Edukators & Good Bye Lenin

The movie Edukators was a very impactful movie. The position of the Edukators was a very powerful and moving voice. They were truly fighting and supporting a heartfelt position that is really relatable to the general population. The conversation between Jan and Hardenberg in the cabin about how he spends his money and how the whole population is blinded by television really stuck out to me. It made me want to be a better person; it made me want to try harder to do for others. On the opposite side, the conversation Hardenberg had about when he was younger and how growing up and caring for a family changes your whole outlook on life hit home base too. I'm getting married this winter and I recently bought a house this last spring so I the thought of losing sight on my original morals and goals is a very intense thought to sit on. In the end, as things get thicker for me (kids), I probably won't stay as steadfast as I would like to, but I know that I wouldn't be the one to send the cops looking for Jan, Jule, and Peter.

The movie Good Bye Lenin did not strike me as interesting of a story as Edukators did. It does a good job of making you care about the main character Alex from the very beginning, but it did not strike deep into me. I did learn through it though that there did seem to be a fair amount of East Berliners that did not care for the loss of the GDP. It was mostly the youth that did not care for the GDP and fought against it. The older generation seemed more content and felt that change was a bad thing. These are very common views that you see in all places. The story took a turn when you find out that Alex's father was not who they made him out to be and that he was very much indeed a loving, caring father; just one more depressive thing to add to the Kerner family's problems. The ending was troubling for me because even though Alex had created a world that his mother would have loved to see happen, you can see that she knows the truth about it all by the way she looks at him. I know that the point is that she's happy to have a son that loves her enough to go to such lengths but it just troubles me that the lie was upheld to the very end.

The similarities between the two movies (besides having two of the same main characters in both) would lie in how the youth vie for change. They aim to change what they see as bad in the world around them. Not everyone feels the same about what's wrong in the world and so it creates a conflict.

Berlin Calling

1. Drugs to Ickarus are a way of relaxation; to him they are a stress reliever.
2. They are all taking the drugs at the concerts in the bathroom. They are mostly all taking cocaine and it seems as though it's just what everyone does. Maybe it's a way to get into the music more.
3. I don't really understand the question.
4. The difference is in how people react to the drugs. Here it is a very big and serious deal, there it isn't. A lot more people there do it and it only becomes a problem when it goes too far. Ickarus's drug problem is looked at in more of a psychological way than a physical way.
5. The youth culture in this movie seem to focus more on the party life than on the working life. There are a couple that do work, but most don't. They have their club parties in the day time all the time. Ickarus and Alice are hard workers. Ickarus, though misguided at times, only cares about being able to work on his music. Alice was hard at work trying to get shows and labels for Ickarus and when she couldn't do that she got a different job in between.
6. I have not seen much.

Berlin Calling was definitely a different movie than what I had expected to see. It seemed different to me because I am not used to seeing such cultural attitudes and behaviors. There were many differences in cultures that stood out right away. First I found was the music; there were no words. It was different from what I’m used to and it wasn’t real fast paced either which is what I expected. It was slower, meaningful, and soulful. Personally, I couldn’t pick apart the sound and intention like the people in the movie could. I did not notice the depressed feeling in his first work or how the end music was much better than the first but that’s not for me to judge. The important thing was that the people who know that kind of music could pick it apart and tell. The other big thing I noticed was how it seemed that everyone there did drugs; it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t just harmless marijuana either, it was cocaine and ecstasy. They did it all the time as if nothing ever mattered. Even Alice, who was upset and trying to get Ickarus clean of his issues, was implied to have done at least one line in a scene where she was talking to the club owner. Overall, it was a good movie. It showed a real struggle and transformation of character that could be relatable to many (with the drug addiction removed, many more). It ended very well too because even in his struggle to overcome the adversity put upon him, Ickarus came through it and cut ties with his past. Because he was able to overcome it all he was able to get Alice back in the end which was a second part of why he was trying to get better.

Literature

Having selected this topic for my own presentation I learned a fair amount.  Goethe was a very influential writer and it inspired many writers in centuries to come.  Writing styles, once established, do not change much from era to era.  Most new styles or forms of writing were called by something different but remained very similar to previous styles.  Only in late twentieth into the twenty first century did things dramatically change.  In these days it's hard to know if we have a great or influential writer of our time because of the vast amount of people out there now trying to make themselves known.  Personally, I would prefer living in a simpler time.  A time where everyone out there is "the next big thing."

Women

My reaction to the role of women in Germany throughout the centuries was one of surprise.  I'm not surprised that women were persecuted and denied rights, but what I am surprised about is to what extent it was carried out and for how long.  Talking about the "three K's" sounds like the beginning of a sexist joke.  The forced sterilization came as a big shock to me, I found out later that Germany was not the only place to do this but it was still shocking to learn about.  Since those days, Germany has come a long ways; from the entering of women into the workforce, to the gaining of voting rights, all the way up to the first female chancellor.  Things may have started out much worse and strict for women, but it seems as though rights and equality for women has progressed much faster in Germany that in other countries such as ours.