Weeks 1 & 2

Weeks 1 & 2

Berlin has been an interesting city to immerse myself into. Its recent history of varying extremist governments has shaped a culture into one with much diversity and baggage. As an outsider it has been a challenge to learn to understand such a unique culture. I would consider myself a fairly conditioned traveler having the ability to observe a people and accustom myself to their ways. Each location I have traveled to has held a rather stable culture over time, making it much easier to acclimatize myself based on previous notions of the culture shaped by readings and people I have met from the country. Germany in itself has a rather distinct culture with some interesting variances throughout the regions, which I have observed a small amount of prior to my arrival in Berlin, but none of these compare to what I find in Berlin. I find myself here with no prior prejudice of what to expect. I enjoy this new challenge in my travels, especially for such a unique city.
I see myself in the film “Displaced Person,” by Daniel Eisenberg, constantly studying and restudying what I see around me. The frequent fogging of scenes is very symbolic of the failure to understand, though I hope I will be able to avoid the film’s rather depressing ending of a departure with just as much ignorance as the arrival. A quote from a person I do not recall embodies Berlin from what I have experienced as of yet.

“Berlin will never have an identity because it is always seeking to find itself.”

This has been the root of the difficulties, I believe, in finding an understanding of my new surroundings. The most evident aspect of Berlin that reflects this idea is in its architecture, of which we are learning about through the “Ghosts of Berlin,” by Brian Ladd. I have never been immersed into a culture that experiences so much controversy over its buildings and monuments. There is always a clash among the citizens of which parts of the city’s past should be preserved, memorialized, or “forgotten.” Berliners seem to see the city’s architecture as the façade of their culture and pride: the significance of their buildings, the impact of their memorials, and the symbolism of what replaces their “Ghosts” (those buildings that have been “forgotten”).
The people of Berlin seem to want to shape their identities by only displaying the parts of their history they are proud of. There will be a memorial here and there to remember those that have suffered under oppressive governments, but it seems there is a large effort to rid the city of large portrayals of eras such as Nazism and the GDR. I can understand the feeling of shame in the vulnerability of one’s country, one that you hold so much pride in, to atrocities such as those eras, but should you not carry your shame so as to not make the same mistakes? The words of the Seattle rapper Byrdie in reference to his father embody what I see in the people of Berlin so far.

“Into this world, given his last name,
It was later changed, I’ll be damned if I’m going to carry his name.
What a disgrace, look at my face, you’ll see his spitting image.
His very essence reflected, with no protection from my life.”

It seems that displaying your past shows more pride than hiding the parts you are not proud of. The “protection from [your] life” is how you show that you have changed and have the ability to not make the same mistakes.
I only hope that I can understand these efforts a bit more through walking around the city purposely with no purpose. Berlin is said to display the idea of “palimpsest,” that is to write and write over. In other words, Berlin is a city of layers. Through these layers you can gain a sense of the city’s past. Some layers are a bit more hidden than others, thus will take more keen observation. The discussion of counter-memory, very prevalent in Berlin, has brought my attention to aspects of the city of which I did not notice during the first week. A large monument such as the statue of Freidrich the Great does not allow you to reflect upon the past. You see it and think that this was an important leader, but nothing meaningful. Do you learn anything from a monument such as this? What about this era should we learn from? Counter-memory monuments, such as the Nazi book burning monument, the bricks that show where the wall lied, etc., display what is no longer there but had occurred. These monuments are subtle and draw reflection. You walk over the bricks and think about the people who had to do much more to do something what was just so simple for you. You look down into the empty shelves and see a library of no ideas because a government didn’t agree with them. This makes me begin to retract my earlier statements about the people of Berlin hiding their past. They find ways to not wear their bad past so prominently, but at the same time not to hide it. This way people do not have to be reminded every day of their shame, but can still reflect if they feel the need to do so.
My group has set a goal of to create a fictional movie of memory based on our experiences in Berlin. This interestingly draws a parallel to that of which I seek to understand most about the Berlin culture. Our film will not only record time, but produce and portray time through our eyes and how we desire to remember our time here in Berlin. Obviously, all four of us will experience Berlin differently. How will we decide to create a movie that will satisfy all that each player wants to remember or not remember? What’s important to one may not be so to another, or what’s too personal to one may be something that another wants to display. In our movie, a visiting American boy that will embody our group and a girl from Berlin that will embody Berlin will meet and fall in love. Inevitably, the American has to leave in a bitter-sweet ending. The clear symbolism of this relationship will show our experiences in Berlin.
I also think about the controversy behind Ruttman’s “Berlin: Symphony of a Big City.” This large montage of Berlin creates a symphony out of Berlin showing how the whole is larger than the individual parts. All the parts work together to create such a great city. Though many argue how Ruttman’s Berlin does not properly display Berlin. I see a similar difficulty in our female character. How will we, with our limited knowledge of Berlin, truly develop her character into one that displays Berlin? Is it important that she shows simply how we view Berlin, which may have been Ruttman’s purpose? Or was Ruttman’s purpose to use pieces of Berlin to create a symphony as opposed to re-creating Berlin through a symphony? Will aspects of Berlin create our love story or should we use the love story to re-create Berlin?
My role in the group will be to help out in all aspects but to focus on pre-production and directing. This is my first time making a film and taking a course of this type. I hope to learn a lot about film making and to learn new ways of discovering a foreign culture so as to enhance my future travels as well. As a group we seek to use cinema as a “memory machine.”