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- Title
Halbstarke and Rowdys: Consumerism, Youth Rebellion, and Gender in the Postwar Cinema of the Two Germanys.
- Authors
Layne, Priscilla; Hagemann, Karen; Jarausch, Konrad H.; Hof, Tobias
- Abstract
In the second half of the 1950s, American films about "delinquent youth" took West Germany by storm. Although these films were not screened in East Germany, the still open border between the FRG and GDR allowed young people in both states to see these films. Many adopted American clothing styles and music in both Germanys. Two films, the West German production Die Halbstarken (1956) and the East German production Berlin–Ecke Schönhauser (1957) addressed "delinquent youth" in the German context and became quite popular. The article compares the competing images of femininity in both films, which linked the problem of "delinquent youth" to consumerism, pop culture, and "weak parents," but portrayed young women very differently. While consumerism in the West German film was in a gender-specific way linked to femininity, the East German film linked consumerism to a class society and displaced it to the West. Contemporary film reviews and press treatment of main actresses reflected these differing attitudes toward gender and consumption.
- Subjects
JUVENILE delinquency films; YOUTH in motion pictures; CONSUMERISM; FEMININITY; DIE Halbstarken (Film)
- Publication
Central European History (Cambridge University Press / UK), 2020, Vol 53, Issue 2, p432
- ISSN
0008-9389
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0008938920000187