Location

Stewart Center 318

Session Number

Session 03: IMAGES OF GERMAN TERRORISM IN POP CULTURE, POLITICS, AND PROSE

Start Date

8-9-2011 1:00 PM

End Date

8-9-2011 2:30 PM

Abstract

By closely analyzing the Charles Bronson vehicle Death Wish -released to German speaking audiences as Ein Mann sieht rot- and the controversies that surrounded its West German debut in November 1974, the essay addresses broader debates about vigilance, Selbstjustiz (vigilante justice), and citizenship during the “Red Years” (1967-1977). Conceptualizing Selbstjustiz as a discursive site, I reveal how Ein Mann sieht rot’s representations of Selbstjustiz negotiated broader German anxieties about Americanization, masculinity, urban crime, the fascist past, state power, media effects and sensationalism, constructions of the citizen and the criminalized or terrorist “other,” and the responsibilities of the citizen in combating “terror.”

Comments

Session III: IMAGES OF GERMAN TERRORISM IN POP CULTURE, POLITICS, AND PROSE Organizer and Chair: Jen William, Purdue University

Keywords: Terrorism, Vigilante Justice (Selbstjustiz), the Vigilant Citizen, Constructions of the “Other,” Masculinity, Fascism, Criminality, Memory, Popular Culture and Cultural Transfer, Media and Media Effects

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Sep 8th, 1:00 PM Sep 8th, 2:30 PM

Vigilance, Vigilantism, and the Role of the Citizen in Combating German Terror, 1967-1977

Stewart Center 318

By closely analyzing the Charles Bronson vehicle Death Wish -released to German speaking audiences as Ein Mann sieht rot- and the controversies that surrounded its West German debut in November 1974, the essay addresses broader debates about vigilance, Selbstjustiz (vigilante justice), and citizenship during the “Red Years” (1967-1977). Conceptualizing Selbstjustiz as a discursive site, I reveal how Ein Mann sieht rot’s representations of Selbstjustiz negotiated broader German anxieties about Americanization, masculinity, urban crime, the fascist past, state power, media effects and sensationalism, constructions of the citizen and the criminalized or terrorist “other,” and the responsibilities of the citizen in combating “terror.”