European University Institute Library

Staging West German democracy, governmental PR films and the democratic imaginary, 1953-1963, Jan Uelzmann

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-331) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Staging West German democracy

bibliography

1041886843

Jan Uelzmann

New directions in German studies, vol. 24

governmental PR films and the democratic imaginary, 1953-1963

"Staging West German Democracy examines how political 'founding discourses' of the nascent Federal Republic (FRG) were reflected, reinforced, and actively manufactured by the Federal government in conjunction with the West German, state-controlled newsreel system, the Deutsche Wochenschau. By looking at the institutional history of the Deutsche Wochenschau and its close relationship to the Federal Press Office, Jan Uelzmann traces the Adenauer administration's project of maintaining a "government channel" in an increasingly diverse, de-centralized, and democratic West German media landscape. Staging West German Democracy reconstructs the company's integral role in the planning, production, and dissemination of pro-government PR, and through detailed analyses reveals the films to celebrate the FRG as an economically successful and internationally connected democracy under Adenauer's leadership. Apart from providing election propaganda for Adenauer's CDU party, these films provided an important stabilizing factor for the FRG's project of explaining and promoting democracy to its citizens, and of defining its public image against the backdrops of the Third Reich past and a competing, contemporary incarnation of German nationhood, the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In this regard, Staging West German Democracy adds in important ways to our understanding of the media's role in the West German nation building process"--, Provided by publisher

Introduction. Governmental PR in the "chancellor films" : a sociopolitical archeology of the Adenauer period -- Foundational narratives -- The Deutsche Wochenschau as "government channel" -- Stability discourse : the US state visit films -- Cold warrior discourse : the return of the "hero-father" in Meeting in the Kremlin -- The reconciliation discourse : the PR films on the rapprochement with France -- The discourse of connectedness : Adenauer's Bonn as reluctant, yet effective "world city" -- The father of the nation discourse : building Adenauer's legacy -- Conclusion. Staging West German democracy through PR films