Module Description
This module will introduce students to filmmaking in the divided Germany of the postwar period. It will examine the reestablishment of German cinema by the Allies and look at the role of cinema in the denazification and democratisation of Germany. We will look at the cinema of DEFA (East Germany) and the New German Cinema (West Germany) as case studies in the attempt to establish a new national cinema in Germany in the aftermath of National Socialism.
The module aims to allow students to conduct a comparative analysis of cinema in the two German states, and to consider definitions of German national cinema(s). The course aims to introduce the cinematic traditions, styles and genres associated with East and West German cinema, including their respective approaches to Hollywood and to the European new waves, to the representation of politics, history and the national past, of gender and sexuality, of youth and non-conformity, and also their use of genre and popular, art house and experimental styles.
