Narratives of transformation and resistance: A cultural studies approach towards a critical understanding of the New German Cinema

Capital & Class, Winter 2004 by Scharf, Inga

As a reaction to this socio-political and cinematic crisis, the directors of what was to become known as New German Cinema claimed the death of this outdated form of German cinema, and announced the birth of a new one. They expressed their cinematic aims and intentions most notably in the Oberhausen Manifesto of 1962-a title that indicates the programmatic nature of the movement, and the impact the filmmakers were hoping to achieve in artistic as well as in socio-political terms (Elsaesser, 1989).

The reactionary nature of the 'Heimat' films genre became one of the prime targets of the NGC. Between the end of the 19605 and the late 19705, the NGC produced a range of socalled 'anti-Heimat' films, within which the format of the aforementioned 'Heimat' films was radically under attack. The NGC (in opposition to the escapist tendencies of the former productions) turned towards society in an attempt to critically analyse communal ways of being-in-the-world that seemed to be symptomatic of the post-war West German society.

For instance, in Ich liebe dich, ich töte dich (I Love You, I Kill You, Brandner 1971) the 'Heimat' films' hero is fundamentally challenged. To start with, he is a hunter and not a forester, which changes his relationship to nature in the sense that he is not a caretaker or preserver of the forest. Furthermore, he is not employed by the community but acts on his own behalf, therefore representing individual freedom and independence instead of security and allegiance to a larger social whole.

Through the way he dresses-wearing a black leather jacket and, overall, appearing like a member of a motorcycle gang-he presents himself as a rebel, not wanting to belong to a community. Thus, while the forester in 'Heimat' films is associated with the realm of civilisation and hence with society and culture, the hunter in the abovementioned NGC production can be seen as part of the natural world or even wilderness, which renders his relationship with society conflictual, if not antagonistic.

Another major difference between the two figures is that the forester's rifle is only decorative whereas the hunter actually uses his gun to hunt down and kill, perpetuating an aura of aggression and violence instead of peace and harmony. Besides, the hunter kills for money as the mayor pays him for every wolf or wild dog he shoots and brings to his doorstep.

Hence killing is portrayed as a means of survival, making the hunter the biggest beast of prey in the forest. At the end of the film, a poacher is captured and executed by two policemen in front of the mayor's house, whereupon the hunter shoots both guardians of the law-a situation which can be regarded as a societal shift from civilisation to nature, since civilised means of communication and interaction are replaced by the use of overt violence.Thus one could conclude that nature prevails over civilisation in an act of murderous aggression, which bears a resemblance to terrorism.

Besides the figurative replacement of the forester in Grün ist die Heide with the hunter in Ich liebe dich, ich töte dich, the portrayal of communality in this latter production is also radically different from its predecessor. In some senses, Ich liebe dich, ich töte dich can be seen as a 'narrative of transformation' that unravels what lies beneath the idyllic and sugary icing of the 'Heimat' films' narratives. In Ich liebe dich, ich töte dich, a sense of community is supplied by pills that have the effect of enhancing the villagers' happiness and lulling them into a state of indifferent endurance; a life without aims and passions, but also bare of conflict and chaos. This 'drugged communality' is, however, only a temporary solution to wider social issues such as emotional homelessness, lack of communication and the failure to make one's life meaningful.