Between Karl May and Karl Marx: The DEFA Indianerfilme (1965-1983)

Gemünden, Gerd

doi:10.2307/3137409

Cited by 6 publications

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“…See May (1893May ( , 1894May ( , 1897 and Wendlandt andReinl (1992, 2005). The Winnetou motif also found different expressions in the former West and East German Republics; the Federal Republic of Germany had its faux-Winnetou in French actor Pierre Brice, and in the German Democratic Republic, the German-Serbian actor and director Gojko Mitic became the star of a great number of films about Indians and also impersonated Winnetou in the 1960s; on Indians in German films, see Gemünden (2001); on Indians in German film in general, see Knopf (2008).…”

Section: Fundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Calgary Stampede Through a Cultural Studies Perspective

Rosenthal

Schäfer

2015

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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This essay presents the conception, outline, and results of a cultural and literary studies graduate course held at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and at the Calgary Stampede in 2013. Students of English and American Studies from Germany developed multimedia projects about “Western” culture, and the Stampede as a Canadian sample of “Westernness,” with a special interest in concepts of authenticity and spectacle. In the present contribution, we focus on the students’ response to the Stampede and on their projects, with topics ranging from animal rights to food culture, and cowboy dress codes to First Nations legacy.

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Section: Fundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Calgary Stampede Through a Cultural Studies Perspective

Rosenthal

Schäfer

2015

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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“…The process required exposing Europeans to the American way of life and the American version of democracy through bombarding them with images of America, both realistic and imaginary. 56 Thus, although cinematic images of the American West influenced the formation of postwar American identity, the myth of the American frontier had a tremendous impact upon the shaping of German identities during the Cold War as well.…”

Section: Westerns In the Cold Warmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This letter, however, was sent after she received no response to two letters, and she was still waiting for a confirmation she requested before. 56 Having no contact with the film studio regarding the unapproved changes to the script, Welskopf-Henrich sent a letter to the Minister of Culture, Guenter Witt, regarding the ways in which the film studio cooperated with her. She pointed to the two main problems that needed immediate attention.…”

Section: Welskopf-henrich and The Making Of The First East German Wesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yugoslavs also became enthusiastic about Karl May films and Lex Barker reminisced that he even received a congratulatory telegram from a Yugoslav official that read: "Love and kisses, Your Tito." 56 While architects tried to recreate the American West, any viewer familiar with the American West immediately understands that it is only a replica of the original landscape. However, the blending of European and American landscapes resulted in the creation of a transnational German identity that proved so convincing that many West Germans accepted it as their imaginary "Heimat."…”

Section: Landscape: a Transnational American Westmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a similar vein, much of the missionary enthusiasm of May's German Westmaenner is translated into mere action film. "56 Although the films do not emphasize Old Shaterhand's German identity, Tim Bergfelder pointed out that his "physiognomy (his months instead of a quick surrender of the German forces following the American declaration of war. He also mentioned that Germany did not consist only ofNazis.…”

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Cold War Rivalry and the Perception of the American West

Goral¹

2014

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As the competing ideologies of the Cold War became crucial components of the rivalry, cultural influences gained symbolic power as well. American popular culture had such a tremendous impact upon Europe that the states of the communist bloc denounced it as cultural imperialism. The Western, combined with cultural power and cultural vi beliefs, analyzed here as as a major cold war weapon of influence, contributes to an understanding of transatlantic intercultural transfer, best illustrated by the production of German Westerns between 1962 and 1983. This dissertation demonstrates how the adversaries of the Cold War endeavored to create two distinct and unique German identities. This proved to be a complicated process whereby two newly created states chose myths from another country located in another hemisphere to come to terms with their own dark past and articulate a vision for a better future. In their endeavor to claim legitimacy, the German cinematic representation of the American West became an important cultural weapon of mass dissemination during the Cold War. This project examines the following juxtapositions: American vis-à-vis German and East German vis-à-vis West German. The primary questions the study answers are: how do East German Westerns compare with both West German and American Westerns and what do they teach about the nature of intercultural transfer between both sides of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War? How does the portrayal of the United States in German Westerns modify historians' understanding of the role and image of the United States in the Cold War? Ultimately, this dissertation determines whether both East and West Germany produced Westerns because they were influenced by American cultural images and whether through the use of this very American genre their own productions acquired special meaning. In this case, it is the creation of an American identity, based on the American myth of the frontier, by non-Americans for non-Americans during an ideological conflict that spanned the intersection of various cultural realms.

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Have Dialectic, Will Travel

Broe

2012

A Companion to German Cinema

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Between Karl May and Karl Marx: The DEFA Indianerfilme (1965-1983)

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

The Calgary Stampede Through a Cultural Studies Perspective

The Calgary Stampede Through a Cultural Studies Perspective

Cold War Rivalry and the Perception of the American West

Have Dialectic, Will Travel

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