• The East German Film 'Coming Out' (1989) as Melancholic Reflection and Hopeful Projection

    Author(s):
    Kyle Frackman (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Group(s):
    Film Studies, German Literature and Culture, LLC 20th- and 21st-Century German, Queer German Studies
    Subject(s):
    Germany (East), Gays, Motion pictures
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    East German film, Gay and Lesbian, queer cinema, East Germany, Queer/gay, Film
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6MC8RG0X
    Abstract:
    This essay argues that the East German film "Coming Out" (1989) achieves a dual objective: to reflect a version of the current living conditions for gay citizens of the GDR and to project the possibility of an enlightened future in which they, and other outsiders, do not face discrimination because of their difference. Director Heiner Carow’s "Coming Out," the first feature film about homosexuality in the GDR, premiered the day the Berlin Wall fell and came after a long and complicated history of gay rights and activism in East Germany. Despite decriminalization in 1968, the position of lesbians and gay men in the GDR was an ambivalent and contradictory one. Through narrative and cinematographic means, the film refers to gay history as well as dissonance between socialist society and individualism, while also presenting an affirmative message for positive change and development.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Publisher:
    Blackwell Publishing
    Pub. Date:
    2018
    Journal:
    German Life and Letters
    Volume:
    71
    Issue:
    4
    Page Range:
    452 - 472
    ISSN:
    0016-8777
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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