Week 4

In Thorsten's class we talked about decentralized monuments and eventually talked about displaying something to figure out just how the Nazis came to power and why many in Germany were apathetic to what happened to the Jews. That latter part is where everything started falling to shit. Jesse brought up the idea of establishing something to remember that they democratically came to power and many were apathetic about their abuse of civil and human rights. Unfortunately he said memorial or monument (I forget which) and at that point it stopped being a discussion and everyone flew into attack mode.

Essentially he was trying to call for some sort of display of the fact that it happened and that people should watch out for the signs. Unfortunately some people were automatically shutting that idea down because of how he worded his original comment. One comment that I thought really stuck out was someone saying that the explanation of that is something that is for textbooks. To me that comment seemed out of place in this program where we're supposed to look at memory and meaning through monuments/memorials/exhibits. Reading about stumbling blocks and counter monuments is nice but you don't get a great feel for the meaning of them.

The discussion on the Schoneberg signs and stumbling blocks was luckily much more civil. This actually got me to think about who notices each type of monument (centralized and decentralized). Centralized monuments seem largely for tourists. Go there, take pictures and maybe do a little bit of reflecting on the meaning of it. To Berliners though, I would imagine it just becomes another object you pass by on your daily routine. Decentralized monuments, however, seem like they would have more of an impact on the people that live in the city. I definitely notice the stumbling blocks each time I walk by even though I see at least half a dozen each day. The Schoneberg signs are a lot less decentralized unfortunately. I would think they would have a larger impact on locals if they were a little more widespread. There would most likely be a more widespread misinterpretation of the signs but because they are all in German, I'm sure it wouldn't get too bad.

Speaking of the signs, there was one sign that really struck me. There is one sign that displays that Jews aren't allowed to own pets. There is another sign that has a story that sort of accompanies the other sign. A woman tells about how after that law, her husband couldn't bare to abandon their canary. She goes on to say that one of the neighbors must have told on them because her husband was picked up by the Gestappo several days later. A few days after that she got a letter in the mail saying that she needed to come to an office with 3 Reichsmarks to pick up the ashes of her husband. Fuck beans that is beyond messed up.

Anyway on to Germania: Anno Zero. This one was a real roller coaster of happiness. Edmund's life must have really sucked. He was relied upon by his parents to provide for the family but was unable to do so in a legal manner because adults saw him as competition for work and food rations. Before the discussion on this film I wasn't sure what to make of the ending. Somehow I missed that the film was about the guilt of the past being placed on the new generation.

The film made little effort to talk about the preceding decades. When the father does show remorse for the past saying he should have stood up to the Nazi party, it seemed like he was regretful because of the atrocities the Nazi party committed but more because they started a war that cause Germany hardship and one they eventually lost. It seems odd that a film about guilt would leave out something that the German people should possibly feel the most guilt for.

Rosselini painted his film as an undoctored truth. I really wonder though if a foreigner can actually portray Berlin as it actually is. That's one thing I worry about with the films we are making. We're trying to make movies that portrays Berlin. I am wondering if our films are just going to reek of foreign interpretations of Berlin. I guess all we can do is try though.

We scoped out Dr. Pong's this weekend. It's a really cool place. People form a big circle around the ping pong table and then one by one people take turns hitting the ball back and forth. If your miss, you're out. Usually it was the same people that ended up toward the end. We didn't film because we wanted to map out what to do before bringing in an $1800 camera. We could get some great shots by standing on top of the chairs. Shots of the players at the end will be great because they are pretty good players and do a few crazy moves.