Representations of the 'Other' in Weimar Cinema (1918-1933)

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By considering the way in which Weimar cinema represents individuals who are marginalized bydominant social discourses, my project brings attitudes about the 'other' to the forefront of academicdiscussion. I analyse representations of the working class, Jews and the LGBTQIA+ community, groupswho continued to be seen as a threat to the national order during the Weimar Republic and beyond.Framed by the German defeat in World War One and Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in 1933, theWeimar Republic was always a politically unstable entity. Based on Elsaesser's (2000) study of the"historical imaginary", I argue that the imaginaries depicted in Weimar cinema were therefore contested.Weimar was founded on optimistic and liberal values; however, even filmmakers invested in opening upsociety, frequently produced images of the 'other' that seem to undercut such values. Moreover,consulting autobiographical material alongside film, I will also ask whether the identity of the directors,some of whom belong to minority groups themselves, has an impact on the way in which they portray'others' in their films, and to what degree even these directors either resist or reproduce exclusionarysocial discourses. In these ways, my project will trace some of the internal fault-lines that run eventhrough liberal Weimar culture and point forward to its demise, challenging the commonly held view of a'golden era'.