GER 272: Week 7
Film in the Third Reich
mostly entertainment films with little overt propaganda propaganda films promoted racial and war policies
1 Leni Riefenstahl (1902- )
during Weimar made “mountain films” came to the attention of Hitler famous for Nazi-sponsored documentaries: Nuremberg party rallies (1933, 1934) Berlin Olympics 1936
2 Triumph of the Will (1935)
6th Nuremberg party rally technically innovative carefully orchestrated, edited emotional power of the rallies advertised Nazi movement to world
3 Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo
“Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.”
4 Outline of class period
1. exile literature and “inner emigration” 2. Bertolt Brecht’s life 3. Brecht’s dramatic theories 4. history of the play Galileo 5. group activities with specific scenes
Exile during the Third Reich
ca. 730,000 Jews living in Germany and Austria – 390,000 emigrated USA: 130,000; Palestine: 55,000; UK: 75,000; Latin America: 80,000 ca. 30,000-40,000 intellectuals left Germany France, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, UK, Soviet Union, USA
Hollywood: “Weimar on the Pacific”
German filmmakers/actors had started coming to Hollywood in the 1920s (e.g. Marlene Dietrich, F.W. Murnau) exiles in the 1930s: writers: Vicki Baum, Bertolt Brecht, Heinrich & Thomas Mann filmmakers: Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder philosophers: Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse
5 “Inner Emigration”
numerous writers, artists, filmmakers remained in Germany and suppressed their opposition some continued to work in their fields; this required governmental approval after WWII, tensions between those who left and those who stayed behind
Käthe Kollwitz
“Lamentation” (1938)
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
mid-1920s: worked in Berlin theatres of Max Reinhardt, Erwin Piscator 1928: “The Three-Penny Opera” (music by Kurt Weill) 1933-1947: exile in Denmark, Finland, USA 1947: interviewed by HUAC 1949: Berliner Ensemble, East Berlin
6 Brecht’s dramatic theories
Marxist influence on Brecht drama as agent of change epic theatre: Brecht’s form of modern drama designed to replace Aristotelian drama encourages social action of viewer
Dramatic Theatre Epic Theatre
viewer is involved viewer is an observer viewer is in the thick of the viewer is outside the action; action; shares in it studies it viewer’s capacity for action viewer’s capacity for action lessened aroused human being is unalterable human being is alterable
scenes build plot scenes stand on their own
linear development curves emotion, feeling, suggestion reason, argument
Brecht’s dramatic theories
Verfremdungseffekt (alienation effect): making the familiar appear strange V-effekt used to make plays “epic” in nature basic rule: the spectator must know that s/he is in the theatre episodic structure critical commentary during the play songs, music little in the way of scenery
7 Galileo: Genesis of the play
three versions 1938: Denmark exile; German expansion 1944-1947: America Hiroshima/Nagasaki 1953-1955: Germany Cold War; Oppenheimer affair
Galileo: Key Themes
science and society class struggle individual conscience in a tyrannical state
Skid’s Approach to Interpretive Studies
novel (or film, or artwork) as site of societal discourse novel can be a web of current issues and ideas the interpretive mission: to discover the question(s) to which the work is providing answer (the Jeopardy approach)
8 Galileo: Science and Society
How are science and technology portrayed? What are the uses of new technologies? Does science have an ethical obligation in society? What is the reputation of science at the end of the play?
Galileo: Class Struggle
How is class portrayed? What tensions exist between classes? Does science improve or worsen the tensions between classes? What is the state of class struggle at the end of the play?
Galileo: Individual Conscience under Tyranny
How are tyranny and authoritarianism portrayed? Which characters remain true to themselves, and which “sell out”? Is Galileo a hero or a coward?
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