Gundolf Graml's List: German Postwar Cinema

• was interested

• The first question that comes to our mind is: what is silence? We have quite different understandings of the definition of silence. Lingcong believes that silence is the medium of expressing emotions and is more powerful than words. Xiaofei argues that silence gives the audience time to watch the movements of the characters in the background. Also, the silence enables the audience to pay more attention to the mise-en-scene. Yilin thought that with silence, the director gives the audience a hint of transition in the movie and stimulates contradiction between characters and plots. She believes that it also provides time for the audience to digest the plots and to gain a better understanding of the film.
• h “Eloquent Silence”

• • No bibliography in the directors' statement or in the video!
• reevaluate the strata through which we look at film.
• connect a variety of films through something that is inherently, and exclusively, a part of the medium of film: continuous visuals connected to narrative.
• Secondly, by incorporating the theme of gender, bodies become more representative as a woman’s physicality tends to be viewed more critically than that of a man, by both the audience and by the other characters.

  • That's a very good point--especially in the Wallner clips you address the connection between bodies and space; but you don't really talk about the "physicality of the body" that much...
• Our objective was to trace aspects of women moving the plot as they move through space that are inherent in Frauenfilme and connect them to older historical genres of German film.
• Annegret by her very existence as the lord’s illegitimate daughter who stands to inherit his land and money, and Susanne by her domesticity with Mertens, including their cohabitation and her care of him, which eventually rehabilitates him.

  • These are indeed interesting points, they don't really come out in the film or in your analysis here.

4 more annotations...

• Schonhaus Corner

  • correct title!
• Though divided in terms of governmental policies and forms, this mechanism proved essential in the realm of the film industry and would later give rise to various forms of film that would allow German Postwar film to achieve certain status.

  • What exactly do you mean by "mechanism" and "certain status"--please be more specific.
• Though the era of postwar film follows such an expanded definition of national cinema and is capable, it becomes clear that the most important role is shared by both the East and West.

  • "the era of postwar film is capable"--of what? Again, this sentence needs clarification.
• The masterminds depict ideas in an effort to reach and teach the public ideas that were once in their infancy.  Stemming from what may begin as scattered and seemingly far-fetched ideas, the ideas composed within our minds, are soon able to begin the lengthy process of idea compilation.

  • You seem to espouse a role of film as manipulative medium--am I reading this the way you intended to write it? Who are these masterminds, what do they try to do?
• German film, which began as an industry for economic profitability, evolved into a political platform for emerging developments and issues within society. While competing with other renowned film industries, German films eventually became a form of entertainment or pastime to merely escape from the hardships of everyday life. Having endured war and intense governmental restrictions, there were several obstacles filmmakers had to overcome. However, in retrospect this provided them the opportunity to express the artistic perspectives and filmic innovations of what was happening within their society to now be communicated through film.

  • This paragraph describes a historical development without mentioning one source. Sabine Hake comes to mind as a likely source for some of these observations...
• Nazi-socialistic regime

  • the National-Socialist regime
• not as entertaining

  • here a qualifier such as "perceived as less entertaining"--otherwise you would need to provide stronger evidence for the supposedly lower entertainment value.
• They used film and other media forms to serve as a prosthetic father figure since Germany failed to raise them.

  • That's an interesting point: film as Ersatz-father; could you write more about that?
• propagandic

  • propaganda
• powerful beyond measure.

  • be careful with such grandiose terms--if film indeed had immeasurable powers, the Nazi regime might have lasted even longer, for it pumped a lot of resources into the film business.

8 more annotations...

• • Nice introduction!
• the film was produced

  • the film was produced "in"...
• The Marriage of Maria Braun

  • Please highlight titles according to citation style of your choice.
• Rotation (1949), Die Mörder sind unter uns (1946), and Schlösser und Katen (1957)

  • Same here--titles need to be consistently highlighted in the text.
• particular tells a different story of the same time in German history because it belongs to a different era of German film, New German Cinema, which O’Sickey explores in her writing.

  • I know what you're trying to say, but it sounds a bit redundant: "it's telling a different story because it belongs to a different time period"--it could also tell a different story belonging to the same period in German film history.
• kino es

  • "Kino ist"
• Fassbinder found himself at the center of New German Cinema and was noted for his work’s ability to unsettle and disturb his audiences.  O’Sickey writes that Fassbinder used his placement in New German Cinema to critique post-war West Germany in a way that reflected the new values of the emerging change in film.

  • Through which means was he able to unsettle audiences, and what was the change in film? -- Just one more sentence that illustrates that argument would be helpful.
• Animierdame

  • quotes in a foreign language should be highlighted through quotation marks or italicized.
• There she meets Bill, an African-American U.S. soldier with whom she entertains a sexual relationship, ultimately becoming pregnant with his child (the child is never born due to miscarriage).

  • Is the clip just illustration? One of the advantages of using an online environment is the ability to show the clip you're talking about directly...
• in camera

  • in a camera...
• Technically, every movie-goer is analyzing mise-en-scène when they review films either personally or professionally. 

  • True--just never in such a concentrated fashion!
• Bill and Maria are disrobing before being intimate, playfully flirting back and forth “about how strong, tender, and brave,” Bill is.  Bill asks, “Me?” and Maria, the figure of white dominance over his black manhood, pauses, sees her long lost husband Hermann in the doorway, and replies, “Look Bill, it’s Hermann.”

  • This would be a good place to use a clip instead of a description; see my comment about an online environment above...
• In this way, film is a relevant source for cultural commentary because it shows how different conclusions about the status of white and black relations can be interpreted using just a small clip from a sequence.

  • helpful summary of events in the clip!
• • Overall good job, Sally. Your essay provides good examples as to how film analysis can enrich our historical understanding. 
• film is fun!

  • Well, this might not always be the case--some films are of important historiographical value, but extremely boring from an entertainment viewpoint (a point some people have made in class quite poignantly:-)

13 more annotations...

• source to of historical, s
• Because films can depict these societal values, cultural trends, and historical events, analyses of films help to reveal these important societal, historical, and cultural aspects of the films that most people never realize are even there through performing sequence analyses, or analyzing certain scenes of the film in order to see how they contribute to the film as a whole.

  • Your introduction is thoughtful, but a bit redundant, especially because of the triadic structure of these sentences that refer to "societal, historical, and ..." elements. Try to vary these phrases a bit more.
• Staudte intended for the way that they portrayed a Mitläufer and how they were received by the audience were meant to be completely different.

  • Please review syntax/grammar of this sentence. Perhaps you can turn it into two sentences.
• Through using sequence analysis, Weckel demonstrates how this disconnect between the director’s intent and the audience reception occurred.

  • You do a very good job of taking your readers through the argument!
• , who actually called Hans out for standing by and watching women and children be murdered (78)

  • Some of your sentences run on for a rather long time. It might be better to split them into two shorter sentences.
• by it condemning
• Like how

  • Use "For instance" or something else, but not "Like how"...
• stayed untouched by politics

  • Or, they were so touched by politics that critics never actually looked close enough at the film?

6 more annotations...

• they not
• affects

  • the effects or the affects?
• writies
• informs

  • plural
• This is what scholars do when they do a sequence analysis. They look at a series of scenes and notice the different elements in the scenes and question how they add to the movie and why they were done that way. The four main elements to analyze are the mise-en-scene: what you can see in the movie, the cinematography: how the camera is positioned and used, the editing: how the scenes are put together and edited, and the sound: the music, dialog, or background noise present in the film. All together these elements create the film but separately it is easier to analyze and question why they are represented in such a way. To figure this out it is usually necessary to repeatedly watch the sequence until all element have been successfully identified.

  • Nice way of explaining film analysis for the purpose of this assignment.
• is an perfect
• and dead
• t gegeben.”  This

  • For such direct quotes provide the page number, please!
• First, he gives the reader a review of the plotline and then gets into his argument. He looks at the characters individually drawing out the important aspects of the characters. He then looks at the cinematic styles and compares them to those of other eras. 
• on “ the camera opens on two dark mounds that fill the screen. As the shot cranes upward, the mounds reveal themselves to be graves.”

  • the connection between your sentence and the quote seems to be off.
• This reflects the society at a time, which was searching for a way to instill the sense of morality and justice into the population while acknowledging the atrocities that were committed.

  • Good summary!
• American masculinity was being portrayed thanks to Hollywood and American soldiers. This threatened the more authoritative, formal notions of German masculinity.

  • The cause and effect relation you imply in these sentences is unclear to me. This requires a bit more explanation!
• movie shows that American masculinity is unstable and morally wrong

  • better: "The movie shows American masculinity as unstable..." -- this makes clear that the film makes a claim that can be disputed.
• Films are often underestimated,

  • This is a veeeery generic statement:-)
• , it is a long shot packed with many elements that give the public a feeling of intense desolation. This relates directly to the cultural climate of the time which featured a distinct distortedness and isolation.

  • Take advantage of the digital medium and move the clip to where you actually discuss the film. That way you don't have to explain why you integrate it.

13 more annotations...

• After reading the secondary literary sources, scenes that were first passed off as simple domestic bliss to show the patriarchal society are instead delved into, beholding the changing and shifting world created by the vacuum of war

  • A good opening paragraph, but I'm a bit confused by your use of the passive voice in this sentence above: by whom are they "delved into?"
• One of the examples of how women could fill the imbalance left by the men was by taking jobs that men were not around to take. However, not all of the jobs were obvious. In fact, the first time Professor Graml showed the class a clip, where a man is running away from four or five people, he asks the audience what they noticed. The class had seen rubble, probably a thief, and some very angry people. He backed the clip up to early in the chase, and showed a smaller section. He pointed out something that the whole class had glossed over, the fact that there were women in the background on the rubble, apparently dealing with the rubble, if their inspection of the whole bricks was anything to go by. He explained that these Trümmerfrau were women who worked in cleaning the rubble (a very literal translation). Seeing these Trümmerfrau out and about was a common sight after the war in 1945. But by the 1950s, where had these women gone?

  • You are highlighting an important historical element from one of the films, showing how film can function as a historical source. Perhaps you will do this later, but it's important to actually spell out what you see this clip doing, not just assume that the audience/readership will understand it the same way you do.
• the “Silent Mothers: Air War as Intimate Memory–Rotation.”

  • You should name the author at least somewhere, either as part of the first citation or together with the title.
• She arranges for the both of them to stay, and naturally an unmarried couple gravitates to a harmonious marriage.

  • Naturally?? I would say that's more the myth of romanticism that popular narratives need two single, unmarried people end up in a relationship; they could very well not like each other, right?
• As Anke Pinkert, the author of “Silent Mothers: Air War as Intimate Memory–Rotation.” explains on page 94, that while women are seen working, emancipated, and equal, the film constructs the proper place for women in the role of motherhood. Even with the movie opening up in the image of two women working on a printing press, the movie overall focuses on Lotte in the role of domestic chores and as a mother and loving wife (Pinkert 94). Even as the times march progressively on, with women collecting power to become the equal of men, the film insists that women are happiest married with children and working in the kitchen.

  • It's good that you reference Pinkert, but spell out what you see her doing: Is she basing her arguments on sequence analysis, on contrasting the film narrative with the historical circumstances, etc.
• for no immediately apparent reason.

  • No: she is a widowed/single woman in a patriarchal society, she needs a husband for very pragmatic reasons: single women did not have very much power in this society!
• Eventually, the cultural standing of needing a husband for government procedures such that men were needed to sign for a passport was explained the reason for the affair (Graml). That, along with the fact that women outnumbered men by seven million made marriage to a male partner a valuable commodity. In fact, the patriarchal figure in Kohle’s household informs his wife in one scene that ‘he could get a prettier wife [when] he left’ (Berlin- Ecke Schönhauser). He says so with some confidence, despite having the appearance of a drunk, heavy set, not handsome, and a middle aged man, indicating that the deaths of the soldiers from the recent war have put quite a price on any man available on the market.

  • Exactly!
• The example of German attitudes towards women in Fenemore’s explanation is helpful. He explores the changing political stances towards sex, gender, and youth not just found in Berlin- Ecke Schönhauser but also in the actual, progressing times. He brings the historical context that wrapped Germany into line with the ideas of the film, something that an audience watching Berlin- Ecke Schönhauser would not pay attention towards.

  • Very good passage--you describe and simultaneously evaluate what Fenemore does and in what way this is helpful for the analysis of the film and, by extension, the analysis of society.
• Through the changing times from 1945 to 1962, films showed cultural changes from women clearing rubble to life adjusting to having the existence of an Eastern and Western Germany. On the screen, scenes slipped from the public awareness into the media, particularly a theme that secondary reading explored from the screen with historical and cultural context. The theme is the shifting position of the female from the role of mother in the house to the role of provider in the workplace. However, the transition is unaccompanied by an increase of power, as women were still treated unfairly despite laws passed in 1949 for equality.

  • Very good conclusion!

7 more annotations...

• As responses to Germany’s trauma and social transformations after the war, these films have been compared and contrasted by scholars on the similarities as well as differences in their perspectives on and solution proposals to social issues. Film analysis is thus a useful platform to explicate profound implications in the narratives and trigger contemplations on both the popular and cinematographic reflections on socio-historical themes.

  • Very nice introduction!
• The sequence analysis on the last scene, where Susanne stopped Mertens from killing the commander, also to make a transition from the discussion of Western genre to the next comparison of the film to domestic melodrama. Shandley remarks on the release of emotions in the conflicts surged from the characters’ acceptance of the post-war reality, their revived hope for the future and persisting trauma from the past (140). Through comparisons, sequence analysis, and character reviews, Shandley deciphers the illusions of a vigilante justice and elucidates the sentimental reactions to the historical transformations in Germany in 1945.

  • I like the way in which you highlight Shandley's method of analyzing "Murderers Among Us." You demonstrate the capacity to go beyond the repetition of Shandley's approach and to categorize it on a meta level.
• The films discussed above are worthy examples to illustrate the reflexive representations of the social conflicts in their particular period, and such messages are elaborated and interpreted through scholarly film analysis

  • Good opening to the concluding paragraph.
• Therefore, film analysis is crucial for acquiring a better comprehension of social and historical topics and phenomena.

  • Nice concluding sentence.

2 more annotations...

• As the title of the article suggests, Weckel’s analysis is composed of two parts, representation and reception.
• Both Mertens and Behnke are considered as Mitläufer, people who “followed along” the Nazi party without having to bear any juridical consequences in the aftermath of the war (Weckel 64-65). Weckel, through exploring Staudte’s interest in Mitläufer and unveiling controversial representation of Mitläufer in the films, introduces us to this complicated and ambiguous role many German people had chosen to play in the Second World War.

  • Very nice way of guiding the reader along and telling us what Weckel is doing.
• under spotlight,

  • under the spotlight
• he uses

  • Ulrike Weckel is a woman, so "she"
• Starting by pointing out the limitation of quantitative data, Weckel moves on to suggest qualitative material as a valid kick-off point. In order to make sure that newspaper critiques can be used to reflect populist opinions on the films, Weckel explains that critics are not much different from laypeople when they write film commentaries. At last, Weckel undermines the search for “representative voices” and argues that only a rich spectrum of critiques can reflect German people’s real interpretations of the films (65-67). Using a wide range of sources, Weckel reaches the conclusion that contemporary critics hardly ever read Staudte’s two Mitläufer protagonists in the way the director had intended them to read.

  • This is an excellent summary and descriptive evaluation of Weckel's research. It highlights what she does as well as how she does it and why it's meaningful.

3 more annotations...

• But rather

  • but IT rather...
• Because an individual has the ability to think independently and form their own valuable opinions about things that affect the world we live in and how we view it, films are instrumental and relevant for the analysis of historical, social, cultural, and political events and conditions. Films serve as a means by which ideas and issues that are relative to us can be seen from various perspectives. Films can be educational and influential, and not to mention a source of entertainment for those that find value in the beauty of the art form and the intricate thought process that goes into analyzing the director’s- direct and indirect goals and how that is portrayed to the viewer.

  • nice intro
• For example, in the German film “Rotation” the rotating printing press and repeating scenes significantly and intentionally link the props and characters within the scene metaphorically to the plot. This is also collaborative with the cinematography.

  • They way you proceed here makes it look as if "Rotation" would belong to the 1910s and 1920s films...
• Considering filmmaking in Germany had to undergo a series of transitions to build up to what was finally considered a “legitimate” film industry, their resilient impact persevered and led to an even greater influence. After overcoming regulations that forbid film from being produced or shown during the “film-pause”, Post-war Germany later founded the DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft) in the Soviet zone of occupation.

  • Since this historical information comes from various readings we had in class, you must provide citations, page numbers, bibliographic informations, lists of works cited, etc. Otherwise it's plagiarism, even when it's used in an online blog entry; or especially then, because everyone can potentially access it!
• These films used low angle composition, cloudy skies, and conventional settings.

  • Some of the rubble films do, but not all of them; this is too general
• “Rubble Canyons: Die Mörder sind unter uns and the Western” question whether the movie could be categorized as a Wester

  • Mention the author!
• The article also argued that in some of the German films during this period, filmmakers portray Germans as victims or rescuers, but rarely as the perpetrator.

  • You are paraphrasing from the article, thus you must cite the pages this information comes from!
• The argument of sexuality, masculinity and gender roles surfaced in films during this time

  • What exactly do you mean by the argument of sexuality? Is this an argument about sexuality, differing views on sexuality?
• However, the characters possible feelings of inadequacy could further explain his disregard and aggressiveness. This also shows that the male role within the family was challenged. This led to the preconception of the male and female identity as compared to that of an Americanized society

  • All of this is true, and I'm aware of the articles where you get this information, but you do not cite it--this is a really serious issue, because this type of writing is technically plagiarism! Since I assume that this was not your intention I'd like to know the reasons for your omitting of references, citation information, etc.
• it contrasts him

  • Who/what does the contrasting? There seems to be a switch in subject in this sentence...
• The performative idea poses that the actors are intentionally over-dramatized and only acting out, or imitating what they thought to be masculine, versus expressive, which truly expresses or represents a deeper identity and meaning; being liberal and truly expressing who you are as opposed to what’s expected of you by society.

  • That's a good summary of the performative vs. expressive comparison, but it is again without reference to Leal's page number.
• e 1945”. 

  • page number!!
• In class we further discussed that the conventional views of sex versus gender leads to the’ performative social discourse’.

  • We did discuss the notion of performativity, but your description does not adequatly represent that discussion. Which is fine, because it was a difficult subject and complex discussion, but I need to point it out because that's not what we talked about. If you are unsure, it's always a good idea to ask someone else, or me, or, in the end, leave it out:-).
• expressively become and independent

  • ???
• the limited spectrum places on them by

  • ??
• while in my opinion men were simply being redefined

  • I'm not quite sure I understand your main point for these last couple of lines here...
• As the historical transitions of German film foreshadowed, other genres were formed after Rubblefilme, and Youth Cultures, like Heimat, and the New German cinema period during the 1980’s. Film continued to take on its own sense of meaningfulness. If you have no previous experience with this type of artistic approach to a film, a casual film-goer may overlook some or the underlying messages. Directors wanted to provide film as a way of vocalizing the fundamental things people were already aware of, collectively internalizing, but afraid to confront. They concluded that film must evolve. While remaining true to its conventional art forms and methodologies, film must still hold true to being an agent of change and innovation. It must address more than what is presented, and must search for a deeper meaning than the mundane. Provided with manifestos and their pronouncement of stylistic independence, directors wanted the liberty of allowing their creativity to reign and be presented for other critical thinkers, intellects artists and filmmakers to delve into their minds and identify with a larger perspective.

  • nice summary

15 more annotations...

• This is unfortunate, as films are a powerful art form capable of of exposing and reflecting upon the current or past aspects of a society. Directors and writers work to not only entertain the viewer with flashy scenery and loveable characters; more often than not they have a set of morals they wish to expose to the viewer, and once one realizes this, the more capable one is of observing the world around them in a more analytical, if not critical, light.

  • Good introduction!
• Representing Blackness,

  • Please highlight titles with quotation marks or by italicizing them, whichever is appropriate according to your citation style!
• The Marriage of Maria Braun.

  • Highlight title
• I choose to focus on Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun primarily because of the variety of foci being presented to the viewer. O’Sickey discusses issues of race, gender, and sexuality in postwar Germany. To the viewer, each of these topics may seem to come secondary to the “more interesting” plot developments, namely the budding romance between Maria and Bill, and the question of what would happen if and when her husband were to return home to her. At a time in history when men were generally in the position of dominance and power, such a focus on this film is unacceptable, for the presence of a female protagonist and African-American characters offers a fantastic opportunity for discussion of exactly what types of roles women and black men had in postwar Germany. The most prominent focus of discussion lies with Maria Braun, the protagonist.

  • Good point, Ashley! I like the way in which you state your own approach and, simultaneously, highlight what O'Sickey finds important in the film.
• there leaves little

  • "there is little room"
• But from here we must ask why it is that this type of female presentation is so shocking. What society norms and expectations are already in place that would make a strong female character surprising rather than just another character who fits the mold of every other female character audiences have been seeing for decades.

  • yes, good question!
• While Fassbinder was likely not a racist man, the film shows how German society as a whole very well might have been. Unlike today, there was little room in the real world or in the entertainment world for women who could break the mold of what a German woman should do.

  • When we perceive racist and/or misogynist scenes in cultural texts, the question is always: does that make the film racist or misogynist, or does the cultural text exhibit these traits in order to criticize society at large. With regard to Fassbinder, O'Sickey claims that he intended to confront audiences with their own forms of discriminatory practices; but the film is ambivalent, and a close reading might also find scenes that show the opposite.
• Marriage of Maria Braun

6 more annotations...

• primarily

  • primary
• Other forms of widespread entertainment cannot necessarily actively construct their narratives in the way that film does. So it reflects a narrative which is not only designed to be accessible to a large number of people, but also a narrative that is created and responds to the world around it. Thus films are cultural documents through the process of their invention and the response they potentially receive.

  • I understand your argument and generally agree with it, but I want to point out that there are also many films that are difficult to access and follow. What you describe certainly applies to mainstream narrative cinema, but not to film in general.
• These films had to especially confront the history of the past because of the settings which a bombed out cityspace forced on the movie makers and citizens of Germany.

  • I'm not sure if it really "had to"--there are a couple of films from that era that try to avoid references to the rubble...
• The Murderers are Among Us (1946)

  • Use the tools offered by wordpress to highlight titles according to citation styles.
• In Rentschler’s article, the author first points out his own article’s place in the discussion of Trümmerfilm. This step of situating his text in the space of competing and parallel texts might be particularly important in a new historical approach, given the supposed lack prioritization of any type or canon of text in this approach. Just as The Murderers are Among Us is a product of the immediate production of film after the Filmpause, “The Place of Rubble in Trümmerfilm” is a product of Rentschler’s perceived hole in the scholarship on the eponymous rubble of the Trümmerfilm.

  • Excellent observation and description!
• found

  • founded
• Rentschler is making clear that these films, so based on the setting as the viewer sees it that the name of the genre comes from the background, could not have been produced similarly at any other time, or in any other place.

  • Yes
• This technique, linked with the more historical argument before and after it, show that film analysis and its niche history can work alongside the larger history that these films grapple with

  • Good points!
• because as it is perpetually viewed by different people

  • I agree with the content of your sentence, but the syntax seems to be off here.
• or if it is something to past.

  • What does this mean?
• seems at in the T

  • missing word
• own, new almost sequence analysis (I say almost because he does not analysis the sequence, but one particular moment) an early shot of The Murderers are Among Us.

  • again, good point, but please review the word order.
• Though he effectively is suggesting that a director directs the way a film is construction,

  • You've lost me here--what exactly is your point?
• stills make
• how uses it
• By using three visual media (photography, painting, and architecture) which already have an established dialogue of discussion, Rentschler is able to successfully appropriate that discussion from The Murderers are Among Us.

  • good meta summary and point
• He ties it back the film
• After this long and through discussion of the surrounding elements

  • another missing word...
• • Oh, and one more thing: A list of works cited is required even when it's a blog entry!

17 more annotations...

• Through sequence and character analysis of Teenage Wolfpack (1956) and Berlin Schönhauser Corner (1957), film scholars reveal the reconstruction of masculinity in post-war Germany as well as the complex concept of gender fluidity under the influence of American cinema, suggesting the ambivalent and sometimes paradoxical nature of gender representation in the late 1950s German cinema reflected through social and historical context.

  • Excellent introduction!
• Home-grown versions of youth rebellion films are thus made to address the issue but at the same time reject characters influenced by American pop culture and code positively only the traditional, good-mannered German masculinity.

  • Very good summary of the general historical circumstances and their evaluation by scholars.
• Teenage Wolfpack and Berlin Schönhauser Corner t

  • Highlight titles by italicizing them or putting them in quotation marks.
• Jazz, Rock, and Rebels

  • highlight book titles!
• By comparing Freddy and Jan through sequence and character analysis, Leal argues that Teenage Wolfpack represents explicitly an ultimate rejection of the Americanized masculinity in favor of the more traditional and more authentically German gender identities as a way to save German youth from degeneracy (Leal, 64).

  • Yes!
• Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory

  • I want to commend you for integrating this piece by Butler, it demonstrates your elevated horizon and awareness as a scholar!
• Another interesting example of gender fluidity is the character Kohle in Berlin Schönhauser Corner. Kohle is never portrayed as a hero in the film, instead, he appears to be the counterpart of Dieter, who is praised for his heroic actions and considered to have the traditional German masculinity.

  • Good point!
• At the very beginning, Kohle is already depicted as “the dumb one” by agreeing to smash a street light for one West mark from Karl-Heinz. In the first half of the film, Kohle is excluded from most of the “cool” activities and he often appears just to ask for the one West mark back from Karl-Heinz. Even when Kohle tries to ask Angela, Karl-Heinz interrupts in an apparently more dominant manner. In a scene where Dieter and Kohle are talking on the street in front of many portraits, it is highly symbolic that the portrait behind Dieter is a masculine man where as the one behind Kohle is a woman. However, in a later scene when Dieter and Kohle try to give Karl-Heinz a lesson on the attic, it is Kohle who successfully tricked him into the trap. “Why so scared? We just want to talk,” said Kohle as he walks toward Karl-Heinz. Although Dieter has the intention of attackking Karl-Heinz, it is once again Kohle who knocks him down in time before he fires the gun.

  • Excellent analysis of gender roles!

6 more annotations...

• Germany witness their government

  • Germany -- their government is a somewhat strange reference; Germans - their government might be better
• Weckle,

  • Make sure you spell author names correctly!
• not deserve punishment (Weckel 65).

  • At least not the same kind of punishment reserved for the actual perpetrators.
• , they are not aware of the way German audiences reacted to this film – a reaction which is highlighted in Weckle’s dissection of the film and its archetypes.

  • Yes--as of now your formulation is a bit cryptic. Am I right that you refer to Weckel's investigation of the critics' reception of the film? I think that you can just say so.
• . He points

  • Ulrike is a woman's name, make sure to use the correct pronoun!
• understand magnitude

  • "the magnitude"
• in his reading

  • gender of pronoun!
• To prove his point, Weckel uses direct quotes from critics – both German and not German, and through his own conclusions of Hans.

  • Yes, good point!
• Weckle

7 more annotations...

• preempted

  • Is this the right verb?
• Stuadte’s

  • spelling!
• Rotation (

  • Highlight title
• Pikert’s

  • Spelling
• Silent Mothers: War As an Intimate Memory

  • Highlight title
• Pinkert’s beautifully artistic

  • Why do you find Pinkert's account artistic?
• faced amongst

  • Faced by...
• This idea is immediately challenged when analyzing the role of the main protagonist within the film and the scene in which we see him in a transient-state, fascinatingly staring at a wall that contains the handwritten names of all individuals who harbored antifascist ideologies.

  • This would be a good place to embed a clip or a still, as I stipulated in the assignment!
• explains through use of cinematography techniques as a major component to the overall narrative of the scene
• was ideologically stagnated

  • I'm not sure if you can use "stagnated" that way, perhaps ideologically stifling?

8 more annotations...

• by give

  • "by giving them..."
• “ Adolph Hitler was keenly aware of film’s ability to mobilize emotions and immobilize minds to create overpowering illusions and captive audiences.”

  • Author and page number for this quote are missing!
• one of the worlds most powerful and productive in the world.

  • redundant reference to the world
• by four parts that governed

  • "into four parts that were governed by"
• the Russian tried to let Germans to reeducated themselves about their history

  • Please proofread your articles, or have someone else do it!
• Statute

  • Staudte
• The Murderers Are Among Us

  • use quotation marks for titles
• in his article

  • Ulrike is a woman, so please use the correct personal pronoun!
• analyze
• conceive
• Statute hi
• Mitläufer “use Marten’s protest, ensuring compliance with Bruckner’s “order” to get a star for the Christmas tree, and telling images of Mertens crumpling the star in his fist while watching the massacre all make him appear pathetic”.

  • Don't forget to add name and pages of works cited!

  • I'm not sure I understand what the quote is supposed to demonstrate. Also, please look at verb forms and make sure they are coordinated with the subject.
• Weckle also pointed

  • Does the clip show anything in particular? You don't seem to mention it in the text
• Many early film reviews tries

  • "reviews" is plural, so the verb needs to be "try" not "tries"
• Weckels develop
• terpret t
• Shandley states that Hans Mertens is a very Western style character. In the opening of the film, he is a man with mysterious past that he refuses to discuss. He is kind of broke. And he use alcohol and brothels to relieve his feelings. Susanne is a typical Western heroine, a woman who is pure, civilized, and out of place in the lawless wasteland. But unlike many Western movies that depicted a women possessing a deeper wisdom compare with childish men, Susanne gives Mertens moral guidance. She use her kindness to keeps his righteousness. An important difference between The Murderers Are Among and the typical Western is the complicity of moral force in the movie. Mertens would shoot Bruckner in the end if the movie is a pure Western, but he does not.

  • Even though you don't quote directly from Shandley, your ideas are still connected very much, so you should at least reference those pages where you take the ideas from.
• by broke
• Through the two examples above,

  • This is a somewhat abrupt switch to the conclusion

17 more annotations...

• is a form of art which both informs how we think about the world and transforms how we feel and act within the world.

  • Well put!
• Because a film is not threatening, it is thoughtlessly absorbed, ironically making its messages all the more potent.
• Film, people unthinkingly believe, cannot be art, because film makers make too much money!  Where there is money, there can be no true art.

  • Good point!
•  That dynamic connection between the work and the viewer is what makes film art.

  • Again, good point!
• without any creativity.

  • I would argue: without any apparent creativity. For, once you pay close attention to how many gaps a film contains and how many leaps it makes, it's kind of fascinating that our brain turns that into a coherent, linear, and complete story/narrative...
• A central tool for analyzing films is the sequence analysis, and it pops up in academic and scholarly papers all the time
• By examining the portrayal of the characters in this film to see what is encouraged and what is discouraged, Leal reaches the conclusion that the film rejects Freddy’s “Americanized version of masculinity” and attempts to create a new German ideal masculinity in the character of Jan.
• The relative position of Freddy to Jan is what supports Leal’s conclusion.  When Jan is first seen, he is sitting up high on the diving board, and the camera looks up at him from below, creating a sense of reverence and respect.  Even when Jan climbs down from the diving board, the angle and position of the camera makes him appear taller than Freddy, even though they are in reality quite similar in height.

  • good example for illustrating the value of sequence analysis.
• not a sample of any that had been seen before.  It did not come from the older generation of men or from a different culture’s masculine ideal; it was a German creation dreamed up by film makers with the hope that it would catch on among viewers.

  • That's a bit too rigid--it did have elements of a pre-1933 German masculinity, which it fused with something new...

7 more annotations...

• Speaking of film, few people nowadays will consider it as a form of art or a path of studying something deeper

  • This is very general, and also not quite true. A lot of people treat film as art; try to find another way to open your essay.
• your sanity will be questioned undoubtedly (true story!)

  • Isn't that a bit too embellished?
• or became important sources of historical exploration.

  • this sentence part looks added-on in a strange way, perhaps it might be better to just cut the sentence short.
• In Robert R. Shandley’s article, he

  • A better formulation would be: "In his article '...', Robert Shandley shows..."
• nstead of facing the reality directly, Staudte made this film with self-pity and dealt with the war criminal in a more tender way.

  • Is that your view or the view of Shandley?
• theme of how Germans dealing with the post-war lives

  • grammar/syntax!
• communist

  • This we don't really know...
• makes comparison

  • makes a comparison OR makes comparisons
• perfectly clean from politics,

  • Perfectly clean? Or, perhaps, influenced by another kind of politics, one that wasn't as overt as the ideological messages about the DEFA.
• not being demonstrated the identity of Kurt’s antifascism group

  • I don't understand that part of the sentence
• n Rotation was

  • plural: were communists
• being

10 more annotations...