Pop Meets Satire. Ãœber Pop-Satire in Den USA Und Deutschland
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2009 Pop Meets Satire. Über Pop-Satire in den USA und Deutschland. Moritz Konrad Kevin Keller University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the German Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Keller, Moritz Konrad Kevin, "Pop Meets Satire. Über Pop-Satire in den USA und Deutschland.. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2009. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/38 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Moritz Konrad Kevin Keller entitled "Pop Meets Satire. Über Pop-Satire in den USA und Deutschland.." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in German. Maria Stehle, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Stefanie Ohnesorg, Dan Magilow Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Moritz Konrad Kevin Keller entitled “Pop Meets Satire. Über Pop-Satire in den USA und Deutschland.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in German. Maria Stehle, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Stefanie Ohnesorg Dan Magilow Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Pop Meets Satire. Über Pop-Satire in den USA und Deutschland. A Thesis Presented for the Master of Arts Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Moritz Konrad Kevin Keller August 2009 Für meine Eltern ….und ein bisschen auch für meine Geschwister ii Im Idealfall ist Pop populär und subversiv zugleich. (Andreas Neumeister)1 Eine Satire kann einen Taifun auslösen. Manchmal. (Markus Brauck)2 Jeder Deutsche soll pro Jahr ein Buch veröffentlichen. Mindestens. *…+ Dass die meisten nicht schreiben können, wird dadurch ausgeglichen, dass sie auch nichts zu sagen haben. (Harald Schmidt)3 1 Gansel/Neumeister 192. 2 Brauck 82. 3 Schmidt 11. iii Abstract This thesis defines a kind of satire that wasn’t dealt with before in depth: “Pop- Satire”. This form of satire uses the stylistic elements of pop for satiric purposes. That means that Pop-Satire uses phenomena and elements of everyday culture and popular culture in a satiric way. The analysis of “Pop-Satire” begins in “Pop-Literatur,” then proceeds to satire magazines and finally TV shows are analyzed. The analysis in different media also follows a comparative approach, contrasting American and German literary texts, magazines, and finally TV shows in order to highlight similarities and differences in both cultures. The examined works are Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, Christian Kracht’s Faserland, Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre’s Soloalbum, several issues of The Onion and Titanic, as well as Die Harald Schmidt Show and South Park. All works were produced in the 1990s or the 2000s. The thesis challenges the common interpretation of the “New German Pop- Literatur” as being conservative or completely unpolitical. “Pop-Satire” expresses political views of the “Generation Golf” or “Generation X”. This work states that these generations try to leave old categories behind and develop new forms of critical engagement. iv The “pop-satiric” texts, which were analyzed in this thesis, thus seemed to have several elements in common, namely post-modern elements like multiple-layered irony undermining all moral institutions given by the text, leaving unclear who or what was actually really satirized and moving the moral authority entirely to the recipient. They all share the attempt to protest against dominant cultural ways of thinking in one way or another. In Germany “Pop-Satire” is taking an anti-position to the mentality of the so- called “68 generation”, in the US it is taking an anti-position to political correctness. In both cases some sort of left-liberalism is seen as the main enemy. However, unlike many earlier analyses of these works suggest, they don’t contain an affirmation of conservative ideals in response. They rather share post-modern elements and express a “post-political” attitude. v Table Of Contents Chapter Page 1. „‚Pop-Satire’? Wie ‚Pop-Satire’?“ – Einleitung ..................................................... 1 2. Pop Meets Satire – Die Theorie ............................................................................ 10 2.1. Vorbemerkungen............................................................................................... 10 2.2. Pop .................................................................................................................... 10 2.3. Satire ................................................................................................................. 24 2.4. Pop Meets Satire = Pop-Satire? ........................................................................ 37 3. Pop-Satire in (Pop-)Literatur ................................................................................ 42 3.1. Vorbemerkungen............................................................................................... 42 3.2. American Psycho – Amerikanische Pop-Satire ................................................ 43 3.3. Faserland – Deutsche Pop-Satire? .................................................................... 48 3.4. Soloalbum – Deutsche Pop-Satire? ................................................................... 56 3.5. Fazit: Pop-Satire in Pop-Literatur ..................................................................... 67 4. Pop-Satire in Satire-Zeitschriften ......................................................................... 70 4.1. Vorbemerkungen............................................................................................... 70 4.2. Pop-Satire in The Onion.................................................................................... 71 4.3. Pop-Satire in Titanic ......................................................................................... 84 4.4. Fazit: Pop-Satire in Satire-Zeitschriften ......................................................... 101 5. Pop-Satire Im Fernsehen ..................................................................................... 103 5.1. Vorbemerkungen............................................................................................. 103 5.2. Pop-Satire in der Harald-Schmidt-Show ......................................................... 105 5.3. Pop-Satire in South Park ................................................................................. 121 5.4. Fazit: Pop-Satire im Fernsehen ....................................................................... 134 6. Nochmal: Das Wichtigste zu Pop-Satire – Schluss ............................................ 137 Bibliographie ................................................................................................................... 143 Vita .................................................................................................................................. 151 vi 1. „‚Pop-Satire’? Wie ‚Pop-Satire’?“ – Einleitung Eine bestimmte Szene aus Woody Allens Manhattan von 1979 ist immer wieder ein Genuss: Sie spielt auf einem Gala-Dinner und es scheint ein beachtlicher Teil der (finanziellen und intellektuellen) New Yorker Elite versammelt. Die Atmosphäre ist entsprechend elitär, alles sieht teuer aus. Die Gäste tragen Abendgarderobe: die Damen Abendkleider, die Herren Fräcke mit Fliege. Unter diesen Gästen ist auch der von Woody Allen gespielte Protagonist Isaac. Wie eigentlich sonst auch nirgends, scheint er auch hier nicht hinein zu passen: Er fühlt sich in der abgehobenen Atmosphäre und den seichten Konversationen sichtlich unwohl und wirkt dennoch intellektueller als seine Gesprächspartner, die lediglich affektierter scheinen. Schließlich wechselt er das Thema weg vom vorherrschenden „small talk“ und schneidet ein ihn offensichtlich beschäftigendes Thema an: „Hey, has anybody read that nazis are gonna walk in New Jersey? *…+ We should really go down there, get some guys together, you know, get some bricks and baseball bats and really explain things to them’!“ Einer seiner Gesprächspartner scheint auch über das Thema informiert zu sein, geht aber nicht direkt auf den Vorschlag ein: „There is this devastating satirical piece on that *…+ in the Times,“ entgegnet er, „it is – devastating.“ Isaac scheint damit allerdings nicht zufrieden zu sein. „Satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but ‚bricks and baseball bats’ really gets to the point.“ Eine der Damen in dieser Runde wiederum scheint keine 1 Gewaltanhängerin zu sein. „A really biting satire is always better than physical force,“ argumentiert sie. Isaac entgegnet: