TV: Postmodernism and Deutschland 83

Postmodernism & Deutschland 83

Media Magazine - A Postmodern Reimagining of the Past

Read ‘Deutschland 83 - A Postmodern Reimagining of the Past’ in MM73  (p18). Answer the following questions.

1) What were the classic media representations of the Cold War?

2) Why does Deutschland 83 provide a particularly good example for postmodern analysis? 

3) Pick out some of the aspects of the opening of episode 1 and explain why they are significant.

4) How does the party scene at Martin's mum's house subvert stereotypes of East Germany in the Cold War?

5) What aspects of the episode set in West Germany offer postmodern elements?

6) Finally, how does the article apply postmodern theory to Deutschland 83 and link it to the potential target audience?

Postmodernism Factsheet

Factsheet #54: Introduction to Postmodernism.

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)?

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

3) What examples and theories are provided for the idea 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?

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

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.

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

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

There is a lot of challenging work here - you will have plenty of time to complete it so take it slowly, read around the subject and re-watch the scenes from the first episode on All4 to help develop impressive academic answers to these questions.