WEEK FIVE
Our reading for Thorsten's class on tuesday was about the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe; the decision to create such a memorial, the extensive debate over what sort of memorial would be appropriate, and the final outcome of such debate. Because the memorial is meant to commemorate the murdered Jews of Europe, a large portion of tuesday's class was devoted to a brief overview of the events that lead to the decision to exterminate the Jews of Europe. I felt that this was important so that when discussing such a memorial and further issues, we are all on the same page as far as major events go. After Young's reading and class discussion, I really see how difficult holocaust commemoration in Germany must be, and that there are several factors that can influence such work- politics, artistic expression, and personal emotion. On friday we visited the memorial. I have been there a few times, and this time was not much different. Aesthetically, I love the memorial. I love walking through it and feeling lost and alone, and to me it is so powerful in that in can evoke such feelings. In this way it is a successful memorial, but I do not feel that it is specific to the holocaust. Several things can make one feel lost or alone, and I feel the memorial should be more specific to the holocaust. However, we also visited the museum under the memorial, which I found very powerful. I was very moved by the different family histories and the room with letters from victims. To me, the museum was much more moving and more of a commemoration to the murdered Jews of Europe.
This weeks film screening was A Berlin Romance, dir. Gerhard Klein and Wolfgang Kohlhaase. I really enjoyed this film, especially because it had more of a storyline and it was less politically active. However, I enjoyed the subtle policitcal voice and the slight "push" toward the east. To me, Uschi promoted the east and communism by giving an example of what NOT to do. Throughout the film, her dream is to become a model and go to the west with Hans, but she continues to be scorned by her parents for making foolish decisions. When she finally decides to go to the modeling school in the west, she backs out at first but is encouraged by Hans to apply, but it ends up a disaster because she is not able to pay for the tuition. When she goes home after staying out with Hans all day, her mom yells at her and Uschi appologizes and tells her mother that she is right, and reinforces this by asking her permition to invite Hans over for dinner. Hans to me represents the emptiness of the west. Throughout the film he is struggling to find work and his mother is always troubling him about his unemployment. Furthermore, everything he "owns"- the radio and the apartment- are not really his at all. He cannot pay for the radio and he pretends that the apartment is his to impress Uschi. We experience his guilt and shame when he finally admits this to Uschi, and he is almost repenting for this empty capitalist ways. As a GDR film, I feel that it successfully employs "Hollywood-esque" aspects in order to glorify communist ideals.
Film group. The majority of this week's work was dedicated to our short film project. Our assignment was the acoustic film. We had a collection of sounds from both Koldenhof and Berlin, and from them we wanted to create a comparison of urban society and the country. We wanted to make two crescendoes; one from the country sounds and one from the city sounds. I think we successfully completed the project and I was satisfied with our results. Thanks to looping and overlapping, we were able to build sounds upon each other and create a "world" of sound. Props to Kerry for organizing and labeling all of our clips!
die vierte Woche
FOURTH WEEK
I've been in Germany for over a month now. I can hardly believe it; time passes so quickly. At this point in time I am worrying that I am completely failing at one of my intended goals for the program-improving my German. I have been speaking German with store clerks and the like, but it is not enough because I still find myself getting lost in conversation. Perhaps I need to immerse myself more intensely into the language and force myself to improve. Confidence is no problem, but experience is lacking. We'll see...
In Thorsten's class this week we discussed the Bayerisches Viertel, Schoeneberg, and the Stihl-Snock art/memorial exhibition. To begin with, we talked about the evolving state of German "memorial" culture beginning in the 1970s with examples such as the "excavate where you stand" project. Memorials were becoming much more open and honest, confronting Germany's past in a much more pulp manner than ever before. The reading pointed out that when the Stihl-Snock memorial was first installed, people called the police in fear that the signs were neo-Nazi propaganda. This reaction by the people tells me that never before had German people been confronted with such an honest memorial and because of that they were still very sensitive to the subject. I feel that the Stihl-Stock project is important because it affects people on a much more personal level; it doesn't merely say how many Jews were murdered but informs people of the day-to-day activities that Jews were prohibited from doing, activities that we take for granted every day but without them our lives would be much more difficult and less enjoyable. The everyday context of this memorial makes it more personal and effective, i believe.
For our weekly film screening we watched Rossillini's Germany: Year Zero. This film is a rubble film made by an Italian director about a boy and his family trying to survive in post-war Berlin. I really enjoyed this film. What was most interesting to me was the portrayal of Edmund and the pressure placed on hiim by his family. It was almost as if the adults were occupied with recovering from the war and the youth were forced to pick up the pieces. This theme of children coping with post-war tragedy was foreshadowed in the opening narration. Rubble films are unlike any film I have seen before; the everyday actions that take place in the setting of destroyed city blocks is somewhat surreal to me and yet so symbolic.
Our film group met this week for about an hour in a cafe and again we threw around some new ideas. We always have these great conversations and come up with such great stuff. We are still refining our film idea more and more, which is good because it makes the project as a whole more managable. I feel we now have a more clear idea of specific scenes we are going to film. Before we get too far into our major film we have to finish our acoustic film. We have some good sounds, but the hard part is going to be putting them together in an interesting way. We are hoping to really contrast Berlin with the countryside...through sounds only. I'm pretty excited to pursue this.
I've been in Germany for over a month now. I can hardly believe it; time passes so quickly. At this point in time I am worrying that I am completely failing at one of my intended goals for the program-improving my German. I have been speaking German with store clerks and the like, but it is not enough because I still find myself getting lost in conversation. Perhaps I need to immerse myself more intensely into the language and force myself to improve. Confidence is no problem, but experience is lacking. We'll see...
In Thorsten's class this week we discussed the Bayerisches Viertel, Schoeneberg, and the Stihl-Snock art/memorial exhibition. To begin with, we talked about the evolving state of German "memorial" culture beginning in the 1970s with examples such as the "excavate where you stand" project. Memorials were becoming much more open and honest, confronting Germany's past in a much more pulp manner than ever before. The reading pointed out that when the Stihl-Snock memorial was first installed, people called the police in fear that the signs were neo-Nazi propaganda. This reaction by the people tells me that never before had German people been confronted with such an honest memorial and because of that they were still very sensitive to the subject. I feel that the Stihl-Stock project is important because it affects people on a much more personal level; it doesn't merely say how many Jews were murdered but informs people of the day-to-day activities that Jews were prohibited from doing, activities that we take for granted every day but without them our lives would be much more difficult and less enjoyable. The everyday context of this memorial makes it more personal and effective, i believe.
For our weekly film screening we watched Rossillini's Germany: Year Zero. This film is a rubble film made by an Italian director about a boy and his family trying to survive in post-war Berlin. I really enjoyed this film. What was most interesting to me was the portrayal of Edmund and the pressure placed on hiim by his family. It was almost as if the adults were occupied with recovering from the war and the youth were forced to pick up the pieces. This theme of children coping with post-war tragedy was foreshadowed in the opening narration. Rubble films are unlike any film I have seen before; the everyday actions that take place in the setting of destroyed city blocks is somewhat surreal to me and yet so symbolic.
Our film group met this week for about an hour in a cafe and again we threw around some new ideas. We always have these great conversations and come up with such great stuff. We are still refining our film idea more and more, which is good because it makes the project as a whole more managable. I feel we now have a more clear idea of specific scenes we are going to film. Before we get too far into our major film we have to finish our acoustic film. We have some good sounds, but the hard part is going to be putting them together in an interesting way. We are hoping to really contrast Berlin with the countryside...through sounds only. I'm pretty excited to pursue this.
Die dritte Woche
WEEK THREE.
Week three began with Thorsten's discussion about the exhibition of Jews. The reading was interesting to me because I did not know that Jews had such large exhibits at world's fairs and other international gatherings. We discussed the differences in various exhibits, namely who put on the exhibits and what the focus of the exhibits were. For example, some exhibits were intended to emphasize that Jews belong among the major cultures of the world whereas others emphasized religious tolerance for all. It was interesting to learn about how Jews attempted to show themselves to the world and which aspects of their religion and culture they wanted to focus on. Attempting to embody and portray an entire culture into one exhibit is an impossible project; it is therefore understandable how each of the exhibits focused on one major aspect of Jewish identity or attempted to prove their worthiness in different ways.
Our weekly screening was Kuhle Wampe: Oder wem gehoert die Welt?. This movie was different to me because it had a story line and some sense of character development. I enjoyed the beginning scenes with people frantically rushing around the city to find jobs. Based on the focus on the working class and the enforcement of working-class ideals, I can see how one would view the film as a political propaganda film; however, Kuhle Wampe is much more interesting and aesthetically pleasing than typical political films. Also the social situation, pregnancy and marriage, presented in the movie was interesting considering the time and place in which it took place.
Our weekly excursion with Thorsten was to Rosenstrasse and the New Synagogue. I saw the Rosenstrasse movie about two years ago so I knew a little about the event. It was pretty cool to see the actual street and learn about the differing viewpoints from the two historians about the significance of the event. Personally, I feel that it was very courageous of these women to stand up to Nazis and demand that their husbands be release, but I feel that anyone in that situation would fight for their spouse. I would be interested to find out how many, if any, Germans who were not related to one of the Jewish men fought for their release. I feel that it would be much more remarkable and important of an event if non-related Germans fought for the Jewish men as well.
Film group! Christopher and I did some filming at the Holocaust memorial. We got some good footage but I see how difficult filming is going to be. We have tweaked our film idea a little more, this time relating the moods that one experiences in the city to the moods associated with adapting to a foreign city: disorientation, loneliness, fear, excitement, awe, joy, indifference....sounds cool.
Week three began with Thorsten's discussion about the exhibition of Jews. The reading was interesting to me because I did not know that Jews had such large exhibits at world's fairs and other international gatherings. We discussed the differences in various exhibits, namely who put on the exhibits and what the focus of the exhibits were. For example, some exhibits were intended to emphasize that Jews belong among the major cultures of the world whereas others emphasized religious tolerance for all. It was interesting to learn about how Jews attempted to show themselves to the world and which aspects of their religion and culture they wanted to focus on. Attempting to embody and portray an entire culture into one exhibit is an impossible project; it is therefore understandable how each of the exhibits focused on one major aspect of Jewish identity or attempted to prove their worthiness in different ways.
Our weekly screening was Kuhle Wampe: Oder wem gehoert die Welt?. This movie was different to me because it had a story line and some sense of character development. I enjoyed the beginning scenes with people frantically rushing around the city to find jobs. Based on the focus on the working class and the enforcement of working-class ideals, I can see how one would view the film as a political propaganda film; however, Kuhle Wampe is much more interesting and aesthetically pleasing than typical political films. Also the social situation, pregnancy and marriage, presented in the movie was interesting considering the time and place in which it took place.
Our weekly excursion with Thorsten was to Rosenstrasse and the New Synagogue. I saw the Rosenstrasse movie about two years ago so I knew a little about the event. It was pretty cool to see the actual street and learn about the differing viewpoints from the two historians about the significance of the event. Personally, I feel that it was very courageous of these women to stand up to Nazis and demand that their husbands be release, but I feel that anyone in that situation would fight for their spouse. I would be interested to find out how many, if any, Germans who were not related to one of the Jewish men fought for their release. I feel that it would be much more remarkable and important of an event if non-related Germans fought for the Jewish men as well.
Film group! Christopher and I did some filming at the Holocaust memorial. We got some good footage but I see how difficult filming is going to be. We have tweaked our film idea a little more, this time relating the moods that one experiences in the city to the moods associated with adapting to a foreign city: disorientation, loneliness, fear, excitement, awe, joy, indifference....sounds cool.
Weeks One and Two
WEEK ONE
After surviving my hectic travels in Frankfurt and Munich I am relieved to finally arrive in Berlin where I have a place to stay for more than a night. But more so I am excited to be back in the city that I loved when I briefly visited it before and the city about which I am going to be learning a great deal and making a film. On our first afternoon in the city we took the U-Bahn to Potsdammerplatz and walked around the Sony center. We then walked towards the Brandenburger Tor and Unter den Linden, stopping at the Holocaust memorial to walk through the vast landscape of stone blocks. As I was refreshing my memory about where certain landmarks in the city are I was also re-discovering how great the city really is and how excited I am to be able to come back and get to know it in much greater detail.
On our first day of class, we watched the film Displaced Person. Initially I felt slightly overwhelmed at the depth of the film and I was not sure what to think about the message that the film was trying to give. For me, the most powerful image in the film was the clip of Hitler approaching the Eiffel Tower with his comrades. The camera follows him as he walks toward the tower, and then he turns around slightly so you can see his facial profile. To me, this image embodies a “displaced person.” I felt that the clips of the women running along the train, frantically waving, where quite haunting. Whether or not they were actually waving to Hitler, the idea that he was the recipient of their affection was clearly conveyed in the context of the film. Overall, I feel that this film is a type of metafiction, as it takes clips from any context and places them together in such a way that collectively they conveys a universal message. The clips may not have all been from the same time, but when they are all put together, in that instant, it does not matter if they were not shot in sequence. I have seen this technique in a few novels but never before in film and I think it makes this film particularly interesting.
Our first class with Thorsten was exciting because I was not sure what to expect or what the specific outcome of the class was. The structure of the class is very interesting, and I think it will be great to learn about certain places and ideas on one day and then to visit these places on another. I feel that we are very fortunate to have Thorsten to be our “guide” to the sites of Jewish Berlin and Holocaust memorial, as he seems so experienced and competent in the subject matter. I look forward to visiting all of the sites, especially Sachsenhausen.
As far as the film project goes, my group met once last week to talk about our initial ideas and goals for the film. Immediately I could see that we all have very distinct ideas but our ideas all blend and mesh well with one another and we are all open to each other’s ideas. Our initial plan was to center the film around different modes of transportation in Berlin and how the city “moves”. I liked this idea because to me, postwar and “postwall” Berlin is all about new movement and connection. Because the city was divided for so long, I think it would be important to reflect on the idea that now people can move from east to west so freely. We wanted to use different modes of transportation, walking, biking, U-Bahn and S-Bahn, to show a kind of progression of movement in postwall Berlin. I am very excited about our ideas and I think we all work well together, but I am concerned about the actual film process. We have all these ideas and concepts but I have no idea how we are going to capture them and present them in a semi-cohesive matter.
WEEK TWO
This week we began on Tuesday with Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Big City. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the film and the use of montage. I feel that montage is a powerful way of conveying a certain feeling or idea. Most of the montage scenes that I have seen are used to portray a feeling of panic or excitement, but in Ruttmann’s film he uses montage throughout the film to portray several different feelings or moods. I feel that the film captures several different aspects of the city, from the industrial to the leisurely. Although the musical score is not the original music, I feel it complements the film very well. I think that a symphony itself is a good analogy for a city, as it is comprised of several different parts and comes together to function as a whole.
I am glad that we began this week discussing montage because in our group meeting we repeatedly brought up the use of montage in our film to portray certain feelings. I think it would be great to create a montage using several clips of the U-Bahn rushing by, along with other images, to portray the fast-paced and exciting side of Berlin. In all of our discussions about our film we bring up montage as a way of portraying a certain idea or concept.
Wednesday we met at the Jewish Museum for our first class with Thorsten. The class went really well and I feel we had some great discussions. It was interesting to start the discussion by talking about what we as Americans feel ashamed about our country’s past. I agreed with some of the issues brought up and disagreed with others, but I feel it was an interesting approach to begin our discussion on Holocaust memorial in modern-day Berlin. The readings for that day discussed the creation of memorials in Germany and the difference between memorials in the East from the West. In the East, memorials portrayed the suffering of the Jews as a resistance to fascism to promote the communist GDR. The monuments also failed to emphasize the fact that the majority of the victims were Jews, but that they were people of common beliefs that rose up together. These East German monuments took the suffering of the Jews and turned it into a way of disgracing fascism and promoting communism. This idea is very interesting to me, and I feel that taking the suffering of thousands of innocent people in vain is almost as much a crime as those committed by the Nazis. In the West, I got the impression that the government tried to cover up the Nazi past and concentrate on recovering from the war. Some of the buildings began to be used for industrial purposes, one in particular was dismantled for its valuable construction material. The discussion ended with the idea of authenticity and what makes a monument authentic. Can a new building be built and made to look authentic or does it have to be a standing structure from when the actual events took place? Personally, I feel that when discussing monuments and memorials it is important to consider not only authenticity but also feeling. I feel that a monument can be meaningful without being authentic, and of the two, I feel that meaning is more important than authenticity when it comes to monuments. However, some may feel that authenticity is more important, and from the authenticity comes the meaning.
On Friday we had our first workshop. For our short film project, my group chose the acoustic project. I am a little apprehensive about the project and I am not sure what we are going to focus on but I am also excited to see what we can accomplish. As far as our major film project goes, my group changed our film idea quite drastically. We have decided to stick with the different transportation around the city, but use them to portray the various moods of the city. We want to use a cyclical patter, portraying one mood, followed by the others, and then back to the first mood, portraying it in a different way. In this way, we can show that the city has several different moods and that the same aspect of the city can make you feel a certain way when it is in a certain context. For example, taking the U-Bahn can be either very exciting or make you feel incredibly tired and apathetic. I think we have a more organized and focused idea. Now all we have to do is write a screenplay…
After surviving my hectic travels in Frankfurt and Munich I am relieved to finally arrive in Berlin where I have a place to stay for more than a night. But more so I am excited to be back in the city that I loved when I briefly visited it before and the city about which I am going to be learning a great deal and making a film. On our first afternoon in the city we took the U-Bahn to Potsdammerplatz and walked around the Sony center. We then walked towards the Brandenburger Tor and Unter den Linden, stopping at the Holocaust memorial to walk through the vast landscape of stone blocks. As I was refreshing my memory about where certain landmarks in the city are I was also re-discovering how great the city really is and how excited I am to be able to come back and get to know it in much greater detail.
On our first day of class, we watched the film Displaced Person. Initially I felt slightly overwhelmed at the depth of the film and I was not sure what to think about the message that the film was trying to give. For me, the most powerful image in the film was the clip of Hitler approaching the Eiffel Tower with his comrades. The camera follows him as he walks toward the tower, and then he turns around slightly so you can see his facial profile. To me, this image embodies a “displaced person.” I felt that the clips of the women running along the train, frantically waving, where quite haunting. Whether or not they were actually waving to Hitler, the idea that he was the recipient of their affection was clearly conveyed in the context of the film. Overall, I feel that this film is a type of metafiction, as it takes clips from any context and places them together in such a way that collectively they conveys a universal message. The clips may not have all been from the same time, but when they are all put together, in that instant, it does not matter if they were not shot in sequence. I have seen this technique in a few novels but never before in film and I think it makes this film particularly interesting.
Our first class with Thorsten was exciting because I was not sure what to expect or what the specific outcome of the class was. The structure of the class is very interesting, and I think it will be great to learn about certain places and ideas on one day and then to visit these places on another. I feel that we are very fortunate to have Thorsten to be our “guide” to the sites of Jewish Berlin and Holocaust memorial, as he seems so experienced and competent in the subject matter. I look forward to visiting all of the sites, especially Sachsenhausen.
As far as the film project goes, my group met once last week to talk about our initial ideas and goals for the film. Immediately I could see that we all have very distinct ideas but our ideas all blend and mesh well with one another and we are all open to each other’s ideas. Our initial plan was to center the film around different modes of transportation in Berlin and how the city “moves”. I liked this idea because to me, postwar and “postwall” Berlin is all about new movement and connection. Because the city was divided for so long, I think it would be important to reflect on the idea that now people can move from east to west so freely. We wanted to use different modes of transportation, walking, biking, U-Bahn and S-Bahn, to show a kind of progression of movement in postwall Berlin. I am very excited about our ideas and I think we all work well together, but I am concerned about the actual film process. We have all these ideas and concepts but I have no idea how we are going to capture them and present them in a semi-cohesive matter.
WEEK TWO
This week we began on Tuesday with Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Big City. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the film and the use of montage. I feel that montage is a powerful way of conveying a certain feeling or idea. Most of the montage scenes that I have seen are used to portray a feeling of panic or excitement, but in Ruttmann’s film he uses montage throughout the film to portray several different feelings or moods. I feel that the film captures several different aspects of the city, from the industrial to the leisurely. Although the musical score is not the original music, I feel it complements the film very well. I think that a symphony itself is a good analogy for a city, as it is comprised of several different parts and comes together to function as a whole.
I am glad that we began this week discussing montage because in our group meeting we repeatedly brought up the use of montage in our film to portray certain feelings. I think it would be great to create a montage using several clips of the U-Bahn rushing by, along with other images, to portray the fast-paced and exciting side of Berlin. In all of our discussions about our film we bring up montage as a way of portraying a certain idea or concept.
Wednesday we met at the Jewish Museum for our first class with Thorsten. The class went really well and I feel we had some great discussions. It was interesting to start the discussion by talking about what we as Americans feel ashamed about our country’s past. I agreed with some of the issues brought up and disagreed with others, but I feel it was an interesting approach to begin our discussion on Holocaust memorial in modern-day Berlin. The readings for that day discussed the creation of memorials in Germany and the difference between memorials in the East from the West. In the East, memorials portrayed the suffering of the Jews as a resistance to fascism to promote the communist GDR. The monuments also failed to emphasize the fact that the majority of the victims were Jews, but that they were people of common beliefs that rose up together. These East German monuments took the suffering of the Jews and turned it into a way of disgracing fascism and promoting communism. This idea is very interesting to me, and I feel that taking the suffering of thousands of innocent people in vain is almost as much a crime as those committed by the Nazis. In the West, I got the impression that the government tried to cover up the Nazi past and concentrate on recovering from the war. Some of the buildings began to be used for industrial purposes, one in particular was dismantled for its valuable construction material. The discussion ended with the idea of authenticity and what makes a monument authentic. Can a new building be built and made to look authentic or does it have to be a standing structure from when the actual events took place? Personally, I feel that when discussing monuments and memorials it is important to consider not only authenticity but also feeling. I feel that a monument can be meaningful without being authentic, and of the two, I feel that meaning is more important than authenticity when it comes to monuments. However, some may feel that authenticity is more important, and from the authenticity comes the meaning.
On Friday we had our first workshop. For our short film project, my group chose the acoustic project. I am a little apprehensive about the project and I am not sure what we are going to focus on but I am also excited to see what we can accomplish. As far as our major film project goes, my group changed our film idea quite drastically. We have decided to stick with the different transportation around the city, but use them to portray the various moods of the city. We want to use a cyclical patter, portraying one mood, followed by the others, and then back to the first mood, portraying it in a different way. In this way, we can show that the city has several different moods and that the same aspect of the city can make you feel a certain way when it is in a certain context. For example, taking the U-Bahn can be either very exciting or make you feel incredibly tired and apathetic. I think we have a more organized and focused idea. Now all we have to do is write a screenplay…
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