TV:postmodernism and Deutschland 83

1) What were the classic media representations of the Cold War?

Good vs bad tension between the soviets and west.

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

 

It provides a good example because it create a relationship with the pastand the first episode of Deutschland 83 Quantum Jump does this with intertitles that frame its historical context.

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

 

 The pictures in the openeing scene theses are significant because this pictures a story without even telling it. It uses real life documents to tell the story of how close the cold war was to a nucular war. This could reel the attention of the audience watching making them more intrgiued and intrested in the show.

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

The scene had people dancing laughing and drinking beer and had 99 luftballoon this scene subverts it as the east side of germany is presented free. They have freedom to do what they want and desire.

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

some aspects which can offer is postmoderen elements is when martine was in the supermarket and the song sweet dream are made of this played. Another element could be the montage scene where martin was training to be a spain for the east germans this gave elements of james bond.

6) Finally, how does the article apply postmodern theory to Deutschland 83 and link it to the potential target audience?

Jean Baudrillard with the idea of simulacar this is when their is no truth that its not realistic their is no certainty and Deutschland 83 can how we see things in history.

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)?

 

Advertising can make or break a company irrespective of the quality of the product they are selling, a poor quality product can be commercially successful if it has great advertising whilst an excellent product can fail without it. Where once the reality of the product would create its success or failure (e.g. how wellit worked), now the media reality of advertising determines the success of products.

 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. Cohen is only ever interviewed ‘in character’ so his creations have a voice but he does not.

 

2) What is Fredric Jameson's idea of 'historical deafness'? How can the idea of 'historical deafness' be applied to Deutschland 83?

 

This, according to Jameson, is the idea of historical deafness. He argues that as mediaization 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.

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?

 

Pop music 

5) What is bricolage? What examples of bricolage can be found in Deutschland 83?

 

Bricolage refers to the process of adapting and juxtaposing old and new texts, images, ideas or narratives to produce whole new meanings.

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.

 

Meta-narratives (or grand narratives (Lyotard) literally meaning ‘big stories’) are the ideas and concepts that have been used to attempt to explain the way the world is and the way it should be. Human history is full of these grand narratives from religion to political/economic theories. Communism, Fascism, Liberalism and Socialism are some examples of grand narratives that have been applied in various contexts in the last 100 years. In postmodern society it is argued that people no longer believe there are absolute ways to explain reality.

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

 

Because4 it is written from a soilder perpective which isn't normally seen within media 

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

 

The key scene whihc provides this is whne martin is in the supermarket and the song sweet dreams are made of these and how the supermarket was neatly stocked as if they were using Andy worhols this is because it can show how the scene emotions where as if we were martin himself and we felt how he was as if he was trapped and imprisoned