War Trauma and Crisis of Masculinity in Early DEFA Film

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1、CanMelodramaCure?WarTraumaandCrisisofMasculinityinEarlyDEFAFilmANKEPINKERTUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana-ChampaignAftertheendoftheSecondWorldWar,thereconstructionofanantifascist-democraticsocietyinEasternGermanyrequiredthepoliticalandmoraltransformationofpeoplewhohadli

2、vedundertheThirdReichintonewantifascistcitizens.Thisprocesswasanenormouschallenge,especiallywithrespecttotheprisonersofwarreturningfromtheSovietUnion.FrankBiessdescribesthemas“mostlyloyalandideologicallycommittedsoldiersintheracialwarofexterminationontheeasternfrontw

3、here,asrecentresearchindicates,manyofthemhadalsobecomebystanders,accomplices,andperpetratorsofgenocidalwarfare”(144;cf.alsoBartov;HeerandNaumann).AsBiessshows,inremakingthereturneesintothe“PioneersofaNewGermany,”theSocialistUnityParty(SED)privilegedapseudoreligiousmo

4、delofconfession,conversion,andrebirth.PublicandcollectivedemonstrationsofthisradicaltransformationimpliedthatthepastofthereturningsoldierswhohadservedinthefascistWehrmachthadtoberelegatedtoapreviouslifethathadtobeleftbehind,ifnotforgotten(Biess160).ThefilmcompanyDEFA,

5、licensedbytheSovietMilitaryAdministrationin1946–andevolvingintoaGerman-Sovietjoint-stockcompanyin1947andanEastGerman,state-ownedcompanyin1953–playedacrucialpublicroleinthisprocess.Speakingattheinauguralceremony,ColonelTulpanov,anofficialoftheSovietmilitaryadministrati

6、on,remarkedthatDEFAfacedtheimportanttaskofremovingallvestigesoffascistandmilitaristideologyfromthemindsoftheGermanpeople(AllanandSandford3).Consequently,thefirstfilmsproducedbyDEFA,theso-calledrubblefilms,attemptedtodevelopafilmlanguagethatwasstrongenoughtoconfronttherec

7、entGermanpastandtosupplynarrativesthatdealtwithindividualandcollectiveantifascisttransformation(Shandley24).Centraltothisprojectwastheproductionofanexemplarymaleantifascistsubjectivity.Thatis,inordertoreaffirmthepatriarchalnotionofmalemastery,filmsshowcasedhowmenreturn

8、ingfromwartranscendedtheirpastexperiencethroughafirmcommitmenttotherebuildingofademocraticantifascistsociety.Yetwhatwefindinthecinema