Meurer, Hans Joachim

About the author: Hans Joachim Meurer works as a journalist in Hamburg. He received his PhD from the University of Stirling, Scotland.

Cinema and National Identity in a Divided Germany 1979-1989 the Split Screen

2000 0-7734-7640-7
This study provides a comparative analysis of the political, economic and ideological determinants shaping East and West German Feature films during the so-called established phase of the two states between 1979 and 1989. I the first part the author provides a theoretical framework for comparing the two film cultures on an abstract ideological level. The second part analyses the extent to which the political systems of the FRG and GDR shaped production, distribution and exhibition in order to establish a particular type of film culture. Finally, it investigates in greater detail how political, economic and cultural debates surrounding the question of an East and West German identity were translated into filmic discourse.