Analyzing political Satire Fairy Tales In Weimar Germany by Thenujaa Thirumal

Hermynia Zur Mühlen's "The glasses", 1923

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 17:13:23 UTC

“The glasses” is a story about uncovering realities of the state government, it takes on a variety of views from the view of the rich to the poor and also the optimistic bunch who see reality as the state governs.

Social Movements:A Step towards equality

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 18:49:48 UTC

Women gained the right to vote In 191. Women were seen out more in public spheres. This prompted the "New Woman" symbol, which rejected traditional stereotypes of women.
Below there is a picture of an original poster from 1920's celebrating women's right to vote.

"Weimar Surfaces: Urban Visual Culture in 1920s Germany", 2001

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 19:03:25 UTC

Janet Ward the author of the book deconstructs urban visual culture in Weimar Germany. Ward redefines modernism and postmodernism as political positions in the century-long struggle between art and technology as opposed to just being chronological eras. Ward discuses the study of Weimar German mass culture being relatively against the Frankfurt School of theory. Ward goes on to to explain the postwar influence the Frankfurt School has had since Nazism, an understandably negative effect on the study of visual culture for Germany.Ward describes weimar visual cultural as "a communal creation of then and now, of constantly interacting aesthetic, social, political, filmic, architectural, and economic discourses". Each of the four chapters of Ward's book reinforces how in the middle years of the Weimar Republic there was an emergence of surface culture in everyday urban life. In the first chapter modern architectural changes and its relation to the fashion of new woman is discussed. In the second chapter electric advertising is considered. In the third chapter Weimar cinema is examined. In the fourth chapter the function of the display window as a link to consumerism is explored. Ward also goes on to make the connection that in Germany in the 1920's the lines between the world of business and the world of avant-garde becomes blurred on multiple occasions.

Understanding the writer, Hermynia Zur Mühlen.

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 19:05:22 UTC

Hermynia Zur Mühlen was a well known activist against national socialism, anti-Semitism and all forms of social injustice. She was Born into an old aristocratic Viennese family. As a child she was brought up by her grandmother who instilled a sense of moral responsibility in her and that all human beings are equal in the eyes of God. These beliefs were present in nearly all her fictional writings. She was inspired by Christian ideals of social justice and community and by romantic notions of the aristocracy as the protector of widows and orphans. As she was growing up she was soon becoming more and more left-winged politically. Upon her divorce from her unhappy marriage with a conservative German landowner, Viktor Von Zur Mühlen, she was debilitated by respiratory disease. She obtained release from her oppressive environment in 1913 and was sent to a sanatorium in Switzerland, where she began her literary career which was widely successful. She produced fairytales in which the exploitation of the working class was exposed and interpreted for young readers from a socialist perspective. Zur Mühlen joined the German Communist Party sometime between 1919 and 1921. Her works were seen as an effective means of promoting political education by the German Communist Party. Zur Mühlen left the Communist Party by 1931 or 1932 because of the oppressiveness of the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union and due to the authoritarian dogmatism of the German Party.

Kurt Schwitter's "The Three Wishes", 1936

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 19:07:21 UTC

The fairytale starts with a man who wants something special the only thing is he doesn’t know what he wants. He encounters an old woman who says she knows what he wants but won’t tell him. The old woman says that she has the power to grant him what he wants and that she’ll give him three wishes. The old woman disappeared and the man began to think of what to wish for. He realized he wanted happiness, but then it occurred to him that he wanted to have something solid, a happiness that would make others envious. He believed happiness is only that which others also want to possess. So he wished for wealth, his wish was granted but he still wasn’t happy. The old lady appeared and said that he made the wrong wish but he had two more left and if he chooses the right one he would be happy. He then wished for world power, and became the mightiest king of all time. He became bored eventually when the wars ceased to end and had two great planets crash together. His reasoning was that he didn’t like the noses of the people on one of the planets. After a while he became bored again so he had glowing meteors hung over the heads pf his subjects so they would live in constant fear. This pleased him for a while but then he grew bored again. The old lady appeared again and told him he made the wrong wish again but he still had one more wish and to choose carefully. While contemplating his final wish he overhears one of his bodyguards talking about another bodyguard. His bodyguard uses the metaphor “He felt just as happy as a fish in water” to describe the other one. The book ends with the man having a revelation and realizing that fish feel happy just to be in water, and that it shouldn’t be any other way because they wouldn’t feel well in the air.

Kuhle Wampe or: To Whom Does The World Belong? (1932)

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 19:11:40 UTC

The film directed by Slatan Dudow is set during the Great Depression in Berlin, in 1931. A working class family is evicted from their home and are forced to move to tent camp called Kuhle Wampe.

This classic film is one of the many Weimar works that have made connections to real world social and political movements. The film's ending is very impactful and significant as it speaks high volumes of truth and rejects its political opponents; the nazis.A man asks "Who will change the world?" to Gerda and she replies "The people that are not satisfied".

Homosexual Movement

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 19:50:27 UTC

The author of the article, Alex Ross reviews the first chapter of Robert Beachy's book "Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity". Ross goes on to say that a bold statement is made with the title of the chapter, "The German Invention of Homosexuality". He talks about the principle argument of this book, he says it stems from the notion of same-sex love being as old as love itself. Another important argument of the book that he mentions is that the political movement to win rights for homosexuality arose in Germany in the late 19th and 20th century. He mentions Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, in essence the first gay activist was censored and exiled but his ideas were heard. He shares that in Beachy's book a Berlin police officer commissioner is mentioned who gave up prosecuting gay bars and instead tolerated and turned a blind eye to it, in the 1880's. He talks about how in 1896, the first gay magazine, began publication. He also mentions another milestone for gay rights, by 1897, just one year later the first gay-rights organization was founded. He talks about how in the 1920's, gay films and pop songs were in circulation and a mass movement seemed to form. He goes on to mention that in 1929, the Reichstag moved toward the decriminalization of homosexuality although in an unfortunate turn of events the stock-market crash prevented a final vote.

 The author of the article Alex Ross stresses that it's easy to forget the Wilhelime period of Germany from 1871-1919 because of the tragedies of Nazism through Hitler's reign. He goes on to say that it explains the legacy of German Idealism and Romanticism, which helps to explain why the gay-rights movement's place of origin was forgotten in history.

Hannah Höch

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 19:59:46 UTC

Hannah Höch was a part of the Dadaist movement and a promotor of the "New Women" era in her works.

Heads Of State, 1918-20
Hannah Höch's artwork Heads of State is centered around a newspaper photograph cutout of the German President, Friedrich Ebert and his Minister of Defence, Gustav Noske in their bathing suits. This artwork is purposely meant to be comical, pointing fun and ridiculing the president and his minister.
Beyond the comical derogative there is an underlying message.The president and his minister are showcased in their own fantasy land, turning a blind eye to the hardships, political and financial faced by many Germany and its citizens. The arrangement of the collage presents the president and his minister caught in a net of embroidery pattern. This is meant to strip them of their masculinity, being caught in a net while a women is seen behind paying no attention to them. This artwork ridicules the men and the government in power in Germany and at the same time rejects patriarchal values all in one.

Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-hoch-hannah.htm

Dadaist Movement

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 20:47:50 UTC

Dadaist movement stems from an art form that rejects traditional ideas of art. Dadaism emerged during the brutality of World War I. For the artists of the Dada movement the war's casualties of civilians confirmed the degradation of social structure such as corrupt and national politics, repressive social values and unquestioned conformity of culture and thought that let to such violence.

J Ringlenatz’s “Kuttel Daddeldu tells his Children the Fairy Tale About Little Red Cap”

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 20:57:01 UTC

Ringelnatz's fairytale is written from the persona of one of his characters. It reverts the figure of the father as authority. It collages and mixes in well known stories within the story. The father figure in this story drinks excessively and doesn't care for his kids.

Looking into the life of Joachin Ringlenatz

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-10 21:05:38 UTC

Joachim Ringelnatz is one of the classic German
poets, a painter, and a writer. Ringelnatz's peak years of his artistic career was in the 1920's. This came to a crashing halt in 1933 when the Nazis came to power. Ringelnatz's artistic activity as both a painter and a poet was declared 'degenerate art'. Degenerate art was art that was not approved by the Nazi specifically it was art that was deemed Un-German, Jewish, or Communist in nature.

Christian Schad

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-11 22:50:34 UTC

Christian Schad was a German an artist who was a part of the Dada movement and the New Objectivity movement. Christian Schad's 'Boys In love' is prominent among the Weimar era because it addresses a law that forbade homosexuality in 1871. Schad's 'Boys in love' was supportive of the gay-rights movement and abolishing laws against homosexuality.

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-11 23:33:41 UTC

Through my research I've been able to get a much deeper understanding of the Weimar Republic of Germany. I have learned about the social and political movements that were ongoing during the early and late 19th century. I've learned a lot of historical context about the Weimar Republic which will help me analyze and critique the fairytales from a more knowledgable perspective. I've learned more about the authors and artist's of works I will analyze. This will help me contextualize their work's and it's purpose in a more profound way. I've learned about other writers and artists who were apart of the Dadaist movement and other social movements and have found works that are relevant to my research. I've learned about the popular culture in Weimar Germany. I've gained knowledge about modernism and postmodernism and their roles of being political positions the struggle between art and technology.

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-12 02:23:52 UTC

I've learned that Weimar Republic was a time of immense creativity and talent. This creativity and talent was not diminished by the demise of the Weimar Republic. Writers, artists and filmmakers were not deterred from their work even through many obstacle. I've learned that even with the threat of censorship and even exile for some, they didn't back down on creating truthful and powerful works of all kinds. I still have to find a way to organize and piece together all the information and supporting examples I have found.

Hugo Ball

thenujaa_thirumal — 2019-02-12 05:06:41 UTC

Hugo Ball was one of the co-founders of Dada.

"For us art is not an end in itself but it is an opportunity for the true perception and criticism of the times we live in" - Hugo Ball

Source: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-ball-hugo.htm

This collage by Hugo Ball is one of his earlier works from the beginning of Dadaism. The message of the artwork can be interpreted differently by different people. I see this artwork as reflective of the notion of the eyes being the window to the soul which in turn should be present in human actions, thus the eyes being collaged onto the hands. The eyes are different on each hand, which can be interpreted as inconsistency in the soul and in the actions of the person. Behind the hands there is a large dark shadow present which can be seen as a symbol of darkness. This can be a warning foreshadowing the darkness to come from the hands. I believe the hands are symbolic of the new government in power in Germany after the overthrow of Weimar, that Hugo Ball was openly against.