Memory of the GDR in Films Made by (West) German Authors in the First Decade of United Germany
Andrzej Gwóźdź
gwan1@poczta.onet.plUniversity of Silesia (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-5942
Abstract
The article is devoted to the memory mechanisms observed in West German authors’ films on the subject of the GDR, especially the turn of 1989 and 1990. It mainly concerns prosthetic memory constructed on the basis of media coverage, and not direct participation in the events (episodic memory), which was typical for film representations of the FRG authors (including Volker Schlöndorff, Helma Sanders-Brahms, Margarethe von Trotta). Focusing on the first decade after the unification also gives one a chance to capture functional memory in its rudimentary phase, as it exploits selected and permanent motifs, facts and events (oppressive everyday life of the GDR, Stasi supervision, events from the breakthrough period, particularly the fall of the Wall, the beginning of united Germany) in order to shape and legitimize identity.
Keywords:
memory media, prosthetic memory, episodic memory, functional memory, collective memory, German turn of 1989 and 1990References
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.9788323534174
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Authors
Andrzej Gwóźdźgwan1@poczta.onet.pl
University of Silesia Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-5942
Full Professor at the Institute of Cultural Studies, University of Silesia (Katowice). For many years he was also a researcher and lecturer at the University of Lodz, as well as a visiting professor at universities in Konstanz and Shanghai, and a lecturer at universities in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany, and Latvia. He is particularly interested in the theory of film and new media, and the anthropology of imagery. His recent publications include two monographs on German cinema: Zaklinanie rzeczywistości. Filmy niemieckie i ich historie 1933-1949 [Enchanting the Reality: German Films and Their Histories 1933-1949] (2018) and Kino na biegunach. Filmy niemieckie i ich historie 1949-1991 [Rocking Between the Poles: German Films and Their Histories 1949-1991] (2019). Moreover, he is the author of Powtórka z Kutza [Revising the Works of Kazimierz Kutz] (2019), as well as the originator and editor of several dozen anthologies and collective volumes on media theory, history of film reflection, history of Upper Silesian cinema, and various filmmakers. His recent publications include: Z góry widać lepiej. Niedokończone rozmowy z Kazimierzem Kutzem. Rozmawiał Andrzej Gwóźdź [You Get a Better View from Above: Unfinished Conversations with Kazimierz Kutz – Interviewed by Andrzej Gwóźdź] (2019), Bauhausowcy i neoplastycy o filmie i kinie. Artykuły – dokumenty – scenariusze 1921-1936 [Bauhaus Artists and Neoplasticists on Film and Cinema: Articles – Documents – Scripts 1921-1936] (2023). In 2005-2009 he was the president of the Polish Association of Cultural Studies; in 2006-2014 he was the editor-in-chief of the quarterly Kultura Współczesna. He is the founder and, since 2015, the vice-president of the Polish Society for Film and Media Studies.
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