Research Catalog

Antisemitism in film comedy in Nazi Germany

Title
Antisemitism in film comedy in Nazi Germany / Valerie Weinstein.
Author
Weinstein, Valerie, 1971-
Publication
  • Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2019]
  • ©2019

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library MFL 19-3417Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

Details

Description
xi, 281 pages : illustrations; 24 cm
Summary
Today many Germans remain nostalgic about "classic" film comedies created during the 1930s, viewing them as a part of the Nazi era that was not tainted with antisemitism. In Antisemitism in Film Comedy in Nazi Germany, Valerie Weinstein scrutinizes these comic productions and demonstrates that film comedy, despite its innocent appearance, was a critical component in the effort to separate "Jews" from "Germans," physically, economically, and artistically. Weinstein highlights how the German propaganda ministry used directives, pre- and post-production censorship, financial incentives, and influence over film critics and their judgments to replace Jewish "wit" with a slower, simpler, and more direct German "humor" that affirmed values that the Nazis associated with the Aryan race. Through contextualized analyses of historical documents and individual films, Weinstein reveals how humor, coded hints and traces, absences, and substitutes in Third Reich film comedy helped spectators imagine an abstract "Jewishness" and a "German" identity and community free from the former. As resurgent populist nationalism and overt racism continue to grow around the world today, Weinstein's study helps us rethink racism and prejudice in popular culture and reconceptualize the relationships between film humor, national identity, and race.
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-273) and index.
Contents
Introduction: reconceiving antisemitism in Third Reich film comedy -- Overt and inferential antisemitism in Nazi writings and the film trade press -- Overt antisemitism, Jewish difference, and colonial whiteness in early Third Reich film comedy: nur nicht weich werden, Susanne! and die blume von Hawaii -- Comic ersatz: Viktor und Viktoria and Gluckskinder -- Wenn wir alle Engel waren as the model of a racialized German humor -- Capitalism, colonialism, and the white Jew in April! April! and Donogoo Tonka -- Mistaken identity and the masked Jew in Robert und Bertram -- Jewish absence, epistemic murk, and the aesthetics of cremation in Munchhausen and Die Feuerzangenbowle -- Conclusion.
Call Number
MFL 19-3417
ISBN
  • 9780253040718
  • 025304071X
  • 9780253040701
  • 0253040701
OCLC
1043187137
Author
Weinstein, Valerie, 1971- author.
Title
Antisemitism in film comedy in Nazi Germany / Valerie Weinstein.
Publisher
Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2019]
Copyright Date
©2019
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-273) and index.
Chronological Term
1900-1999
Other Form:
Electronic version : Weinstein, Valerie, 1971- Antisemitism in film comedy in Nazi Germany. Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, 2019 9780253040725 (OCoLC)1089195431
Research Call Number
MFL 19-3417
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