Berlin Calling

The main character in the movie, Martin(a.ka. Ickarus), takes drugs to relax.  His life is pretty hectic and he takes pills that relaxes him and makes him sleep.  He also takes what looks like cocaine and that would be taken to wake up and do his job.  While he djs he takes MDMA and other pills.  Ickarus' fans also take uppers during his shows so they can party and dance all night.  The subculture that Ickarus is in focuses on drugs mainly to party and let go of everyday stuff.  Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll seem to go together in any culture.  Berlin Calling depicts the majority of the people in my subculture the difference however is that the standard in my home society is drug free and family is always first, some still feel the need to take excessive amount of drugs in order to express themselves. Similar U.S. movies would be Blow, and Casino however, these movies are still nothing like Berlin Calling in the sense that it is less censored.

Europe is always a couple steps ahead of the United States when it comes to party experimental type drugs and party dance trance music stuff but other than that the Untied States culture is just as much the same as European culture. Cult movie culture however is different in the United States than in Europe because movies in the United States are more censored than in Europe. 

I connected this movie to the book/movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, especially when he was in the rehab facility. Some of the connections I made were to do with the Nurse and Ickarus' relationship.  Many would think that the nurse is the bad person hurting the patient with weird pills that don't help but instead cause pain.  However the nurse is just trying everything possible to help the patient and yes sometimes in order to get off of drugs one must take other drugs to help.  This movie actually depicts majority of the people in my subculture which is music festivals and other music based social society.  The only difference between the United States festival subculture and the Europe subculture is that they are different countries and that is it for the most part.  Mainly in my subculture it's a drug free vibe and everyone believes that everyone is family and such but some feel the need to take excessive amount of drugs in order to express themselves just like in many other cultures.  I enjoyed watching this movie and enjoyed the class discussion after as well. I have seen it once before a long time ago but did not notice until about mid way through the movie.  It was interesting watching at an older age and having experienced such concerts that Ickarus performs.

Chapter 12

Chapter:12, End

Character(s)- Paul 

Setting: a garden back at home, Autumn time 1918

Theme: reflection of postwar in Germany for young soldiers; how will they live in normal society again?

Paul is sent back home on a 14 day leave because he was exposed to poisonous gas.  At this point Paul is the only one alive out of the 7 soldiers part of his unit.  Back at home Paul is considering what life will be like after the war, he fears that the younger soldiers that are fighting in the war will not be able adapt to normal every day routine. He sees it as, once a soldier always a soldier. After his short, but unsettling, time spent at home he is sent back to the front to fight.  In October, the same year, Paul fell to the ground dead on a day according to the report write up, that was "all quiet on the western front". One saw that the expression on his face showed that he did not suffer long, he had a calm look to him as though he was wanting for this to happen. 

Chapter 12 summarizes Paul's fear of integrating back to normal everyday life.  This is his fear throughout the book, he notices that all the adult soldiers have a life to get back to after the war is fought but the for the young one this is all they know. Paul is worried that he has lost all his ability to express emotion and the report reading shows that loss of emotion during wartime.

Two Interesting German Topics

Two Topics

1. Berlin Modernism Housing Estates-
     Consists of 6 housing estates that are now outstanding examples of the building reform movement the improved the housing and living conditions for the people with lower incomes.  The innovative housing policy took place from 1910-1933, especially during the Weimar Republic, when Berlin was progressing socially, politically, and culturally.

2. Upper Middle Rhine Valley-
      Located on the Rhine River from Bingen to Koblenz, this historical site has more than 40 castles and many wine villages.  This 65km stretch of the Middle Rhine has inspired many writers, artists, and composers, also attracts lots of tourists.  It is also a part of the transport route.

        I selected these two topics out of the many on the list only because they sounded familiar.  Once I looked them up in more detail they seemed interesting enough to write a blog about.  At first I had thought the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates was going to be more interesting than Upper Middle Rhine Valley, but by my surprise it was the other way around.  I found the topic Upper Middle Rhine Valley to be more interesting; I was surprised by its importance and success.