The document provides feedback on films and culture in East and West Germany. It summarizes two films - "Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee" which depicts the lifestyle of youth in East Berlin and their rebellion against government controls, and "Good Bye Lenin" which shows a son's efforts to prevent his mother from experiencing shock over the fall of the Berlin Wall by restaging life in East Germany for her. It also discusses restrictions on art and literature by the communist government in East Germany and differences in music scenes between East and West Berlin.

1. Feedback to GDR
culture & the movies :
„ Am kürzeren Ende der
Sonnenallee“ &
„ Good Bye Lenin“

2. The structure
1. Feedback to GDR(German Democratic Republic) :
1. Art
2. Literature
3. Culture of the teenagers
2. Feedback to the media films
1. „Am kürzeren Ender der Sonnenallee“
2. „Good Bye Lenin“
3. Music in West Berlin & GDR
4. The general feedback
1.

3. 1.1 Art
„Lenin“ – Bernhard Heisig
(GDR sympathizer)

4. 1.1 Art
• The GDR sympathizers :
>> represent the GDR as a modern state
>> illustrate important personalities
• The artist against the GDR:
>> can‘t represent their own opinions
-> the pictures get censored by the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany)
-> they don‘t draw figures ,they draw colour
areas
-> they draw pictures with irony
• Important representatives are:
o
o
o
o
Hermann Glöckner
Willy Wolf
Karl – Heinz Adler
Bernhard Heisig

5. 1.2 literature
Bertolt Brecht
Hermann Kant
Sarah Kirsch
Representatives in the literature

6. 1.2 literature
The were 21 representatives in the GDR e.g. Wolf
Biermann, Bertolt Brecht , Hermann Kant and Sarah
Kirsch . They critized the techno and bureaucracy and
forms of opportunism. They were controlled by the
SED. Books or texts which critized the form of
government of the GDR were censored.
Wolf Biermann
(representative in the
GDR)

7. 1.3 culture of youth
the culture get more American and the government
saw this as a harassment against the form of the
government. The youth rebelled against the SED.
An adolescence‘s
demonstration

8. (Thomas
2. Feedback to movies Brussig)
2.1 „Am kürzeren Ende der
Sonnenallee“

9. The summary:
the main character of the movie is Micheal Kuppisch ,
who lives with his family in a small flat near the border
to west berlin . His youth and espacially his love to a
beautiful girl called Miriam , which goes through the
movie. He and his friends band together a group
called „das Potenzial“.
Micheal and the other teenagers shows a lot of humor
in their daily association with the GDR regime.
The main
character:
Micheal
Kuppisch

10. Feedback:
• Postives : The film shows the lifestyle in the GDR. You can
also see that the people in the GDR have the absence
of things like discs of the Federal Republic of Germany
(FRG), because they didn't want to listen to the
controlled music by the SED. They wanted more freedom
compared to the controls of the government. You can
see they were strict controled by the SED.
• Negatives: Sometimes it's hard to keep track of the film .
• Feedback: The film only shows the young lifestyle in the
GDR. You can't see historical important moments like the
reunion of the GDR and FRG.

11. Micheal‘s family
The group „Das Potenzial“
Miriam

12. 2.2 „Good Bye Lenin“
Wolfgang Becker

13. Summary:
Before the Berlin Wall fell , Alex‘s mother a really self –
confident citizen from the GDR got a heart attack and fell
into coma. She missed the reunion of Germany. She woke
up in a new Germany after 8 months. But still she didn‘t
know what happened in that time ,when she has slept. But
if she knows all about the reunion , her heart won‘t survive
the excitement. The job of the 21 years old Alex is to
rescue his mother from another heart attack.With the
assistance from his co-worker Denis ,his girlfriend Lara and
his older sister Ariane and her boyfriend , they reanimated
the GDR in a 79m² bedroom to hid the reality from his
mother.

14. Feedback:
• positives: It's easy to understand and you can see the
difference between the FRG and the GDR e.g
products like Coca Cola (FRG) and Vita – Cola
(GDR). You can also see what happened after the
reunion of Germany. The film shows that many
citizen from the GDR move to other states.
• Negatives: • Feedback: The film is very interesting and shows some
historical moments of Germany . Alex is very brave,
because he hid the revolution from his mother to
reduce one heart attack again. He built a GDR after
his imagination.
•

15. Alex‘s sister : Ariane
Alex‘s mother :
Christiane
Alex and his girlfriend Lara
Alex‘s co-worker: Denis

16. 3.Music in West Berlin
and GDR

17. In the GDR were many GDR bands (62 GDR bands).
The music was popular from 1949 to 1990.
Rock, Blues and other genres of music had conflicts
with the government,so the SED limited the freedom
of art and music. After their reunion the most GDR
bands dissolved because the interesting in this kind of
music get lost , it's the fault of the American music.
The rest of the GDR bands perform predominantly
East Germany. The GDR bands also has an influence
at the german music.
•

18. Popular bands and songwriter
in the GDR(examples)
• Frank Schöbel
• Ute
Freudenberg
• Karat
• Puhdys

19. 4.The general feedback
There were huge differences not only in the form if the
government but also in the nation by the citizen

20. THE END
Hoa Bui & Thu Nga Tran