new book: _Nazi Cinema as Enchantment_

[pynchonoid]

<http://www.camden-house.com/5172.HTM>

Nazi Cinema as Enchantment 
The Politics of Entertainment in the Third Reich 
Mary-Elizabeth O'Brien

The Nazi regime did not merely terrorize its citizens
into submission; it also seduced them by offering
stability, a traditional value system, a sense of
belonging, and hope of a better standard of living.
Nazi cinema's popularity rested on its ability to
express positive social fantasies and promote the
enchantment of reality, so that one would want to
share in the dream at any price. This is an
interdisciplinary study, written for scholars and
students in the fields of film studies, German
studies, history, critical studies, and political
science, that explores how cinema participated in the
larger framework of everyday fascism. The book
examines how five film genres -- the historical
musical, the foreign adventure film, the home-front
film, the melodrama, and the problem film -- enchanted
audiences and enacted shared stories that can tell us
much about how family, community, history, the nation,
and the war were imagined in Nazi Germany. The book
analyzes thirteen motion pictures, many of which are
not well known to English-speaking audiences:
Wunschkonzert, Die groe Liebe, Tanz auf dem Vulkan,
Damals, Die Degenhardts, Opfergang, Kautschuk, Robert
und Bertram, Verklungene Melodie, Frauen für Golden
Hill, Das Leben kann so schön sein, Der verzauberte
Tag, and Via Mala. Based on exhaustive research in
German archives, the book examines, in addition to the
films themselves, articles from the propaganda
ministry's official organ, Der deutsche Film, daily
trade sheets, fan magazines, and even studio press
packages for individual stars and films.
Mary-Elizabeth O'Brien is associate professor of
German at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New
York.

Contents 
  
Introduction  
History, Utopia, and the Social Construction of
Happiness: The Historical Musical  
Mapping German Identity: The Foreign Adventure Film
The Celluloid War: The Home-Front Film
Discontented Domesticity: The Melodrama
The Forbidden Desires of Everyday Life: The Problem
Film
Epilogue
Works Cited
Index

18 b/w illustrations
304 pages
Size: 9 x 6 in 
ISBN: 157113283X
Binding: Hardback 
First published: 2003 
Price: 75.00 USD / 50.00 GBP
Series: Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and
Culture 


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