TV: Postmodernism and Deutschland 83
Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog tasks
Media Magazine - A Postmodern Re-imagining of the Past
Media Magazine 73 has a feature exploring Deutschland 83 as a postmodern media product. Read ‘Deutschland 83 - A Postmodern Re-imagining 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?
-Germany often fit a stereotypical binary ‘good vs evil’ where there was seen to be a lot of tension and hostility between the Soviet bloc countries and the West.
2) Why does Deutschland 83 provide a particularly good example for postmodern analysis?
-All postmodern texts create a relationship with the past and the first episode of Deutschland 83,
‘Quantum Jump’, does this with intertitles that frame its historical context.
3) Pick out some of the aspects of the opening of episode 1 and explain why they are significant.
-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 – Reagan talks of the ‘quiet men’ who conceive and order this ‘greatest evil’ in ‘carpeted well-lit offices.’
4) How does the party scene at Martin's mum's house subvert stereotypes of East Germany in the Cold War?
-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.
Postmodernism Fact-sheet
Go to our Media Fact-sheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Fact-sheet #54: Introduction to Postmodernism. Our Media Fact-sheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Fact-sheets. If you need to access this from home you can find our fact-sheet 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)?
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)?
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.
-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.
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. History is now reduced to ‘talking heads’ documentaries and historical knowledge is often based on media representations.
3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?
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.
-In postmodern culture Andy Warhol created multi-coloured prints of the Mona Lisa (high art) and Campbell’s soup cans (low art)
5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?
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.
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.
-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.
7) Now look at page 4 of the fact-sheet. How does Deutschland 83 demonstrate aspects of the postmodern in its construction and ideological positioning?
-Deutschland 83 is based on real life events that have happen in Germany in the past during the cold war.
8) Which key scenes from Deutschland 83 best provide examples of postmodernism? Why?
-I think that the scene that provides the best example of postmodernism is the supermarket scene,because the comparison between the food that the west and eat have is major.The west have everything and more,whereas the east doesn't even have basic foods like fruits.
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