This thesis investigates representations of happiness in recent German literature and film. The interpretations focus on how happiness is negotiated in the context of home and travel, of Heimat and Fremde, in order to understand happiness, not only insofar as it contributes to “the good life”, but also as an element that shapes public discourses. My readings of works of fiction take into account how notions of happiness have shifted since the turn of the millennium. One reason for this shift is the heightened interest in happiness research, one of the most thriving interdisciplinary research fields of the last decade, which includes disciplines such as psychology, neurosciences, political science, sociology and economics. The following texts and films are examined in this context: Sommerhaus, später (1998) and Nichts als Gespenster (2003) by Judith Hermann, Transfer Lounge (2003) by Gregor Hens, Die Habenichtse (2006) by Katharina Hacker, Head-On (German: Gegen die Wand, 2004) by Fatih Akın, When We Leave (German: Die Fremde, 2010) by Feo Aladağ, Der Blick hinab (2007) by Shirin Kumm, Unveiled (German: Fremde Haut, 2005) by Angelina Maccarone, Cherry Blossoms (German: Kirschblüten – Hanami, 2008) by Doris Dörrie and Zehn (2010) by Franka Potente. My theoretical framework is informed in part by Sara Ahmed’s 2010 influential study, The Promise of Happiness, which takes a critical view toward recent happiness research from a cultural studies perspective. My analysis is directed at the ways in which concepts of happiness are narrated, negotiated and challenged within the context of transnational stories, which are inscribed with the effects of “supermodernity” (Augé) in a globalized world. I show how these works subvert themes and motifs that are associated with happiness, such as home and Heimat and travel or migration into the West. Finally, my readings show how these works mediate and reflect public dialogues and traditional notions about what makes us happy or unhappy, and I demonstrate how new configurations of happiness arise from these narratives. / Thesis (Ph.D, German) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-30 17:42:26.632

Die Arbeit ist mit den ökonomischen Auswirkungen von Regulierungen, die für die deutsche Filmwirtschaft relevant sind, befasst. Es werden die ökonomischen Effekte dreier Regulierungsfelder, die in der öffentlichen Debatte diskutiert werden, betrachtet. Diese sind: Das deutsche Filmförderungsgesetz (FFG), das Urheberrechtsgesetz (UrhG) und der Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (RStV). Im Zentrum der Analyse steht die Frage, wie die jeweiligen Regulierungen die ökonomische Effizienz beeinflussen. Darüber hinaus werden wesentliche institutionelle und marktliche Charakteristika der deutschen Filmwirtschaft betrachtet. Teile der Untersuchung sind in eine breit angelegte Regressionsanalyse über die Determinanten des Erfolges deutscher Kinofilme eingebettet. Die Arbeit zeigt, dass die betrachteten Regulierungen im Allgemeinen negative Auswirkungen auf die ökonomische Effizienz haben. / This work deals with the economic impact of regulations on the German film industry, focusing in particular on the effects of three pieces of legislation central to Germany's public debate on film politics. The legislation considered is the Film Act (Filmförderungsgesetz - FFG), the amendments to the Copyright Law (Urheberrechtsgesetz - UrhG), and the Inter-State Agreement on Broadcasting (Rundfunkstaatsvertrag - RStV). The inquiry examines how these statutes affect economic efficiency. In addition, major market and institutional characteristics of the German motion picture industry are studied. The analysis is partly embedded in a broadly disposed regression analysis of the determinants of performance of German movies in the theatrical market. The work indicates that the regulations considered generally detract from economic efficiency.

This dissertation focuses on film co-productions of the East German film studio DEFA (Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft) with East and West European partners. It revisits patterns of institutional and transnational collaboration during the Cold War in order to challenge the predominant cliché of the isolation of East European film industries. The project seeks to re-position East German cinema within evolving debates on European film, deriving its argument from archival research on production histories and contemporaneous press releases, as well as from correspondence and personal testimonials such as interviews with former East German and East European filmmakers. The discussion is structured around three categories that focus attention on the interplay between the East German studio’s co-production agenda and state-imposed film policy: cultural prestige, popular entertainment, and international solidarity. I devote a chapter to each category in my study, and show how co-productions, as collective enterprises at the intersection of national cinemas, allowed DEFA to compete for internationally renowned film stars and to re-appropriate Hollywood genres by forming multinational film collectives and sharing sets, talent, and production costs, while simultaneously negotiating complex economic, political, and market conditions in each host country. This project moves beyond previous approaches to East German film as European cinema’s ‘other.’ DEFA co-productions provide a privileged route into the examination of socialist film production as a state-controlled and ideologically compliant cultural domain, and, at the same time, as a venue for artistic collaborations that challenged the limitations of state censorship and sponsorship. Undoubtedly, East German and East European films were influenced by international developments and responded to them. Focusing on DEFA as a case study, I shed light on the negotiation of cultural policies not only within a discrete film studio, but also among the various institutions involved in filmmaking in Eastern Europe. / text

Since the fall of the Wall, a new era of East German literature has emerged. This genre of literature exists even though East Germany’s borders dissolved over a decade and half ago and is challenging the way we think about the former German Democratic Republic. East German author Thomas Brussig is pivotal in this new genre of literature. His novels Helden wie wir (1995), Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (1999) and Leander Haußmann’s cinematic adaptation, Sonnenallee (1999), confront the negative associations and stereotypes connected with East Germany to deconstruct how formal history has portrayed its past and its citizens. Brussig’s texts take a completely different approach to remembering the GDR, which simultaneously challenges history’s dominant perspective as well as the Ostalgie phenomenon. Through his texts’ recollection, Brussig subverts the East German state in hindsight and begins the construction of a new mythology with which to associate former East Germany.

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Avant même la première distribution d'un film allemand en France, la presse spécialisée s'emploie à dénigrer les productions de l'ennemi héréditaire qui sont réduites à des œuvres de propagande. Ce n'est qu'à la fin de l'année 1921 que Louis Delluc parvient à projeter un premier film germanique. Aux réactions chauvines et nationalistes succèdent rapidement des commentaires plus réfléchis. Ces analyses sont construites sur des stéréotypes issus d'une vision romantique de l'Allemagne telle que Madame de Staël a pu la décrire. Pour les critiques, le succès mondial du cinéma d'outre-Rhin montre la supériorité des cultures européennes sur la « jeune » civilisation américaine. Dès lors, les productions allemandes deviennent un modèle pour le cinéma hexagonal. Avec Les Nibelungen ou Faust, le 7ème art allemand apparaît aux yeux de la critique comme l'archétype de la culture européenne. Ces longs métrages sont représentatifs de l'identité allemande mais dépassent les cadres nationaux pour atteindre une forme d'universel qu'atteste les réussites économiques des productions du milieu des années 1920. L'apparition du cinéma parlant renouvelle les relations franco-allemandes. Les collaborations sont désormais le lot commun des réalisations du début des années 1930 ce que symbolise la production de versions multiples. De part et d'autre du Rhin, les professionnels coopèrent à l'édification d'un cinéma européen sans pour autant perdre de vue l'indispensable ancrage national des films. Des transferts culturels franco-allemands seront multiples jusqu'en janvier 1933. Toutefois l'émigration allemande ne trouvera pas un accueil favorable dans les studios parisiens. / Just after the first World War, French critics commented German film like an industrial or propaganda product. It was until the end of 1921, that Louis Delluc showed a first German movie in France. After some nationalists reactions, critics built around stereotypes an romantic vision of German films. These romantics visions maded by Madame de Staël in the beginning of 19 century. For French critics, the german production worlwide success proved the suporiority of European culture to the “ young “ american civilization. With The Nibelungen or Faust, these features represented German identity. But these film beyond nationalist space to acceded universal signification. Germans productions became the archetype of European Culture in the middle of the 1920s. In the beginning of the 1930s, talkies transformed French-German relations. There were a lot of collaboration on both side of the Rhine: of course, in Babelsberg studios – the most important in European space – and Parisians studios too. For example, Georg Wilhelm Pabst realized three differents versions of Die Dreigroschenoper : the first in german language, a second in french and the third in english. Pabst worked with differents actors and differents technincian. French and German works together – in some case English – to build European cinema without losing national identity. Until January 1933, the French German cultural transfers were multiple. However, the German Emigration didn't find acceptance in the Parisan studios. / Schon vor der ersten Aufführung eines deutschen Films in Frankreich setzt sich die französische Fachpresse dafür ein, die Produktionen des Erbfeinds als reine Propagandawerke herabzuwürdigen. Erst Ende des Jahres 1921 gelingt es Louis Delluc einen deutschen Film in Frankreich zu zeigen. Auf chauvinistische und nationalistische Reaktionen folgen schnell besonnenere Kommentare. Diese Analysen basieren auf Stereotypen, die einer romantischen Vision Deutschlands entspringen, wie sie Madame de Staël beschrieben hat. Die Kritiken stellen den Welterfolg des deutschen Kinos, als Überlegenheit der europäischen Kulturen über die „junge“ amerikanische Zivilisation, dar. Von jetzt ab werden die deutschen Produktionen zu einem Model für das französische Kino. Mit „Die Nibelungen“ oder „Faust“ erscheint die deutsche Kinokunst den Kritikern wie eine Urform der europäischen Kultur. Diese Filme repräsentieren zwar die deutsche Identität, reichen aber über nationale Grenzen hinaus, um eine universelle Form zu erreichen, die durch die wirtschaftlichen Erfolge der Produktionen Mitte der 20er Jahre bezeugt wird. Das Erscheinen des Tonfilms führt zu einer Erneuerung der deutsch-französischen Beziehungen. Zusammenarbeit ist von nun ab ein Kennzeichen der Filmproduktion des Beginns der 30er Jahre. Dies wird durch Herstellung von verschiedenen Versionen deutlich. Auf beiden Seiten des Rheins kooperieren die Filmemacher bei der Erschaffung des europäischen Kinos, ohne dabei die wichtige national Verankerung des Films zu vernachlässigen. Bis zum Januar 1933 gibt es einen mannigfaltigen deutsch-französischen Kulturaustausch. Dennoch findet die deutsche Emigration in die Pariser Studios keinen wohlwollenden Empfang.

Aujourd’hui, le nom de Béla Balázs (1884-1949) est avant tout associé aux débuts de la théorisation du cinéma. Le présent travail résulte d’une volonté de lire ses écrits dans une perspective plus large que celle du champ cinématographique. L’analyse des réflexions de Balázs sur le cinéma dans un certain contexte d’histoire des idées permet de montrer par quel prisme il aborde cet art dans son ensemble. Dans un besoin de renouveau culturel qui l’a mené au communisme, il pense toujours le cinéma en fonction de ce qu’il signifie pour l’homme. Forgé par le constat de la crise de la culture de Georg Simmel et les réflexions bergsoniennes au sujet de la perception, Balázs défend l’idée que le cinéma surmonte les conséquences négatives de la modernité sur l’épanouissement des individus. Face à un monde de plus en plus mécanisé et vide de sens, le film représente une chance de se réapproprier la technique afin de mettre une nouvelle culture en mouvement. L’homme se détache de la sphère du lisible pour devenir visible à nouveau. Le cinéma présente un monde anthropomorphe et trois techniques principales lui confèrent son potentiel artistique et culturel : le gros plan, le cadrage et le montage. L’effet de celles-ci ne se limite pas à la salle de projection, puisqu’elles amorcent un changement de perception et réapprennent à l’homme à voir. Si nous nous basons dans cette étude sur les ouvrages de Balázs sur le cinéma L’Homme visible (1924), L’esprit du cinéma (1930) et Le cinéma. Nature et évolution d’un art nouveau (1948), nous tenons également compte de ses écrits littéraires, dans lesquels les problématiques liées à la culture et la perception sont centrales. / Nowadays, the name of Béla Balázs is above all else associated with the onsets of the theorization of the Cinema. The present work is the fruit of a will to translate his writings in a perspective that is wider than the one of Cinema. The analysis of Balázs's thoughts on movie-making in a particular context, in terms of history of ideas, enables one to identify the prism through which he tackled this art altogether. In a search for a cultural renewal that lead him to Communism, he always thought out of Cinema as of what it meant for mankind. Shaped by Georg Simmel's observation of a cultural crisis, and Henri Bergson's thoughts about perception, Balázs supported the idea that cinema set the individuals free from the negative consequences of modernization which could hinder their personal fulfillment. In a world that is more and more mechanic and meaningless, films stand as a chance to reclaim a technique and set a new culture in motion. The Man detaches himself from telling and resumes through showing. Cinema displays a world that is anthropomorphic and three major techniques help it achieve its cultural and artistic potential: the close-up, framing, and editing. And their effect is not limited to the projection room, since they mark the debut of a change in perception, and make the Man learn to see again. This study is primarily based on Balázs's works on cinema such as The Visible Man (1924), The Spirit of Film (1930) and Theory of Art (1948), but also takes into account his literary works, in which issues tied to culture and perception are central.

This dissertation analyses the roles and functions of the German film press during the Third Reich and explores the changes and tensions that characterized German cinema and, by extension, German society during that time period. A close reading of three major publications -- a trade journal, Film-Kurier, a popular magazine, Filmwelt, and the regime's official publication, Der deutsche Film -- first challenges the traditional view of a monolithic, top down control by the Nazi regime. I show the extent and the limits of the regime's utilization of culture and media and demonstrate how different parties used the film press to pursue different, but not mutually exclusive goals. By delineating the film press as a more dynamic public forum than previously assumed, this study secondly informs us about the multifaceted uses and functions of the film publications, and about the changing relationships between the film industry and the regime, as well as the theater, the music, and the press industries. I combine a media specific approach--demonstrating the central role of film publications in articulating the contradictions within film culture--with an exploration of the media convergence in place at the time. I thus firmly position the film press at the nexus of politics, business, film professionals, and the audience, and uncover a lively, albeit restricted, discursive system, with theoretical and practical discussions about film, its achievements under the new regime, its weaknesses and the need for improvement. I focus on the three most discussed issues: the relationship between film and theater, between film and music, and, as a correlation of the two previous topics, the need to train a new generation of film professionals, the Nachwuchs. This dissertation thus traces an important moment in German film history characterized by sustained debates about political, technical, aesthetic, and social aspects of film. More importantly, it uses the film press as a mirror to some of the tensions that characterized German society along several divides such as the masses and the elite, the past and the present, as well as the contradictions in its treatment and representation of gender and sexuality. / text

ix, 213 p. / The attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, prompted scholars in a variety of fields, such as history, philosophy and literature, to re-examine the topic of terrorism, including the emergence of terrorism in West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. The challenges that arise when dealing with the topic of terrorism derive in part from a lack of consensus on a definition for terrorists and terrorist attacks. One element that I found in my research is that there is a connection between terrorism and communication. This dissertation examines that connection in Volker Schlöndorff's filmDie Stille nach dem Schuss Gregor Schnitzler's film Was tun wenn's brennt Leander Scholz's novel Rosenfestand Ulrike Edschmid's biographical narrativesFrau mit Waffe: Zwei Geschichten aus terroristischen Zeitenin the context of Speech Act Theory. The films and texts show how West German terrorism is represented as a form of communication, through which fictional terrorists are trying to accomplish the impossible statement "I hereby persuade you." The act of persuasion has an element of freedom, because one can either be persuaded or not. However, the terrorists represented in the works mentioned above want to eliminate the element of choice and force the interlocutor to be persuaded. In order to achieve this they introduce violence, which in turn causes them to be labeled as terrorists. The more they try to use violence to achieve their goals, the more they cement their condemnation as terrorists. This dissertation frames its investigation within ideas about performative speech acts, concepts of power, violence, identity and discussions about "terrorist" narratives in German literature and film. / Committee in charge: Susan C. Anderson， Chairperson； Alexander Mathäs， Member； Dorothee Ostmeier， Member； Bonnie Mann， Outside Member

Fondée sur un corpus de huit films allemands réalisés entre 1919 et 1924 (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Genuine et Raskolnikow de Robert Wiene, Algol de Hans Werckmeister, Von morgens bis mitternachts et Das Haus zum Mond de Karlheinz Martin, Torgus/Verlogene Moral de Hanns Kobe et Das Wachsfigurenkabinett de Paul Leni), cette étude porte sur l'esthétique et la réception du cinéma expressionniste, dont l'étiquette fait aujourd’hui encore l'objet de confusions. Pour identifier des traits constitutifs de son esthétique, trois axes sont envisagés : la réception critique, l'esthétique fantastique et la réflexivité. Le retour à la première phase de la réception repose sur un corpus de 225 documents d'archives majoritairement inédits, principalement extraits de huit revues de cinéma allemandes, et notamment des trois périodiques qui font alors autorité : Der Kinematograph, Lichtbild-Bühne et Film-Kurier. Le recours aux critiques et aux premières théories esthétiques qui précédent les célèbres ouvrages de Siegfried Kracauer et de Lotte Eisner permet d'appréhender l'horizon d'attente de la critique. Dans le contexte du débat sur la valeur artistique du cinéma, l'expressionnisme est perçu comme l’avènement d'un art du cinéma, caractérisé par la volonté des créateurs de faire œuvre d'art, qui s'exprime par l'unité stylistique, la conception des décors et l'opposition au naturalisme. La réception se fait aussi au prisme du fantastique et témoigne à la fois de l'héritage du romantisme et de l'importance du renouveau du fantastique. L'enjeu de l'analyse filmique proposée est de dégager en quoi la tension entre les deux pôles du fantastique est constitutive d'une esthétique des frontières, à l'origine de la structure narrative, de la configuration de l'espace et d'une réflexion ontologique. Enfin, ambition artistique et fantastique se rejoignent dans l'esthétique d'un cinéma qui se prend lui-même pour objet. En recourant à la notion d'écran second, élaborée dans le cadre de l'énonciation cinématographique, l'analyse identifie des formes de mise en scène du regard et de l'expérience cinématographique, dans leur rapport au désir. / Based on a corpus of eight german films made between 1920 and 1924 (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, Genuine and Raskolnikow by Robert Wiene, Algol by Hans Werckmeister, Von morgens bis mitternachts and Das Haus zum Mond by Karlheinz Martin, Torgus/Verlogene Moral by Hanns Kobe and Das Wachsfigurenkabinett by Paul Leni), this thesis investigates the aesthetics and the reception of German expressionist film. Up until today, there is still some confusion over the definition of expressionist cinema. In order to identify constituent characteristics of its aesthetics, three areas of research are explored: the critical reception, the fantastic aesthetics and the self-reflexivity. The analysis of the first period of reception is based on a corpus of 225 mostly unpublished archival documents. These documents come from eight different film periodicals, mainly from the three leading trade journals of the early twenties: Der Kinematograph, Lichtbild-Bühne and Film-Kurier. By focusing on film reviews and on the first theories of aesthetics that preceeded Siegfried Kracauer's and Lotte Eisner's famous works on Weimar cinema, we get a sense of film critics' expectations back when the movies were first released. In the context of the debate about cinema and its artistic value, expressionism was perceived as the advent of film art, caracterised by the deliberate will of its contributors to create art. This ambition expresses itself through stylistic unity, a very distinctive conception of set designs and an opposition to Naturalism. Expressionist film is also perceived through the lense of the fantastic, which shows both the legacy of German romanticism and the importance of the renewal of fantastic literature and film in Germany. The film analysis of the present work aims at showing how the tension between the two poles of the fantastic is a constituent characteristic of the aesthetics of borders that caracterises expressionist film: it accounts for its narrative structure, its configuration of space and the ontologic reflexion it offers. Finally, cinema itself appears to be one of the main topics of these films. This is both the result of the artistic ambition of expressionist filmmakers and the explanation for their predilection for the fantastic: in some respect, films are fantasies, in that they manipulate the spectator and produce illusions. This is why spectatorship plays a major role in expressionist cinema: thanks to the notion of secondary screen, borrowed from the field of filmic enunciation, our analysis identifies characteristic representations of looks and gazes as well as of cinematic experiences, and reveals their relation to human desires.