The film Head-On explores the dark side of the German-Turkish culture clash and how it plays out in the lives of two individuals living in Hamburg. Cahit is the son of Turkish immigrants living in Germany and does not have a strong connection with his Turkish roots. Yet, despite the fact that he lives like a German, dresses like a German, and speaks German, he is still discriminated against because of his Turkish heritage. Essentially, he has no clear-cut nationality, unable to identify fully with either culture. Unlike Cahit, Sibel is unable to break away from her Turkish roots. The film does not attempt to simplify the collision of cultures; instead, it presents the issue as ambiguous and open-ended. It offers no solution, only begs awareness and attempts to convey an internal struggle on film. Head-On is not only a depiction of the German-Turkish culture clash in German society, but also of the identity crises of the individuals who are both German and Turkish, and the internal collision that occurs—a collision that is universal in nature, and can pertain to many other countries as well as just Germany.
Archive for June, 2011
No Place: A Love Triangle in ‘Jerichow’
06.26
The film Jerichow (2008), directed by Christian Petzold, can be seen as a microcosm for a larger social and cultural conflict that exists in contemporary Europe—specifically, in Germany. The three main characters of the film live in the economically depressed town of Jerichow in East Germany. Ali, as the Turkish-German entrepreneur, represents the capitalist foreigner in a land that still treats capitalism—and non-Germans—begrudgingly. The film shies away from focusing on large political issues, such as racism, yet it is clear that Ali, despite his wealth and success, feels like an outsider in Germany because he is Turkish. Thomas, the dishonorably discharged German soldier, needs money and cannot refuse when Ali offers him a job. Ali’s wife, Laura, is trapped in a marriage and a life that she cannot escape from, though she tolerates it with haughty boredom and some illegal dealings with one of Ali’s employees. Ali pushes Thomas and Laura together, ultimately facilitating their torrid affair. Ali, the most complicated character in the film, seems to be very aware of his difference from the two of them; he is older, and he is Turkish. He recognizes that, on an ideological level, the two of them make a much more ideal pair, so he encourages them to be together, even though it inflames his jealousy and sense of alienation. Though none of the characters is specifically meant to draw attention to a high moral or ethical issue, this love-triangle is nonetheless symbolic of a much larger culture clash that exists, to this day, in Germany.
Ideology in ‘Father of the Bride’
06.26
Father of the Bride (1950) is a film that represents and reflects the dominant ideology in the United States of white patriarchal capitalism, which peaked in the 1950s. The film takes place during a specific time in the nation’s history, when this ideology went unchallenged and was constantly reinforced onscreen. Television shows like I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best, as well as countless films produced during Hollywood’s Golden Age, like Father of the Bride, served to promote these social constructs and they were seamlessly incorporated into American society. Because it was constantly reinforced in the media and advertising as desirable, the upper-middle class white nuclear family became a social norm: fathers went off to work, mothers stayed home to cook, clean, and take care of the children.
The Repressed Desires of Don Draper
06.26
The television series Mad Men (2007-2010) is a subversive and revealing depiction of life on Madison Avenue in Manhattan in the 1960s. The main character, Don Draper, who seems on a superficial level to “have it all,” (a beautiful wife, two children, a nice house in the suburbs, a high-paying job as a creative executive) is actually deeply unhappy. Throughout the series he is constantly seeking a way to fill a void, a hole carved within him during early childhood. His deep-rooted misery and disconnection can be explained in part by Lacan’s theory of psychoanalysis. In looking at Lacan’s theory and applying it to Mad Men, we can see how the three Orders of human development—specifically, the concept of the Symbolic—manifest onscreen in the character of Don Draper. Don spends his life trying to account for a lack, and because he can never truly fill it, he will never find happiness. During the Symbolic Order, Don repressed his own desires in order to abide by the ‘Law of the Father.’ This idea of repressed desire, and how the Symbolic Order reemerges during adult life in the form of the Real, is explored throughout the first season of Mad Men, especially as it relates to Don Draper.