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German Culture Through Film

and

Arbeitsbuch zu German Culture through Film

|  About the Authors  |  Contents  |  Preface  |

Click here for author Reinhard Zachau's site for expanded information on the films, availability and other resources.

For purchasing or renting the films : Information for finding the films to rent or purchase can be found here. Be sure to search for the films under the German title, or the English translation of the title, as some films are listed either way.

German Culture Through Film

Robert C. Reimer

UNC-Charlotte

Reinhard Zachau

University of the South

Margit Sinka

Clemson University

2005 • 1-58510-102-8 • paper • 252 pages • 7 x 10 • $36.95

First of a two book series. In English, covering thirty-one German films.

Arbeitsbuch zu German Culture Through Film

Robert C. Reimer

UNC-Charlotte

Reinhard Zachau

University of the South

Second of a two book series. In German, covering fourteen German films.

2005 • 1-58510-145-1 • paper • 274 pages  • 7 x 10 • $34.95

 Description                                            

This is a two book series. The first text, in English, covers thirty-one German films. This second text covers fourteen of the same films with emphasis on German language skills. Thus, one or both can be used for courses in German film in English, courses in German film in German, or courses which for various reasons might cater to students taking either track simultaneously in the same course. The series is designed to appeal to professors who teach courses in general education, liberal arts, cinema, or who conduct a course in German film exclusively in German, or for where students share the same class (and films) for those two different courses. For further information on the films, availability and other resources, click here for the author's site.

Each chapter includes:

1. Portions of the screen play, generally 2 or 3 scenes each running a page or two.

2. A division of the film into 5 or 6 parts. Each part has a listing of that section’s scenes and a brief summary of the scene. Each brief summary is followed by 4-6 questions.

3. Vocabulary exercises that require students to match words and expressions in one list with those of another. (A few chapters have grammar exercises.)

4. Information boxes that give background on the film as well as history and culture needed to understand the movie.

5. At the end, A brief summary (120 words) which recycles vocabulary and asks students to fill in 5-7 mixing vocabulary words.

Sample Pages

The following links are downloadable PDF files which can be read using the free Adobe Acrobat reader. To get the reader, go to www.adobe.com.

German Culture Through Film

        Chapter 5: M

        Chapter 18: The Tin Drum

        Chapter 31: Goodbye Lenin

Arbeitsbuch

        Chapter 12: Goodbye Lenin

 Authors                                                  

Robert C. Reimer  is Professor of German and Director of the Minor in Film Studies at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. He teaches language and film courses, including German, European, and American cinema. His research includes postwar German film, New German Cinema, contemporary film, and Nazi cinema. His books include an EFL reader, Environmental Debate in the USA – Cleaning Up Tomorrow? (1988), co-edited with Peter Dörfel of the Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, a book on postwar films that deal with Germany’s Nazi past, Nazi-Retro Film: How German Narrative Cinema Remembers the Past (1992), co-authored with Carol J. Reimer of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and a book on Nazi Cinema, Cultural History through a National Socialist Lens: Essays on the Cinema of the Third Reich (2000), which he edited. In addition he has published papers and essays on Fassbinder, Dörrie, Vilsmaier, von Trotta, and Schlöndorff, among other German directors and has also published on pedagogy.

Reinhard Zachau (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is Professor of German at the University of the South. He teaches language and linguistics courses, early 20th century literature, exile literature, East German literature, film, and postwar West German literature. His research includes publications on the literature of Weimar Germany, exile literature, East German literature, and on post-1945 West German culture and literature. For the Consortium of German in the Southeast, he organized and frequently directed “Summer in Sewanee,” an annual, two-week professional development immersion program for high school teachers and advanced undergraduates held at the University of the South.

Margit M. Sinka (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is Professor of German and Head of the German Section at Clemson University. She holds an M.A. from Middlebury College and a Ph.D. in German from the University of North Carolina. She has presented and published on medieval German epics, medieval mysticism, 19th century literature, genre studies (the German Novelle and Kurzgeschichte), pedagogy, 20th century prose, the Holocaust Memorial, contemporary Berlin discourses, and on post-1945 German film. She is currently focusing her research on Berlin studies, including the representation of Berlin in postwar cinema. Her teaching includes 19th and 20th century prose and drama, German film, visual culture, and post-1945 German culture. From 2001 to 2004 she was the post-secondary Southeast Representative on the Executive Council of the American Association of German Teachers.
 

 Table of Contents                                     

(Clicking on the title of the films which are underlined below will take you to the Amazon.com page where you can purchase the film.  Other films are not available at Amazon.com, but can often be obtained in other ways.)

German Culture Through Film

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene 1920)

Nosferatu, eine Sinfonie des Grauens (Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror, F. W. Murnau 1922)

Berlin: die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, Walther Ruttmann 1927)

Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel, Josef von Sternberg 1930)

M (Fritz Lang 1931)

Kuhle Wampe (1932), VHS (PAL format, requires converter), in German w/subtitles, b/w, 71 minutes, released 1999.

Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl 1935)

Jud Süß (Jew Süss, Veit Harlan 1940), VHS, in German w/subtitles, b/w, 90 minutes, International Historical Film.

Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are among Us, also Murderers among Us 1946)

Berlin -- Schönhauser Corner (1957), VHS, in German w/subtitles, b/w, 82 minutes, DEFA Film Library (U. of Mass.)

Hunde wollt ihr ewig leben? (Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?, Frank Wisbar 1958)

Die Brücke (The Bridge, Bernhard Wicki 1959)

Aquirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog 1972)

Die Legende von Paul und Paula (The Legend of Paul and Paula, Heiner Carow 1973)

Angst essen Seele auf  (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1974)

Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Volker Schlöndorff, Margarethe von Trotta 1975)

Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1979)

Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum, Volker Schlöndorff 1979)

Die bleierne Zeit (Marianne and Juliane, 1981), VHS, in German w/subtitles, color, 106 minutes, New Yorker Films, released 2001. (Margarethe von Trotta)

Das Boot (The Boat, Wolfgang Petersen 1981)

Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, Wim Wenders 1987)

Das schreckliche Mädchen (The Nasty Girl, 1990), VHS, in German with English subtitles, color and b/w, 94 minutes, HBO Studios, released 1992.

Keiner liebt mich (Nobody Loves Me, 1995), VHS, in German with subtitles, color, 101 minutes, CFP Video, released 1996. Sometimes available through eBay.

Das Versprechen (The Promise, Margarethe von Trotta 1994)

Rossini, oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief (Rossini, or the Fatal Question, Who Slept With Whom, 1996), VHS, in German w/English subtitles, color, 110 minutes, available from Goethe Institute, Germany.

Sonnenallee (Sun Alley, 1999), VHS (PAL format, requires converter) and DVD (Region 2 format, requires muti region player), in German, color, 101 minutes.

Lola rennt (Run Lola Run, Tom Tykwer 1998)

Vergiss Amerika (Forget America, 2000), VHS, in German w/subtitles, color, 90 minutes, available from Goethe Institute, Germany).

Bella Martha (Mostly Martha, Sandra Nettelbeck 2001)

Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa, Caroline Link 2001)

Good Bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker 2003)

Arbeitsbuch

Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel, Josef von Sternberg 1930)

M (Fritz Lang 1931)

Die Brücke (The Bridge, Bernhard Wicki 1959)

Die Legende von Paul und Paula (The Legend of Paul and Paula, Heiner Carow 1973)

Angst essen Seele auf  (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1974)

Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Volker Schlöndorff, Margarethe von Trotta 1975)

Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1979)

Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum, Volker Schlöndorff 1979)

Das schreckliche Mädchen (The Nasty Girl, 1990), VHS, in German with English subtitles, color and b/w, 94 minutes, HBO Studios, released 1992.

Das Versprechen (The Promise, Margarethe von Trotta 1994)

Sonnenallee (Sun Alley, 1999), VHS (PAL format, requires converter) and DVD (Region 2 format, requires muti region player), in German, color, 101 minutes.

Lola rennt (Run Lola Run, Tom Tykwer 1998)

Vergiss Amerika (Forget America, 2000), VHS, in German w/subtitles, color, 90 minutes, available from Goethe Institute, Germany).

Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa, Caroline Link 2001)

Good Bye, Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker 2003)

     German Culture through Film: an Introduction to German Cinema grew out of the frustration of the authors with finding a film book adaptable to an introductory undergraduate course in German film which for reasons of exigency had to include not only students with German language skills but also those with no knowledge of the language. We were at the same time looking for a book that could be used as an introductory text for students in a film studies program whose knowledge of German history and culture was not always at a level to understand fully the texts of German films.

     This set of texts were written with the needs of such courses in mind. It consists of two texts, one of which covers thirty-one German films in English. The other covers twelve of those films in German. Thus, one or both of these texts can be used for courses in German film in English, courses in German film in German, or courses which for various reasons might cater to students taking either track simultaneously in the same course. In such a way the series is designed to appeal to professors who teach courses in general education, liberal arts, cinema, or who wish to conduct a course in German film exclusively in German, or for those on many campuses, such as ours, where students share the same class (and films) for those two different courses.

     For this end, the text in English contains background information on German history and culture, as well as analysis of the films. The text in German covers twelve of the films in the English text, and also offers excerpts from the screenplays, reviews from German papers, and question and exercises.