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Weimar Film and Modern Jewish IdentityWandering Jews: A “Jewish” Solution to the German Crisis in Weimar Exotic Adventure and War Films

Weimar Film and Modern Jewish Identity: Wandering Jews: A “Jewish” Solution to the German Crisis... [The aforementioned domestic melodramas, urban comedies, and horror films delicately interwove typical (even stereotypical) bourgeois anxieties and aspirations with three key components of the Jewish assimilation discourse—the constitution of authenticity through acting; spatial duality as an emblem of hybrid identity; and emphasis on the perspective of “the stranger,” the outsider-from-within modern urban society. This chapter examines the utilization of similar tropes and visual symbolism in exotic adventure and war films, two particularly lucrative genres in the post-World War I years. Evidently, there are some considerable differences between these genres, including their conventional narratives, recurring metaphors, and their affiliation with historical and geographical reality. In what follows, however, I would like to address the generally overlooked similarities between them, which are relevant to our discussion of Weimar film’s approach to modern Jewish identity. The films I examine from both genres focus on the experience of border-crossing within the framework of a life-threatening, violent conflict. The journeys in these films, either to “exotic” terrains or to a neighboring European country, are portrayed as being in search of ideal notions of collectivity. The two genres also share a similar conclusion for these searches: an attempt to envision a transnational bourgeois community, where “otherness” is not based on inborn national—or ethnic—belonging, but rather on the acceptance of certain behavioral norms and shared (liberal) worldviews.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Weimar Film and Modern Jewish IdentityWandering Jews: A “Jewish” Solution to the German Crisis in Weimar Exotic Adventure and War Films

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References (20)

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan US
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2012
ISBN
978-1-349-34419-2
Pages
111 –147
DOI
10.1057/9781137010841_5
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[The aforementioned domestic melodramas, urban comedies, and horror films delicately interwove typical (even stereotypical) bourgeois anxieties and aspirations with three key components of the Jewish assimilation discourse—the constitution of authenticity through acting; spatial duality as an emblem of hybrid identity; and emphasis on the perspective of “the stranger,” the outsider-from-within modern urban society. This chapter examines the utilization of similar tropes and visual symbolism in exotic adventure and war films, two particularly lucrative genres in the post-World War I years. Evidently, there are some considerable differences between these genres, including their conventional narratives, recurring metaphors, and their affiliation with historical and geographical reality. In what follows, however, I would like to address the generally overlooked similarities between them, which are relevant to our discussion of Weimar film’s approach to modern Jewish identity. The films I examine from both genres focus on the experience of border-crossing within the framework of a life-threatening, violent conflict. The journeys in these films, either to “exotic” terrains or to a neighboring European country, are portrayed as being in search of ideal notions of collectivity. The two genres also share a similar conclusion for these searches: an attempt to envision a transnational bourgeois community, where “otherness” is not based on inborn national—or ethnic—belonging, but rather on the acceptance of certain behavioral norms and shared (liberal) worldviews.]

Published: Nov 6, 2015

Keywords: Private Sphere; City Dweller; Modern City; Hybrid Identity; Nationalist Sentiment

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