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Good Bye Lenin, directed by Wolfgang Becker, largely reflects the history of German reunification. It mainly tells that the protagonist, Alex, creates the false appearance about the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for his mother Christiane, a loyal communist follower, to prevent her from being psychologically attacked by the GDR’s integration into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). This film was released in 2003, more than a decade after the reunification, but still intensified the Ostalgia phenomenon, which is the nostalgia for East Germany. Many cinemas were decorated with GDR flags and many viewers even wore GDR clothes to watch this film (Zhang, 2008, p. 95). Both the film’s popularity and the Ostalgia phenomenon signal that many East Germans still miss the life in the GDR (Godeanu-Kenworthy, 2011), because of the difficulty in fully integrating into the West German culture and life. Therefore, to thoroughly understand this film and Ostalgia, it is essential to deeply understand its historical context.
Before reunification: Demonstrations and the Fall of the Berlin Wall
The first important plot of Good Bye Lenin is the demonstration (Figure 1). Demonstrations were indispensable in this history and indirectly led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. In March 1989, after knowing that the "iron curtain" between Hungary and Austria was being gradually dismantled, many east people entered Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria in turn to sneak into FRG (Savranskaya et al, 2010, p. 34). Inspired by them, a large number of demonstrations broke out in GDR and the protestors called on the cancellation of the travel restriction (Wang, 2016, p. 195). These demonstrations lasted until October, also the time of the demonstration Alex participating in. However, as the film shows (Figure 2), the GDR government was preparing for its 40th anniversary, so the police violently suppressed these demonstrations (Wang, 2016, p. 195). This is also reflected in the film, where Christiane faints after seeing the police beating the protestors including Alex. Except for the domestic demonstrations, affected by numerous stowaways, Czechoslovakia and Hungary put pressure on the GDR government to handle this problem as well (Elbe & Kiessler, 1996, p. 33). Accordingly, on November 9, the GDR government issued a new law to relax the border restriction to calm people, but the decree was wrongly proclaimed as allowing to cross the border (Hertle, 2001, p. 137), and people immediately broke through the Berlin Wall as a result. After these demonstrations and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, East Germans’ yearning for West Germany may reach the peak, which lays the foundation for their huge psychological gap and Ostalgia in the future.
After Reunification: Economic issues and Ostalgia
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the GDR government announced its integration into FRG in August 1990 and people celebrated the reunification nearly all night. Nevertheless, the integration process was not as smooth as expected. Economic problems were particularly serious, and led to the gradual emergence of Ostalgia. When Alex goes to the supermarket, the East German brands have nearly all disappeared, and shelves are packed with West German brands (Figure 3). After reunification, East Germany began to implement a free market economy and people frantically bought west goods flooded into east regions, and East German brands gradually lost their market (Godeanu-Kenworthy, 2011, p. 172). Then, many companies and factories closed down. This led directly to a dramatic rise in unemployment. By 1993, the rate of unemployment in East Germany was even up to 16% (Luo, 1996, p. 44). Many characters in Good Bye Lenin, including Alex, also face the dilemma of unemployment. For instance, the unemployed old headmaster drinks all day, despondingly saying that "we were all valuable people" (Figure 4). Besides, a large number of talents flowed into West Germany (Luo, 1996). When Alex wants to pick up his mother from the hospital, he finds that the attending doctor has been replaced and the original one moved to Dusseldorf, a more developed western city (Figure 5). Under such circumstances, Ostalgia was coming up. People began to miss GDR, a utopia with equal welfare and a relatively low unemployment rate.
After Reunification: The Identity Crisis and Ostalgia
Apart from economic issues, people from the east found it was hard to completely integrate into western culture and life, causing their inevitable self-identity crisis and addiction to Ostalgia. Firstly, East Germans had to quickly adapt to a brand-new life, including new currency, a new lifestyle, and around 35,000 new laws (Xu, 2009, p. 39). As this film shows, all people in the former GDR are required to exchange new Deutschmark in banks (Figure 6). East Germans also tried to imitate the way West Germans dress, but their accent and habits soon betrayed them (Zhang, 2008, p. 95). Secondly, more and more contradictions between people from the two regions were emerging. Everyone must pay an extra tax named "solidarity tax" to support the development of the east (Jennen, 2019), so West Germans gradually felt discontent at East Germans and East Germans hold the view that people in the west were mean and arrogant.
Finally, those East Germans, failing to accept the new life, found that their old life in GDR has even been exaggerated as a life in a “prison camp” (Godeanu-Kenworthy, 2011, p. 167). Hence, they were marginalized in society and suffering from an identity crisis. Under such circumstances, the Ostalgia phenomenon was widespread. Like Alexander’s enthusiasm for collecting East German food (Figure 7), East Germans began to collect almost everything produced in GDR, such as Trabant cars. Many East German museums were established (Kreibich, 2018), and many people even hold counter-celebrations to commemorate GDR on the anniversary of Germany’s reunification (Berdahl, 1999, p. 192). However, Ostalgia is an obstacle to truly reunifying East and West Germany (Godeanu-Kenworthy, 2011), because it leads to East Germans’ clinging to the past and rejection to accept their new life.
If knowing more about this history, viewers might better understand Good Bye Lenin and the triggers of Ostalgia. Wolfgang Becker, a West German director, may be unable to propose feasible solutions to facilitate complete integration, but may still indicate his suggestion through this film. At the end of this film, Christiane probably has known the truth about the fake news, but she does not point it out, because she loves Alex and is moved by his efforts, so she tolerates Alex's deception (Figure 8). Perhaps, this is Becker's suggestion: keep tolerant and loving.
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Reference List
Becker, W. (2003). Good Bye, Lenin! Germany: X Filme Creative Pool.
Berdahl, D. (1999). ‘(N)Ostalgie’ for the present: Memory, longing, and East German things. Ethnos, 64(2), 192-211. doi: 10.1080/00141844.1999.9981598
Elbe, F., & Kiessler, R. (1996). A round table with sharp corners: the diplomatic path to German Unity. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Godeanu-Kenworthy, O. (2011). Deconstructing Ostalgia: The national past between commodity and simulacrum in Wolfgang Becker’s Good Bye Lenin! (2003). Journal of European Studies, 41(2), 161-177. doi: 10.1177/0047244111399717
Hertle, H. (2001). The fall of the Wall: The unintended self-dissolution of East Germany’s ruling regime. CWIHP Bulletin, 2001(12), pp. 131-140.
Jennen, B. (2019). Germany Moves to Scratch Reunification Tax Worth $21 Billion. Bloomberg.Com, N.PAG.
Kreibich, S. (2018). Reimagining Everyday Life in the GDR: Post-Ostalgia in Contemporary German Films and Museums (Doctoral Dissertation, Bangor University, Bangor). Retrieved from https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/reimagining-everyday-life-in-the-gdr(0141a354-acab-42c4-9de4-64132d433d18).html
Luo, X. (1996). Liang De Tong Yi Hou Lian Bang Zheng Fu Wei Zheng Zhi Dong Bu Di Qu Cai Qu De Zhong Da Ju Cuo [The major measures taken by the federal government to regulate the eastern region after reunification]. World Economic Forum, 151(6), 42-47. Retrieved from Wan Fang Database. Retrieved from: http://d.wanfangdata.com.cn/periodical/ChlQZXJpb2RpY2FsQ0hJTmV3UzIwMjAxMjI4Eg5RSzE5OTYwMDgxMDExMhoIOG5wNnB5MnY%3D
Savranskaya, S., Blanton, T., & Zubok, V. (2010). Masterpieces of history: the peaceful end of the Cold War in Europe, 1989. New York: Central European University Press.
Wang, S. (2016). Exploration into the internal and external causes of 1989 GDR Crisis and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Journal of Central South University (Social Science), 22(2), pp. 193-200.
Xu, N. (2009). The possibility of the wound to be healed over between East and West Germany—Contemporary East Germany’s recognition with “Goodbye Lenin”. Movie Review, 3, 39-46. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1002-6916.2009.03.025
Zhang, A. (2008). The Neorealism Trend of German Film and the Self-identity of East Germany. Contemporary Cinema, 3, 93-97. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1002-4646.2008.03.019
