Fassbinder’s Films are Made to Provoke and Unsettle, No
For Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the motivation behind creating films, as he did so prolifically between 1966 and 1982 , was essentially political. It was through this medium that he felt most able to contribute to the debate over the ever-changing internal politics of his nation, Germany, and to the universal debate over sexuality and gender roles that was emerging as laws and taboos on these subjects began to be reassessed and liberalised. Never opting for simplicity over controversy, it comes as no surprise, therefore, that Fassbinder should choose to explore the issue of racism in Fear Eats the Soul (henceforth referred to as FETS) at a time when Germany was choosing to direct its pent-up anger against Gastarbeiter . In a country that he considered ‘too conservative, conformist, ‘spießerhaft’ and charged with latent violence’ (Elsaesser, 1996: 25), he also deals with the issues of ageism and crossing social boundaries. I would like to explore how Fassbinder effectively employs the concepts of contradiction, contrast and exploitation in this film, i.e. concepts which are fundamental to an understanding of his work and world and which serve to provoke and unsettle the spectator. I will also show how the audience’s
Furthermore, two contrasts can be observed. One is Emmi’s local grocer, who refuses to serve Ali because he supposedly does not speak good enough German. The irony of this scene is that the grocer himself speaks a broad Bavarian dialect of German, which can itself be difficult to understand and which is considered by many not to be good German by dint of not being standard German. feelings of malaise are augmented by employing specific cinematic techniques and challenging established ideas on ‘the gaze’. Furthermore, I will explain how Fassbinder, who believed that ‘positive images are elaborate utopian deceptions and […] prefers an educative pessimism’ (Medhurst, 1996: 20), developed the melodrama genre to suit his creative needs. Exploitation is another theme in the film that seems related to contradiction and contrast. Having been forced to identify with those characters in the film that represent prejudice and petit bourgeois conservatism, the spectator is next clearly shown how fickle and unscrupulous society is. After Emmi and Ali’s honeymoon, a complete turnaround in the nature of the characters occurs. For example, the grocer, who by that time has refused to serve either Ali or Emmi, decides that aversion must give way to business sense and welcomes Emmi and her custom back with open arms . And so we see that ‘social ostracism changes to accommodating exploitation’ (Elsaesser, 1996: 281). Furthermore, both Emmi and Ali are forced to accept society’s false indulgence because it is all they have and, unless society changes, are ever likely to have. They realise that, in addition to needing each other, they need friends, albeit false ones.
Some topics in this essay:
Ali Emmi,
Braad Thomsen,
Gastarbeiter According,
Emmi Ali,
FETS Germany,
Moroccan Ali,
Werner Fassbinder,
Ali Fassbinder’s,
Emmi Ali’s,
FETS Fassbinder,
contradiction contrast,
erotic gaze,
ali emmi,
hollywood melodrama,
tebbutt 1998 132,
1998 132,
society changes,
unless society,
melodrama brechtian,
elsaesser 1996,
unless society changes,
emmi ali,
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Approximate Word count = 2626
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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