Media resonance and conflicting memories: Historical event movies as conflict zone

Abstract

The three-part German television drama Generation War (2013) created a national and subsequently international debate about the past and present of wartime memories. While these discussions were framed nationally as intergenerational dialogue, in the context of a unified Europe that is still struggling with its own self-perception and identity, the framework of international disputes about interpretation of the war was marked by conflicting memories. As a result, and within the increasingly interdependent network of popular television, transnational media and conflicting European memories, Generation War became a televised conflict zone. This article analyses the film as a historical event movie that borrows central aspects from the docudrama genre. It argues that the extra-textual dimension of such programmes is gaining more and more importance for creating resonance effects and thereby also delineates a model of media resonance that reflects the mainly overlooked role that resonance plays with regard to memory processes.