Study of images in German films: deconstructing the Nazi body aesthetic
Date
2010-02-23T21:30:33Z
Authors
McFarland, Theresa Larine
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Abstract
Films and their images function to disperse representations of the body that encourage viewers to adopt or reject certain represented appearances and actions. Using this proposition, this thesis explores how notions of the body are visualized in filmic images, such as film posters and photographs used for promotional purposes. In particular, this thesis focuses on how German identities from the end of the Weimar Republic through to the early years of the Third Reich were represented in filmic images. This paper questions whether the introduction of Nazi ideals and the establishment of a state controlled film industry led to new representations of the body in filmic images or whether there is continuity between these images and those of the Weimar Republic. Exploring which bodies, taking into account representations of race. class, gender and sexuality, were privileged and which were vilified in filmic images gives one an idea of how bodies were encouraged to conform socially in the years leading up to and during the Third Reich.
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National socialism and motion pictures, Germany, history