Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog tasks

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?

Germany during the cold war was usually represented by the media through  placing the East and West as binary opposites through a lens of good versus evil favoring the West, however Deutschland 83 slightly subverts those stereotypes by centering the show from the perspective of a young , Stasi officer and the contrast in the party scenes in East vs the West this therefore helps paint a picture of the struggles and lives of those living in the East at the time.

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

 

Its literal premise is a bricolage between the cold war and spy genre/ 21st century media 

3) Pick out some of the aspects of the opening of episode 1 and explain why they are significant.

From the opening postmodernity is established in this text through its immediately shown relationship with the past utilizing real footage from Reagans "evil empire" speech helps establish the historical context the show resides in. Furthermore Later when Martin is in the midst of an interrogation it parodies a traditional interrogations ending in a comedic fashion. Later the decision for Martin to go under cover is made in an office recreating 1980s mise en scene alongside tense and reflective exchanges.

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

Whereas in stereotypical depictions of east Germany they are cold and callous the only one that manages to fit that description is Lenora whereas the rest are shown in a bright, sun lit garden setting drinking beers and dancing to music. This reimagines east Germany beyond the operators of the restrictive state of humanity brought on by the soviet union and instead captures them through the care and affection of everyday family and friends

5) What aspects of the episode set in West Germany offer postmodern elements?

The montage editing, jump cuts, soundtrack and humorous insertion of pop culture references as Martin learns different pronunciations of German words during the training sequence 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?

Based on Baudrillard's idea of simulacra which are representations that depict things with no origin. As we can't know for certain how they would really behave at the time we are seeing a re-enactment of the time heavily influenced by the modern day.

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)?

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.

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 medialization 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. This is then able to relate to Deutschland 83 as we are learning about the cold war from a fictional piece of media centered around that time period with the juxtaposition between the real life documents and recordings of the time heavily highlighting this.

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

The modern rise of celebrities launched through 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.

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?

In postmodern culture Andy Warhol created multi-coloured prints of the Mona Lisa (high art) and Campbell’s soup cans (low art),  Pop music (low art) often samples classical music (high art) , 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?

This refers to the juxtaposition of old and new texts to produce new meanings and an example of where this can be seen in Deutschland 83 is that contrast between the fictional narrative and Reagans real evil empire speech Lenora reacts to.

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.

Although the audience would usually be made to side with the west within the cold war media instead we are given the chance to build a personal relationship ( Blumer and Katz) with the east through martin. Without the building of a personal relationship the audience would be unable to continue on with the show eg the briefcase scene the tension is only fully established if we the audience want him to not get caught.In doing this the creators as time progressed chose to challenge the conventional ideas the cold war and add some narrative nuance to it through the idea of a spy thriller whilst also teaching us from the perspective of the soviet union,

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

The show combines elements from diverse sources to create new meanings. For instance, it juxtaposes high culture and pop culture by contrasting the West German garden party, where classical music is performed, with the East German gathering, where attendees enjoy pop music. This blend of cultural references highlights the differences and similarities between East and West Germany during the Cold War. ​It also integrates authentic 1980s media, such as Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" speech, and features period-specific music like Nena's "99 Luftballons" and Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." This blending of real historical content with fictional narratives serves as pastiche, paying homage to the era without satirical intent.

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

The opening scene begins showcasing the bricolage between the fictional narrative and the real history behind the cold war with Reagan's real 'evil empire 'speech being watched by the fictional character Lenora, which is also shown in the briefcase scene when real documents from that time period were on display with our fictional character looking through it. These two scenes provide examples of postmodernism as they combine elements from the past and the present sources to create new perspectives and meanings in order for us to gain an understanding of the easts perspective.