Elizabeth Nijdam (Ann Arbor, Michigan) p.117-136
2010 Issue 3
Cultural Encounters in Contemporary German Cinema
Abstract
East and West German youth have always shared an infatuation with rock and roll regardless of their political and ideological differences. Penetrating the borders of the German Democratic Republic, British and American Rock music represented freedom, nonconformity and liberal political values on both sides of the Wall. Correspondingly, homegrown Ostrock offered an immediately accessible avenue for resistance to East German youth. With the release of Sonnenallee in 1999, a new era for German cinema began and East German directors started to examine their East German experience in a new way: with a sense of humor. In Sonnenallee, director Leander Haußmann and screenplay writer Thomas Brussig explore the demise of the GDR using comedy, East German kitsch and rock music. Examining the Wendezeit from the eastern side of the Wall, Haußmann and Brussig illustrate the position of rock and roll in the collapse of East Germany.