Postmodernism & Deutschland 83: blog task

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 - you'll need to save the factsheet to USB or email it to yourself in order to complete this at home. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:

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)?

The characters Bruno and Borat would be more known than the actor who portrays the character. The characters seem more real to the audience than the actors i.e. Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat. 

The media reality is more real than the object itself. The example given is advertising. A poor quality product could sell well if it had a good marketing technique but a good quality product can fail with a poor marketing strategy.

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

As modernisation increases the historical context of the culture is lost. In Deutschland '83 modern music was a draft from the old culture of music in the 60s to 80s. The show uses classic songs from the 80s that have lost its historical context but the show is a recreation of this time period so it gives the historical context of songs like 'Sweet Dreams' back to the modern audience.

3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea of 'style over substance'?

People are more willing to buy a product based on the brand image than the actual quality of the product. Also, people are becoming famous because they have been featured on a famous show rather than a talent or ability being identified - Big Brother.

Jameson refers to this as cultural depthlessness, similar to Baudrillard's theory where meaning is lost and the surface representation is the only thing that is seen. But this can be countered like when the death of a celebrity occurs, the emotions and outcry replaces the shallowness of 'style over substance'.

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?

Hugh art like visual arts were only accessible to the elites and low art to the masses. Pop music(low) often samples classical(high). Advertising (low) makes references to visual art (high) or uses classical music (high) to sell a product.

Low art is accessible to the masses only. Back in East Germany the music in the house was popular culture(low art), and then in the West the girl singing was popular culture low art but the father liked high art classical. The elite or ones in power have access to high art.

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

Bricolage: The juxtaposition between old and new texts; images; ideas and narratives to create new meanings.

The opening scene referencing Karl Marx and Shakespeare books in education is a reference to high and low culture. In the spy training sequence the distinction between the brands we saw in the 80s and what we see now is also bricolage. The speeches of the leaders in supermarket scene and the title sequence of the East and West German speeches are all archived footage.

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.

Audiences love to see archived footage of the speeches and love the 80s culture of tech and music. The 'grand-narrative' of the show are the events around Able Archer but the show does focus on the fall of communism and the USSR. Meta-narratives were therefore less applicable to the world as communism was falling. Postmodernism doesn't look to one single truth to explain the world, therefore Deutschland '83 is more postmodern.

7) Read the analysis of media concepts and postmodern approaches on page 3 of the factsheet. Choose three of the concepts and write an example from Deutschland 83. Clue: genre, representation, ideology and audience would all be good options for this task.

The representation of the main character from someone from East Germany as a spy. Normally he would be the antagonist in a traditional Cold War series but as the protagonist it subverts the expectations.

The main character Martin/Moritz is a spy that is seen as the enemy to the rest of the world, but is trying to protect the East from attacks. So, from this he is seen with god intentions, but when he has to harm the general's relative the party, the bad intentions are seen as evil normally but he has to do it to save his cover, so once again is seen with good intentions. There is no clear cut binary opposition, it is subjective.

The idea that different groups of the audience respond differently is evident. The UK and US had a positive outlook on the show but the German native audience didn't like it as much. Audiences are active when it comes to decision making and the performance of a media text.

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

The entire show is based on real events but the narrative of the show is fictional. The mise-en-scene in the scenes are used to make the show feel as authentic as possible to strengthen the narrative. The characters are fictional in a sense, therefore the hyper-real narrative gives the show the postmodernist aspects.

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

The spy scene is probably one of the best examples. The training sequence has that James Bond feel where there is a two minute montage spanning several weeks watching his skills develop but also the cinematography is liked we are watching him and that we are spying on him. The intertextaulity mixed with the mise-en-scene which reinforces the realism of the 80s makes this scene a great example of postmodernism.

10) Why might audiences enjoy the postmodern aspects of Deutschland 83? What audience pleasures might elements of bricolage or pastiche provide viewers?

The show is based around the popular culture of the 80s. This type of show would usually be watched by the masses, the consumers and not the producers. The aspects of intertextaulity is something that people enjoy a lot down to the tech to the costumes and sounds. The bricolage aspects of authenticity with the archived footage and the documents of the East German targeted strikes gives the audiences pleasure that the detail was looked into in depth. The Pastiche of the mise-en-scene such as the cars, costumes, music and TV Set gives audiences the pleasure of nostalgia.