Ester Nelly Abuter Ananías - Fachbereich Philosophie und ...

Kay LaBahn Clark ( Humboldt State University, World Languages and Cultures,
Arcata, California, u sa )
Celluloid Travels : German Cinema Explores America
Th is paper will use some of the strategies and insights derived from travel literature
criticism in order to investigate the portrayal of the u sa in German fi lms from
the 70s to the present. Images of America as a “promised land” or as both an
extremely diff erent and particularly enticing culture have long been part of German
iconography. One need only think of Goethe’s : “Amerika, du hast es besser.” or Fritz
Lang’s use of the New York skyline as a source of inspiration for his metropolis of the
future. Th is paper analyzes the cinematic representation of travel through the u sa
by some of Germany’s most distinguished fi lm directors from Herzog, Wenders, and
Adlon to newcomers such as Michael Schorr and Stefan Kluge. It explores the role
of gender in travel, the political function of the portrayal of travel as well as concepts
such empire, spectacle, displacement and disillusionment. As some of these directors
travel across America, they present a landscape, people, and culture that exist only
in their lens and only for their perceived German or European audience. For some, a
cinematic encounter with the United States connects more to a particular historical
and psychological moment in Germany or to a larger theoretical theme, rather than
to the United States. Are these fi lms constructed renderings of an exotic “other,”
the perpetuation of stereotypes, a strange type of cultural imperialism, or just the
opposite ?
Email kjl3@humboldt.edu
Section Contemporary Travel Narratives
Panel 89
Date July 31
Time 13 :15
Location l 116