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True, but in many ways the argument applies to it as well. When the movie came out many former East Germans complained that the movie (which was written by Flor

True, but in many ways the argument applies to it as well. When the movie came out many former East Germans complained that the movie (which was written by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who was from West Germany) was unrealistic because the idea of Stasi agents who threw away their careers to protect dissidents as shown in the movie just wasn't something that happened, and probably a movie written by East Germans who really experienced the Stasi wouldn't have written it that way.

kergonath 6y ago
I really dislike this type of argument (not yours, the one you describe). The idea that nobody but East Germans could write a fiction involving the Stasi is ridiculous, as is the idea that only East Germans are objective about it. And it’s not like it was a documentary any more that Doctor Strangelove (which also nailed it despite being imaginary) was. It’s fine that different people have different views, and I’d actually be very interested in an East German point of view. But viewing History from outside is actually very valuable as well. There have been some American films on some historical events in my country, some of them good, some of them bad, but most of them interesting and instructive thanks to the foreign perspective. How are you supposed to develop any form of empathy if you’re not allowed to put yourself in someone else’s shoes? How are you supposed to distance yourself and get a broader perspective if your point of view is the only one you accept? Ultimately, malice is the problem, not the fact that people write about others. Some have Americans playing as foreigners. What’s the problem? There are lots of English playing Americans.
bloak 6y ago
I certainly got the impression that "Das Leben der Anderen" was made by West Germans. If it had been made by East Germans I'd expect to have found in it something surprising, something exotic, something I hadn't seen before, because I never even visited East Germany. But in fact everything in the film conformed precisely to Western ideas of what East Germany was like. I didn't even hear any music I didn't recognise: every background song seemed to have been taken from a one-euro shop CD called "Das Beste aus der DDR".
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Youtube probably has some DDR-era stuff, if you speak german. ("Besserwesser" is a pejorative these days for former West Germans who think they know more than the former East Germans [about what it was like]) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKBgxOY5g8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKBgxOY5g8 is Sting's reminiscence[1] of how his song "Russians" came to be; having watched some USSR kid's TV[2] myself, I agree with him that the russians did, in fact, love their children too. [1] Sorry it's a video, the article I originally read has gone down the memory hole. [2] hint: YT search gives different results in latin and in cyrillic. Separating BRD from DDR will be more difficult.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  another thought: http://diafilmy.su http://diafilmy.su has stuff in german, which undoubtedly is DDR-sourced. Don't know if it's indexed separately (but you might use "Poisk" to search for DDR cities to start)

kergonath 6y ago

I really dislike this type of argument (not yours, the one you describe). The idea that nobody but East Germans could write a fiction involving the Stasi is ridiculous, as is the idea that only East Germans are objective about it. And it’s not like it was a documentary any more that Doctor Strangelove (which also nailed it despite being imaginary) was. It’s fine that different people have different views, and I’d actually be very interested in an East German point of view. But viewing History from outside is actually very valuable as well. There have been some American films on some historical events in my country, some of them good, some of them bad, but most of them interesting and instructive thanks to the foreign perspective. How are you supposed to develop any form of empathy if you’re not allowed to put yourself in someone else’s shoes? How are you supposed to distance yourself and get a broader perspective if your point of view is the only one you accept? Ultimately, malice is the problem, not the fact that people write about others. Some have Americans playing as foreigners. What’s the problem? There are lots of English playing Americans.

bloak 6y ago

I certainly got the impression that "Das Leben der Anderen" was made by West Germans. If it had been made by East Germans I'd expect to have found in it something surprising, something exotic, something I hadn't seen before, because I never even visited East Germany. But in fact everything in the film conformed precisely to Western ideas of what East Germany was like. I didn't even hear any music I didn't recognise: every background song seemed to have been taken from a one-euro shop CD called "Das Beste aus der DDR".

082349872349872 6y ago
Youtube probably has some DDR-era stuff, if you speak german. ("Besserwesser" is a pejorative these days for former West Germans who think they know more than the former East Germans [about what it was like]) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKBgxOY5g8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKBgxOY5g8 is Sting's reminiscence[1] of how his song "Russians" came to be; having watched some USSR kid's TV[2] myself, I agree with him that the russians did, in fact, love their children too. [1] Sorry it's a video, the article I originally read has gone down the memory hole. [2] hint: YT search gives different results in latin and in cyrillic. Separating BRD from DDR will be more difficult.
082349872349872 6y ago
another thought: http://diafilmy.su http://diafilmy.su has stuff in german, which undoubtedly is DDR-sourced. Don't know if it's indexed separately (but you might use "Poisk" to search for DDR cities to start)