The Representation of Identity and Space in German Film Making Portraying the East German since the Berlin Wall Fell. In 1961, the Berlin Wall, so-called "Antifaschistischer Schutzwall" by East German, was built to divide German into East German and West German. Since then the space of East German represented as a void and the people of East German were forgotten in the history of West German. Therefore, after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the people and the space started to appear in the history of West German. As Huyssen describes: "When the wall came down, Berlin added another chapter to its narrative of voids, a chapter that brought back shadows of the past and spooky revenants." (Andrea Huyssen 1997:64) Contrary, people in East German still keep their memory of the GDR even though the GDR does not exist anymore. The existence of the German term "ostalgie" shows that the complicated thoughts and emotions are still floating around people's mind. It is not necessary to judge the presence of the sentiment. The difference between East German and West German is still subsisting. The shadow of the lives in GDR keeps appearing in the art area, no matter in music or movies. The issue of the change of identity and the GDR space is worth to discuss.
Clarke mentions: "In the second half of the 1990s,…, there were signs that German filmmakers were returning to specifically German issues, though they were using popular idioms to explore crucial issues of identity." (Clarke 2006, P.13) Before 1990s, the genre of German cinema was about the terrorism, aesthetics and politics films. However, after the Berlin Wall fell, many film makers start to make the films that talk about the identity issue between East German and West German because people eager to understand the lives in the other side. The recent most well-know movies are Goodbye, Lenin! (2003) and The Lives of Others (2006). Both of the movies not only embody the ostalgie emotions in screen but also the combination of belief cracks after the GDR collapsed. The former uses the fantasy and good intention of lies to express their feelings in order to protect a red dream which no longer exist. (The representative color of socialist is red.) The latter presents the brutal reality and cruel memory. It calmly exposes the violence of the autocracy which is swallowing up the conscience of every German. Goodbye, Lenin! uses a witty way to present the lives in East Berlin. Hence, my teammate and I decide to choose this movie as a case study in the presentation.
Unlike the conventional films that the directors wants to express their concepts, Goodbye, Lenin! offers two different spectatorship for non-GDR viewers and former GDR viewers. First, for non-GDR viewers, the film "'corrects' the received picture of the GDR by reminding them that family relationships in the East were not fundamentally different to those in the West". (Clarke 2006, P.117) Secondly, for former GDR viewers, it "offers them the opportunity to draw on the insider knowledge necessary to decode the numerous references to specifically East German way of life, and thereby affirm a sense of their unique cultural identity." (Clarke 2006, P.117) Goodbye, Lenin! emphasizes Germany's attitude and contrast, human consciousness, and also the behavior transition after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Refer to the children sing the communism songs for small amount of money and Alex's mother's old colleague has the excessive drinking problem.
Pierre Sorlin said: "Urban space did not exist by itself, independent of those who inhabited it." (Sorlin, 2005, P.25) Just as Alex makes a lot of efforts to make his mother who is a socialist believes that the GDR still exists. Therefore, when his mother lives in the space which Alex creates for her, the "GDR" space is created. How does Alex create the "GDR" space? Firstly, Alex finds out the old furniture from dump and re-decorates his mother's room as before she goes into coma. He forces his sister and neighbors to put on the nostalgia clothes from socialism era. And he puts fresh food into the old-packing bottles. He makes up the national news with his friend who is from West German and buys overdue newspapers. Moreover, he even claims that the formula of coke-cola is from East German when his mother sees the advertisement of coke-cola outside the window. During the time of GDR, Alex's mother was a socialist who was devoted to her country taught the young pioneers sing the communism songs. Accordingly, Alex bribes the children to sing communism songs in his mother's birthday party for building a communism space for his mother.
After the unification of East German and West German, the identity of East German has changed. Before the unification, the identity of East German people was communist. In communism era, the resources and choices in the market are limited, the property ownership is equal. Their new identity is consumerist that means if you have the consumer capacity, you can have everything you want. There are numerous choices for you to purchase, the more you work hard, the more you can get. Next, the identity of East Germany has transformed from socialist to capitalist. In the past, socialism people care about people, community and their country. Just like Alex's mom, she helps people to provide their opinions to the country since they believe that their behavior can build a better world. Nevertheless, the capitalism people only care about their own profits. Everything is about money and desire. Through Alex's voiceover: "Overnight, our drab corner store had turned into a gaudy consumer paradise." which hints that after the Berlin Wall fell; the identity of East German has changed in one night as well. At the moment Alex creates the "GDR" space for his mother, he also helps his mother to keep the "GDR" identity. In the scene when Alex tries to find Spreewalk pickles, the lady in the store reminds him that they are using the west money now, no mentioned the consuming products. Alex does not only try to find the Spreewalk pickles but also attempt to find his old GDR identity. Becker's arrangement of camera language is diverse. From the content, he concerns about the detailed in the scene. For instance, the scene in the grocery store, Becker arranges the lines of the lady to remind Alex that his new identity. In the scene of Alex is talking with his sister's boyfriend, there are both the uniforms of Burger King and the young pioneer which implies that the contradiction between the old identity and new identity. In the scene that Alex's mother's ashes are sending to the sky, it represents two different meanings: one is the make up "GDR" identity flies away with the ashes; the other provides a message that the unification era has come just as the ashes spreads both East German and West German. From the representation of space and people, Goodbye, Lenin! shows the German Expressionism style which was defined as "The overall effect is to create a self-contained fantasy world quite separate from everyday reality, a world imbued with angst and paranoia in the face of that which cannot be rationally explained." by Kuhn and Knight. (Kuhn / Knight, 2007, P.208)
It is hard to compare which kinds of drama can touch the audiences more, the tragedy or the comedy. Becker holds the balance to awake people's complex emotion to East German by clumsy lies and black humor. Different from Donnersmarch's forthright accusation and critique in The Lives of Others, people's feelings to East German are not just about anger and hatred, they also find the warmness in their memories. In fact, in Goodbye, Lenin!, the love between mother and son under the political introspection moves the audience instead of the times contradiction of German unification, the magnificent script, splendid performance or the cramp space. The fable is closer to Germany themselves because only they can experience the tangled emotion. The outsiders who are not former GDR citizens can only enjoy the anarchic sense of comedy. However, the outsiders do not realize the sorrow and lonesomeness after the statue of Lenin disappeared. "Ostalgie" can only exist on the screen and Alex's mother is able to feel peaceful by listening to the lament. Goodbye, Lenin! reminds us that even when we live in a era that people praise for capitalism, sometimes we still have to remind ourselves that there are other more important things to care about. Just as Turan mentions: "… there was more to life than new cars and news DVDs." (Kenneth Turan, 2004)
Bibliography
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Huyssen, A. (1997) 'The Voids of Berlin,' Critical Inquiry, 24(1) pp. 57-81, available online at http://222.jstor.org/stable/1344159
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