Nazi Cinema as Enchantment: The Politics of Entertainment in the Third Reich (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.87 (992 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1571133348 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A Thoughtful Look at Little-Known Films This is a very well-written and interesting look at German films from the Nazi era that were not overtly propaganda. The author looks at musicals, melodramas, adventure films and home-front films to see how these movies affected audiences and got the regime's message across. There is also a section on films that ended up being suppressed by the regime. It is very rare to find substantial English-language discussion of most of the movies covered in this book, which adds to the value of this work."Nazi Cinema as Enchantment" is easily the best and most accessible book on Ger
Skidmore College
Hitler's regime not only terrorized its citizens; it also seduced them, offering stability, a traditional value system, a sense of belonging, and hope of a better standard of living. Mary-Elizabeth O'Brien is Professor of German at Skidmore College.. This interdisciplinary study, based on exhaustive research in German archives, examines how thirteen films from five genres - the historical musical, the foreign adventure film, the home-front film, the melodrama, and the problem film - enchanted audiences and enacted shared stories that can tell us much about how family, community, history, the nation, and the war were imagined in Nazi Germany. Nazi cinema was part of this seduction, expressing positive social fantasies and promoting the enchantment of reality, so that one would want to share in the dream at any price
O'Brien's book is the product of extensive archival research and provides numerous services to the reader (Her) readings convincingly show how films not generally viewed as propaganda films were produced with explicit ideological goals in mind. --German QuarterlyThe readings are integrated within a larger, compelling argument about the function of entertainment within the framework of Nazi culture so that the focus convincingly broadens the understanding of the complexities in this crucial period of German film history. --MonatshefteO'Brien carries the reader into the world of Babelsberg, the German Hollywood, where the reader sees Nazi filmmaking as a form of amusement that carries the Nazi message. --Choice