Thomas Wiedemann

Discursive practice of Combat Girls: the construction of social reality in contemporary German film

Abstract Based on Foucault’s discourse theory, this article deals with the construction of social reality through contemporary German cinema. More precisely, the case study explores the discursive formations of Combat Girls (2012), a film about the teenager milieu in the rural area of East Germany where two girls are moving into and out of a neo-Nazi group. This movie stands for the film production culture in Germany, which largely depends on sponsorships by state promotion bodies and public television, and consequently must be interpreted as the result of power relations and as the outcome of a struggle for legitimate meaning. Combining the Foucauldian discourse analysis with film content analysis tools, the study shows that the text-image relationships of Combat Girls contain three dominant discourses, which push forward the perspectives of ‘self-fulfillment’, ‘re-integration in society’, and ‘identification with the democratic system’. These findings indicate that the filmic construction of social reality in Germany has a clear political purpose. Simultaneously, they give insight into the knowledge regime of contemporary German film and what is possible to be said and shown on national screens – especially when it comes to a socially and politically sensitive topic.

Die Diskursanalyse als Verfahren einer sozialwissenschaftlichen Filmanalyse

Der Beitrag zeigt, wie Foucaults diskurstheoretische Uberlegungen fur die Untersuchung von Spielfilmen und die Analyse der darin enthaltenen Konstruktionen sozialer Wirklichkeit herangezogen werden konnen. Ausgehend von der Annahme, dass Filme gesellschaftliche Machtverhaltnisse zum Ausdruck bringen und somit auch die filmischen Realitatsangebote das Ergebnis der Auseinandersetzung um legitime Bedeutungen sind, verknupft das hier vorgestellte Programm die geisteswissenschaftliche Filmanalyse mit dem von Foucault stammenden Konzept zur Untersuchung der diskursiven Formationsregeln von Texten. Pladiert wird damit fur ein Vorgehen, das das wechselseitige Bedingungsverhaltnis von Filminhalt und gesellschaftlichen Strukturen konsequent zu Ende denkt. Es wird ein theoretischer und methodischer Zugriff entwickelt, der den Prozess der Auswertung und Interpretation audiovisuellen Forschungsmaterials aus dem Bereich fiktionaler Unterhaltungsmedien strukturiert und nachvollziehbar macht (insbesondere mittels einer kategoriengeleiteten Analyse von Filmprotokollen). Dieser Zugriff wird schlieslich am Beispiel des deutschen Spielfilms Kriegerin (Wnendt 2012) veranschaulicht. Auf diesem Weg soll das Medium Film fur sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven und systematische Untersuchungsdesigns zuganglich gemacht werden.

Surviving in the Journalistic Field: The Catholic journalist Walter Hagemann's rollercoaster ride during the Third Reich

This paper explores Catholic journalist Walter Hagemanns freedom of action during the Third Reich and seeks to provide insight into the history of journalism in Germany, especially regarding its autonomy. It refers to Pierre Bourdieus sociology, which presumes a circular and dynamic relationship between individual practice and social structures. Accordingly, Hagemanns social position in the Nazi era (his “space of possibles”) is examined by revealing the interaction of his habitus and capital as well as the structures of the journalistic field at that time. The case study shows that despite his national thinking and his search for joint views with National Socialist ideology, Hagemann did not escape the stigma of being an opponent of the regime. After a brilliant journalistic career during the Weimar Republic, he did not garner any political influence, even though he served as chief editor of the Germania, the famous Catholic daily newspaper, and edited the news service Vox Gentium. As a consequence, his national emphasis only proved useful to survive at the edge of the journalistic field. This study draws on Walter Hagemanns most important publications (among them more than 100 editorials), extensive archive material from 10 institutions, and two interviews with Hagemanns son.