Deutschland 83 Review

Deutschland 83 is a cold war espionage series where the main character Martin Rauch is a 24 year old native of East Germany is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency for the Satsi in the year of 1983, where he enlists in their army to glean secrets concerning ATO military strategy. This series stars actors such as Jonas Nay playing Rauch, Maria Schrader as Lenora Rauch (Martin’s Machiavellian Aunt that suggested him to be sent off West Germany without his consent, as well as directing an award winning 2007 film Love Life), Sonja Gerhardt as Annett Schneider (Martin’s Girlfriend) as well as many other magnificent actors. Comparisons with Fox’s The Americans, in which two Russian agents go undercover in Raegan’s America, are inevitable but coincidental, says Anna: not only does Marin share the ethnicity and language of his hosts, but he’s also younger, less cynical sand more vulnerable to the allure of capitalism than Philip and Elizabeth in The Americans. Deutschland 83 gets a well deserved 4.5 out of 5 stars for it being an engrossing drama with a fun 1980s soundtrack and as it is an intense spy story that brings viewers uncomfortably close to their screens.  

In East Germany we meet Martin, a wide-eyed but not-so-innocent young man who serves in the East German army on the border of the Berlin Wall. He’s got a sick mother, Ingrid, who raised him single-handedly, a lovely girlfriend named Annett and a nice line in terrorising innocent acting troupes in order to claim their copies of Shakespeare for his mum. 

Unfortunately for Martin, he also has the schemer Aunty Lenora who works in Bonn for the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik). Lenora has big ideas regarding her young nephew and isn’t above using a bit of emotional, but literal, blackmail to get them. She is seen as objectifying him in the Rauch household. Luckily for her, Ingrid desperately needs a kidney transplant but can’t get on the waiting list. So, it is that young Martin finds himself rechristened Moritz and heading to Bonn to serve as aide-de-camp to General Edel, a senior West German army officer whose dealings are mainly with the Americans. 

After he got kidnapped and was transported to West Germany, Martin Rauch (now Moritz Stamm) is introduced to Tobias Tischbier, a university lecturer and East German who has been deep undercover since 1961. Later down the line, Stamm befriends General Edel and his family, including his conflicted son Alex and his daughter Yvonne which is a singer that gets objectified by the fact that the camera pans around her when she is introduced and by her father to essentially “show off” to the guests at his party of the amazing daughter that he has.  

The Edels has an aunty named Renate who likes to drink a bit and no one believes her in what she says. That, unfortunately, turns out to be the only bit of good luck that young Martin/Moritz gets this episode as after managing to secretly photograph General Jackson’s plans however he is far from done to return to East Germany.  

The hit series is such a pain for the audience to watch; they have to sit through adverts that are upto 3 minutes every intermission. However, the fact that Deutschland 83 keeps everything historically accurate; from the setting and language to the content of what it has to provide such as the political, economic and cultural differences between both East and West German therefore, this really entices the audience to carry on watching the long drama series and that is a major plus for this successful drama, especially it being the first German television series to ever air in America. 

Baudrillard’s Theory of Postmodernism to Stranger Things and Deutschland 83

Both Deutschland 83 and Stranger Things are both dramas that are set in the 1980s and explore different themes. They are both an hour long and are long drama series (narratives that span over many episodes and usually there’s a conclusion at the end of every series).

There are a thriller and horror theme that is used on Stranger Things, therefore, it includes a monster from another dimension invading the people of Hawkins, Indiana. During the first episode of the series, the monster is anonymous as the audience gets to see it as a silhouette however they do know that it is tall, fast, eerie and seems to have the ability to teleport between different places. Furthermore, there is this character named Eleven that doesn’t seem to be born on Earth as she has abilities of her own such as telekinesis (the power to move objects at a distance by mental power) and it seems that her abilities are tied to her emotional state for example, if she is unhappy, the room that she is in starts to shake, making walls to crack and causing some debris on the floor. On the other hand, Deutschland 83 explores the genres of romance and thriller and it is a cold war espionage series. It is about two sides of Germany (East and West) are at war and the main character Martin Rauch is a 24 year old native of East Germany is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency for the Satsi in the year of 1983, where he enlists in their army to glean secrets concerning ATO military strategy. He has to serve as an aide-de-camp to General Edel, a senior West German army officer whose dealings are mainly with the Americans and he uncovers secrets about the nuclear bombs.

Both dramas do a representation that masks the basic reality of what is going on within episodes. Within Deutschland 83, the characters come across some issues and the can be complex on the other hand they can’t be divided into the binary opposites which are good and evil. For example, the fact that General Edel supposedly working with the Americans. There is a reason behind every issue; from one side West Germany sees that it benefits them to work with America. Alternatively, East Germany sees this as a bad thing as that they view Americans to be the enemy so that status will be transferred to West Germany. In comparison, because of children’s will to do anything without thought, bad things can happen to them if they are not looked after or if they play compulsive games such as dungeons and dragons which takes for hours to play the game. The bad event that happened to them is that they are confronted with a monster that terrorises people and potentially meeting Eleven. This can be subjective by saying that it is bad that the children are taking care of a being that should be in the hands of the government, however, it is a good gesture as she can hardly communicate with others and that they are treating her with care and not with abuse (which the audience can tell by her refusing to go and running away from them in the episode).

In comparison to representation masking basic reality, it also masks the absence of a basic reality for both dramas. As Deutschland 83 has the genres of spy and thriller, its conventions are daft and are unlikely to happen in real life. For example, the narratives of spy thrillers are that they have a hero (in this case Martin or Moritz) and he is somewhat defeating the enemy (West Germany) by completing objectives so that there can be a twist in the plot which is often seen to trick the audience to watch more episodes as it will intrigue them of what is happening next, therefore, it makes this unlikely to happen because nobody is pressured into doing something that they don’t want to do. Another convention that is used in the series is the usage of historical archive footage from the 1980s to give the audience information about what is happening and will help the audience understand the series more. On the other side of the spectrum, the audience is bought into a group of four young boys and a telekinetic person taking on danger from both the government and the monster, but this is unlikely to happen as monsters don’t exist and the fact that the government wouldn’t come to their senses to chase after children.

Baudrillard’s concepts of simulacra and hyperreality can both applied to the dramas. Simulacra refer to simulations of reality which replaces the ‘pure’ reality and this is being replaced by hyperreality which is a boundary between reality and imagination. In Deutschland 83, there is some historical reality such as the fact that West Germany was richer than the East, therefore, they can afford items such as coffee and the East treasures it. However, hyperreality does take in place when Martin (now disguised as Moritz) is the West German supermarket and goes down an aisle where every product/grocery is stocked on the shelves which make Martin being shocked. There is no supermarket that has aisles so tidy like the scene in Deutschland 83 and the series is essentially portraying to the audience of West Germany’s wealth. In Stranger Things, it explores the theme of a monster roaming around and causing havoc on the streets of Hawkins but this is hyperreality as monsters don’t exist in real life. 

Music Video: Forms and Conventions

Types of Music Video

• Performance: Lip synch, live performance, choreographed / free style dance, playing instrument
• Narrative: storyline / theme/ motifs; linear / non-linear
• Conceptual: abstract set of motifs that may have no obvious link to the lyric

This is frequently crossover between these, in particular performance and narrative

Exam "set" music videos

For the exam, you will need to know two music videos in depth:

• A conventional performance / narrative style video
• A conceptual post-modern style video

Things to analyse (form and convention)

• Camera: angles, shot size, camera movement, framing
• Editing: cutting rate/ rhythm (to the rhythm / beat?), types of cut (matched, jump, cutaways), transitions, effects (including Special Effects SFX)
• Mise en scene: costume, make up, props, location, lighting

• Lip synch and authorage /  star quality, which links to…
• Representation: of the star, sexuality, gender, ethnicity / culture, subculture and genre, personality, celebrity and consumerism
• Audience: and how the video “positions” them; the male gaze; voyeurism
• Authorage: artist's distinct visual style

Jorja Smith - The One

The clip finds the 21 year old in a deeply emotional state of reflection,

• Repeated close-up shots
• Love/heartbreak, "The One"
• Performance: lip synch women into the narrative - naturalistic
• Narrative:
• non-linear
• lose narrative
• cross-cutting between three loose strands:
• bedroom
• outside the bath
• bath (naked)
• Angles: high angle - vulnerability (links to bath)

Beyonce - Formation

• Post-modern song - mix and match (highly styled/home footage/archive footage)
• Performance and conceptual: culture, ethnic identity
• New Orleans - mardi gras, floods
• Martin Luther King
• Afro - daughter
• Gender - female dancers - authorage (dancing)
• Feminist - objectified/male gaze #
• Cutting rate - sometimes in synch, sometimes discordant
• Mostly long shots to capture the dancing

Post-modernism

By nature hard to design, but might include:

• A mix and match aesthetic, taking influences from a range of genres
• “Look” is as important / more important than “meaning”
• Blurring of time, space
• Unconventional, highly non-linear narrative
• Mixing up types of narration, for example first and third, which might lead to…
• Breaking the fourth wall
• Intertextuality: when there are deliberate references made to other media products, and the music video is only understood if this reference is understood by the audience.
• Mixing fantasy and reality (simulacra- Baudrillard)

Goodwin's framework for analysis

1) A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, which illustrate, reinforce or contradict the lyrics.

2) Thought beats: seeing the sounds (the relationship between the music and the visuals, which illustrate, amplify or contradict the music.)

3) Genre-related style and iconography present.

Iconic - instantly recognisable

Music Video Introduction

The in-depth study of two music videos

• The music videos from List A could be regarded as 'mainstream' as they come from commercial artists who have been signed by 'major' record labels. The music videos all feature their respective artist(s) and are a mixture of performance and narrative, and raise the number of similar representational issues surrounding 'street life'.
• The music videos in List B from alternative or less commercial artists. These music videos do not feature their respective artist(s) at all, instead, with each music video celebrating the power of narrative and signification and a postmodern emphasis on intertextuality. The videos in List B each use very different representations to each other, but each contrasts clearly with the representations featured in the music videos in List A.

What does record label do?

• A record label is responsible for production, manufacture, distribution, marketing, and promotion of music.
• They enforce copyright laws
• They conduct scouting and development of artists.
• They maintain contracts with recording artists and their managers.

The 4 major record labels are:

• Warner Bros
• Universal
• EMI
• Sony

They are the parent companies of many small labels, including:

• SyCo Music
• Island Records
• Atlantic
• Epic
• Aftermath
• Cash money Billionaire
• and many more...

Media Ownership

• Universal is the largest media owner of the music industry
• Independent labels are smaller and often focused on more alternative genres.
• An example:
• Gingerbread Man Records, Ed Sheeran's record label. Owned by a bigger brand Atlantis

What do A&R people do?

• A&R stands for Artists and Repertoire. This is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and the artistic and commercial development of the recording artist. It also acts as a liaison between the artist and the record label.
• The role of A&R has three main responsibilities:
• Finding talent
• Overseeing the recording process
•  Assisting with marketing and promotion
• As you can imagine, going to clubs, scouting new talent, chatting regularly with recording studios, superstar producers, and major stars, makes this one of the most sought after jobs in the recording industry.

The song production process:

• A&R scouts find an artist
• A contract is signed
• An album producer is at the centre of the process
• Marketing may begin well in advance
• Team of songwriters produce songs
• Backing vocal artists are sourced and recorded
• Label heads oversee production and manage budgets
• Session musicians are employed, samples recorded
• The star records their vocals
• Music videos are produced
• The album is streamed or tracks given away
• The album is marketed and distributed globally

Who makes money?

• The contract will dictate the percentage of ownership of any profit made from a single song or album sale.
• Typically a superstar royalty rate is 20%
• Apple will take 30% of an album sale through Apple music
• Songwriters earn royalties when a song is played on the radio/adverts etc
• Artists earn money from touring ticket sales and album sales

Shelter Essay

Shelter is a charity which helps people who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness. The 3 models (2 women and a man) are fearful of losing their homes. All the models have a close-up shot of their faces, which are all in misery and despair. They are all giving direct addresses to the audience which portrays how desperately they need the community's help to maintain their homes.  The words that are written on the advert explains the different scenarios individuals can go into for them to lose their accommodations. For example, a person lost their job but that doesn't mean they can lose their homes with the help of Shelter. Additionally, debt and being a tenant are other examples of people using the charity. All 3 of the adverts carry out a single headline which shares the viewer the desperation the person is feeling. By individuals reaching out to them, the charity solves their problem in any scenario and have left thousands of individuals or families with smiles on their faces knowing that they won't be homeless. The charity is a direct response to Cameron's coalition government (CSR) cutting its funding for social housing by 60% which has a catastrophic effect on people who have previously depended on affordable and secure social housing which is provided by the council and housing associations and has a fixed rent. Shelter said that the CSR is "prepared to deny responsibility for ensuring that people can access decent, secure, affordable housing. A recent study has found out that 50% of people do not seek external advice when they encounter housing difficulties, therefore, Shelter tries to prevent that from happening and for the charity to resonate with people experiencing these problems and tap into their concerns, which is them seeking advice on the Shelter website. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the regulatory body for adverts in the UK. It is in their absolute power for them to pull any adverts that have been complained by a member of the public or a company. All adverts have set strict rules they must follow such as not containing comparisons to other charities, not addressing any fundraising message specifically at children, respecting the dignity of those no whose behalf an appeal is being made and the list goes on. The Shelter adverts achieve this by the models being respected of them volunteering to share their disappointing stories to the public however they also illustrate how Shelter is there to help those that are in threat of becoming homeless.

Shelter (Charity Advert Analysis)

Charity adverts and context

• The social / cultural / political contexts we will focus on are:
• Shelter as a charity
• The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and its regulatory framework
• The government’s comprehensive spending review of 2010, in which spending on social housing was cut by 60%, with a catastrophic impact on homelessness.
• Social housing - provided by council or housing associations.
• Affordable, secure, rents are set/fixed

About the campaign and the charity

• Shelter is a charity which helps people who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness.

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

• The ASA are the regulatory body for advertising in the UK.
• Set strict rules on advertising
• They have the power to "pull" any adverts that have been complained about a member of a public or a company.
• They will investigate complaints and agree/disagree.
• Advertisers have to adhere to ASA guidelines

ASA on charity adverts. They must:

• handle with care and discretion matters likely to arouse strong emotions in the audience;
• not suggest that anyone will lack proper feeling or fail in any responsibility through not supporting a charity;
• respect the dignity of those on whose behalf an appeal is being made;
• not address any fundraising message specifically to children;
• not contain comparisons with other charities;
• avoid presenting an exaggerated impression of the scale or nature of the social problem to which the work of the charity is addressed, eg. by illustrating the message with non-typical extreme examples;
• not misrepresent or mislead in any way about the charity, its field of activity or the use to which donations will be put.

Government Comprehensive Spending Review: Contextual Information

• Communities and local government
• Annual budget: £33.6bn
• Funding for social housing can be cut by more than 60%, with the new tenants having to pay higher rents.
• But the government hopes these changes will free up funds to build 150,000 new affordable homes over the next for years.

What did Shelter say about these cuts?

• ‘Shelter is greatly concerned that housing, one of the most basic needs for every single person in this country, is facing some of the biggest cuts. A succession of governments has failed to address our housing crisis and this CSR indicates that the coalition is also prepared to deny responsibility for ensuring that people can access decent, secure, affordable housing.
• The combined worry of cuts to housing benefit and the slashing of the affordable house building subsidy will be devastating for the housing aspirations of thousands of young people consigned to increasing costs and bringing up their future families in an insecure private rented sector.

The Campaign

• The Campaign was a direct response to the CSR. This is Shelter: A recent study found that 50% of people do not seek external advice when they encounter housing difficulties.
• The main focus of the activity is a series of poster ads.
• Each one depicts an ordinary person in distress because they are facing a serious crisis, such as sudden job loss or mounting debt. They carry a single headline which shares with the viewer the desperation the person is feeling.
• The aim is for the combined impact of the headline and image to resonate with people experiencing these problems and tap into their concerns, driving them to seek advice on Shelter’s website.

Shelter context

• 2010 - government cut its funding for social housing at 60% = catastrophic effect on people who'd previously depended on affordable/ social housing.
• CSR - Cameron's coalition government
• Shelter - focus is on those at risk of homelessness. Advice/prevention
• ASA - regulates advertising framework for all ads; might be apt for charity ads

The Question

How is media language used in the shelter advert? Refer to the social, political and cultural contexts in your response.

(500 words)

Shelter is a charity which helps people who are struggling with bad housing or homelessness. The 3 models (2 women and a man) are fearful of losing their homes. All the models have a close up shot of their faces, which are all in misery and despair. They are all giving direct addresses to the audience which portrays how desperately they need the community's help to maintain their homes.  The words that are written on the advert explains the different scenarios individuals can go into for them to lose their accommodations. For example, a person lost their job but that doesn't mean they can lose their homes with the help of Shelter. Additionally, debt and being a tenant are other examples of people using the charity. All 3 of the adverts carry out a single headline which shares the viewer the desperation the person is feeling. By individuals reaching out to them, the charity solves their problem in any scenario and have left thousands of individuals or families with smiles on their faces knowing that they won't be homeless. The charity is a direct response to Cameron's coalition government (CSR) cutting its funding for social housing by 60% which has a catastrophic effect on people who have previously depended on affordable and secure social housing which is provided by the council and housing associations and has a fixed rent. Shelter said that the CSR is "prepared to deny responsibility for ensuring that people can access decent, secure, affordable housing. A recent study has found out that 50% of people do not seek external advice when they encounter housing difficulties, therefore, Shelter tries to prevent that from happening and for the charity to resonate with people experiencing these problems and tap into their concerns, which is them seeking advice on the Shelter website. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the regulatory body for adverts in the UK. It is in their absolute power for them to pull any adverts that have been complained by a member of the public or a company. All adverts have set strict rules they must follow such as not containing comparisons to other charities, not addressing any fundraising message specifically at children, respecting the dignity of those no whose behalf an appeal is being made and the list goes on. The Shelter adverts achieve this by the models being respected of them volunteering to share their disappointing stories to the public however they also illustrate how Shelter is there to help those that are in threat of becoming homeless.