meaning is lost and all that is left is surface representation. However he also argues that this is sometimes countered by outrageous claims for extreme moments of intense emotion, for example, the shared cultural grief after the death of a celebrity.

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) and advertising (low art) often makes reference to visual art (high art) or uses classical music (high art) to help sell its products. 

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

Bricolage is the idea of mixing references where the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas or narratives to produce whole new meanings is normalised.

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.

Meta-narratives (or grand narratives (Lyotard) literally meaning ‘big stories’) are the ideas and concepts that have been used to attempt to explain the way the world is and the way it should be. Human history is full of these grand narratives from religion to political/economic theories. Audience pleasures such as surveillance seen through camera angles, often show educational purposes in Deutschland 83 where we can learn about the conditions of the Cold war of both East and West Germany. This way postmodernism is a useful tool, not only to consider text construction but also context and the relationship between contemporary audiences and texts.

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

Deutschland 83 is the based on real life historical events of the Cold War and a series that implements postmodernism with crafted emotions to fictional characters and hyper-reality.

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

The supermarket scene in Deutschland 83 is the best example of postmodernism due to its intertextuality referencing Andy Warhol and the pop art movement.