German Pop Culture: How "American" Is It? (9780472113842): Agnes C. Mueller

German Pop Culture: How "American" Is It?

edited by Agnes C. Mueller

University of Michigan Press, 2004
Cloth: 978-0-472-11384-2
Library of Congress Classification DD239.G47 2004
Dewey Decimal Classification 306.0943

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

German Pop Culture sheds new light on the "Americanization" of German culture during the latter part of the 20th century, with special emphasis on post-Unification literature, music, and film. America and its iconography have been instrumental in defining German political and aesthetic culture, especially since World War II, and most recently in the aftermath of September 11.

Surrounding this indisputable phenomena, questions of the role and place of a "popular" German culture continue to trigger heated debate. Embraced by some as a welcome means to break out of the German monocultural mind-set, American-shaped "pop" culture is rejected by others as "polluting" established values, leveling necessary differentiation, and ultimately being driven by a capitalist consumer society rather than by moral or aesthetic standards.

This collaborative volume addresses a number of intriguing questions: What do Germans envisage when they speak of the "Americanization" of their literature and music? How do artists respond to today's media culture? What does this mean for the current political dimension of German-American relations? Can one speak meaningfully of an "Americanized" German culture? In addressing these and other questions, this work fills a gap in existing scholarship by investigating German popular culture from a multidisciplinary, international perspective.

Contributors to this volume:
Winfried Fluck, Gerd Gemünden, Lutz Koepnick, Barbara Kosta, Sara Lennox, Thomas Meinecke, Uta Poiger, Matthias Politycki, Thomas Saunders, Eckhard Schumacher, Marc Silberman, Frank Trommler, Sabine von Dirke

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Agnes C. Mueller is Assistant Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina.

REVIEWS

". . . fascinating, in-depth analyses of the American impact on German popular culture. . . . Highly recommended."
—Choice

— M. Shafi, Univeristy of Delaware, Choice

"This well-executed collection is a potent reminder that Germany's relationship with 'America' is, and always has been, for more complicated than we might think."
—H-Net Reviews in the Humanities Social Sciences

— Julia Sneeringer, Queens College and the Graduate Center CUNY, H-Net Reviews int he Humanities & Social Sciences

"Who's afraid of American culture? The essays assembled in Agnes Mueller's excellent reader provide provocative and often surprising responses to this particular German Angst. A fascinating and entertaining read, this volume shifts the terms of the debate on American 'cultural imperialism' from cultural paranoia to a more relational analysis of the ways Germans have used and appropriated American models for their own needs."
—Michael E. Geisler, Middlebury College

— Michael E. Geisler, Middlebury College

TABLE OF CONTENTS

\rrhp\
\lrrh: Contents\
\comp: insert page numbers in proof\
\1h\ Contents \xt\
Introduction
Agnes C. Mueller
Part I. Approaches to Americanization, Globalization, and Hybrid German Identities
The Americanization of German Culture? The Strange, Paradoxical Ways of Modernity
Winfried Fluck
Mixing High and Popular Culture: The Impact of the Communication Revolution
Frank Trommler
How American Was It? Popular Culture from Weimar to Hitler
Thomas J. Saunders
Constructing Femininity in the Early Cold War Era
Sara Lennox
Part II. Gender, Race, and Marginal Identities in Pop Music and Literature
Searching for Proper New Music: Jazz in Cold War Germany
Uta G. Poiger
Hip-Hop Made in Germany: From Old School to the Kanaksta Movement
Sabine von Dirke
"In Case of Misunderständig, Read On!": Pop as Translation
Eckhard Schumacher
Part III. German Writers Today: Literature in the Age of Pop
The American Dead End of German Literature
Matthias Politycki
Myself as Text (Extended Version)
Thomas Meinecke
Part IV. Local Stories in Global Idioms: German Cinema at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century
Popular Cinema, National Cinema, and European Integration
Marc Silberman
Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run and the Usual Suspects: The Avant-Garde, Popular Culture, and
History
Barbara Kosta
Hollywood in Altona: Minority Cinema and the Transnational Imagination
Gerd Gemünden
"Amerika gibt's überhaupt nicht": Notes on the German Heritage Film
Lutz Koepnick
Bibliography
Contributors
Index \to come\
\eof\

Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Germany Civilization American influences, Popular culture Germany History 20th century, Germany Social life and customs 20th century

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\rrhp\ \lrrh: Contents\ \comp: insert page numbers in proof\ \1h\ Contents \xt\ Introduction Agnes C. Mueller Part I. Approaches to Americanization, Globalization, and Hybrid German Identities The Americanization of German Culture? The Strange, Paradoxical Ways of Modernity Winfried Fluck Mixing High and Popular Culture: The Impact of the Communication Revolution Frank Trommler How American Was It? Popular Culture from Weimar to Hitler Thomas J. Saunders Constructing Femininity in the Early Cold War Era Sara Lennox Part II. Gender, Race, and Marginal Identities in Pop Music and Literature Searching for Proper New Music: Jazz in Cold War Germany Uta G. Poiger Hip-Hop Made in Germany: From Old School to the Kanaksta Movement Sabine von Dirke "In Case of Misunderständig, Read On!": Pop as Translation Eckhard Schumacher Part III. German Writers Today: Literature in the Age of Pop The American Dead End of German Literature Matthias Politycki Myself as Text (Extended Version) Thomas Meinecke Part IV. Local Stories in Global Idioms: German Cinema at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Popular Cinema, National Cinema, and European Integration Marc Silberman Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run and the Usual Suspects: The Avant-Garde, Popular Culture, and History Barbara Kosta Hollywood in Altona: Minority Cinema and the Transnational Imagination Gerd Gemünden "Amerika gibt's überhaupt nicht": Notes on the German Heritage Film Lutz Koepnick Bibliography Contributors Index \to come\ \eof\

Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Germany Civilization American influences, Popular culture Germany History 20th century, Germany Social life and customs 20th century