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2002) Date: Thursday, December 12, 2002 Report: German Studies Association 2002 Session Nr. 14, Nazi Entertainment Cinema I: Machineries of Spectacle Moderator: H.-B. Moeller, University of Texas at Austin "Motors and Machines, Robots and Rockets: Homespun Sci-Fi Film in the Third Reich" Forentine Strzelczyk, University of Calgary "Schuenzel vs. Riefenstahl: Triumph of the Witz" Ted Rippey, Bowling Green State University "The Sublime and the Spectacular: Stars in Third Reich Film." Erica Carter, University of Warwick Commentator: Cary Nathenson, The Public Square, Chicago We heard three papers that remind us of the richness (if one can use such a word) of the material at hand. It is well accepted, at least in the past 10 years or so, that National Socialist film history is about much more than the 14% of the nearly 1100 films that are usually categorized as "propaganda" films. All three presentations also recognized, however, to varying degrees, the extent to which questions of political intention and effect are bound to the themes and aesthetics of the so-called "entertainment" feature films. The panels on Nazi entertainment cinema reflect the welcome and overdue shift in scholarship on Nazi film toward a "normalization" of research in the field. Oddly enough, "normal" is a good thing here. Nazi-era films are finally subject to the same rigors of scholarship investigating their history, techniques, ideology, sociology, and aesthetics as are applied to texts from other historical periods. Now that the "Sonderweg" approach to Nazi film-they are either sinister propaganda or harmless entertainment-seems to be losing its grasp on scholarship, we can hope more a productive and nuanced examination of the material than that which has dominated in the past. The possibilities for a new critique of Nazi-era film were further underlined by the fact that all three papers dealt with films from the same "early-middle period" of NS film (1935-1936). This served as a useful reminder to us all to continue to guard against sweeping generalities about "Nazi" film; we need to avoid turning the opening of scholarship on NS film into a crass division between "propaganda" and "entertainment" movies, as if these were two discrete categories with their own invariable structures. Thus, Florentine Strzelczyk's discussion of a rather unique phenomenon, the NS science fiction film, was refreshingly obscure. I doubt there will now be an explosion of work on science fiction films, as the genre seems to belong exclusively to three films of Harry Piel. Yet as limited as this focus may be, Strzelczyk hinted at broader connections to NS culture more generally: the discourse on science and technology, and, specifically, the legacy of the _Neue Sachlichkeit_. She raised questions about economic class and audience identification in these films, as well as Piel's structural tensions between the films' narratives and their often conflicting visual signals. One could also extend this exploration to ask about the relationship between overtly science fiction films and the use of fantasy and the fantastic more generally in the period. Where, for example, might _Muenchhausen_ (1943) fit on this generic spectrum? Strzelczyk's discussion introduced much of the audience, I suspect, to uncharted film territory. Ted Rippey highlighted the vicarious power experienced by the ordinary German in a mass movement through an innovative comparison between Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda and Reinhold Schuenzel's comedy. He contends that Schuenzel's _Amphitryon_ invokes parallels to _Triumph of the Will_ (both 1935) in a manner that conveys a subversive message. I wondered if we were witnessing unique acts of subversive filmmaking by Schuenzel, or if there were elements he shared with other films of the comedic genre? That is to ask, to what extent are film techniques, such as the dissolve, subject to different semiotics? Rippey implied that Schuenzel used dissolve in _Amphitryon_ to empower his audience to see differently than the dominant ideology portrayed by Riefenstahl. This provokes the question, however, of whether contemporary audiences possessed a consciousness of both films sufficient to lead them to this radical step. That is, of course, assuming a sociological-reception oriented reading of Rippey's thesis. For the modern academic critic, the comparison is more convincing. Erica Carter's paper offered a specific look at one aspect of film technique-lighting-and its use in developing the Nazi film start. While Carter's focus was the narrowest of the three, her presentation nonetheless has broad potential application. Certainly, all films must be lit, and the question of the Nazi film star applies across genres, directors, and genders. Yet Carter's paper, like the others, revealed important ambivalences and contradictions in Nazi film culture and Nazi culture in general. Carter applied Kantian aesthetic philosophy to argue that Carl Froehlich was contributing to a "truly German" notion of the cinematic sublime. But Carter's description of Froehlich's ambition must somehow co-exist with films like _Glueckskinder_ (1936) that were doing their level best to import Hollywood style into a German context. It seems that Hans Dieter Schaefer's thesis of a split consciousness in Nazi culture between American modernity and German authenticity was the sub-text of all three papers. For the critical reception of these films, however, the more salient question seems to be how to weave our readings of individual genres, directors or other sub-categories of film into a richer understanding of the entire era without sacrificing our newfound sensitivity to the texts. Cary Nathenson, The Public Square, Chicago For a complete listing of all sessions at the 2002 German Studies Association Conference, please visit <http://www.g-s-a.org>.
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