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Diversity is a big word on German television: more women should have fewer stereotyped roles, more actors and actresses with immigrant backgrounds would have to play cliché-free characters. At all, diversity should naturally be integrated into an action and not be demonstrated as ” or”, but should be respected.
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So much for desire. Many fictional self-productions continue to be a stage for stereotypes. This is particularly visible in a specifically German entertainment format: Africa-Schmonzette. The genre, which has developed parallel to mass tourism conquest of continent, has been booming for over ten years.
The stories are always new variations of a plot celebrated in Beyond Africa 1985 international and copied after success of White Massai of 2005 countless for German television. To this day, almost every week re is a repeat of this in German television programme.
Africa-Schmonzetten from assembly line
The spectator accompanies a white, German title character in ir self-realisation into an African country, which serves as an erotic projection screen, adventure playground or stage for humanitarian engagement. The mostly female protagonist is eir looking for family roots or just wants to escape this on African continent. At backdrop of a land hospital, a farm or a research station, she finds great love, professional fulfillment, or both.
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The German-language production line productions carry interchangeable titles like Forever Africa (ARD), Way to Africa (ZDF), a Love in Africa (ARD) or storms in Africa (ARD) and reliably meet a nerve of a million audience, which is market share of First broadcasts that move between 15 and 20 percent.
Cornelia Grober has a PhD at Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg about strangeness and oring in German-speaking entertainment television. She lives as a freelance journalist and communication scientist in Vienna. © Private
It is easy to dismiss Africa films as a shallow, easy to consume and eskapistisches offer, and from a critic’s point of view this may suffice. Those who want to fathom fascination for popular entertainment formats with Africa-setting must go deeper.
Looking at recurring mes, actions, motifs and structures of format, one realizes that se films show astonishing parallels to homeland films of postwar period. Both genres have a simple storyline and ignore psychological depths and historical contexts. In foreground are a postcard idyll, Sentimentalisierte milieus, emotionally transfigured landscapes and simple solution models for benefit of a simple world image. The homeland films of postwar period had goal of illusionary overcoming war-induced sense of guilt. It was about revitalising terms such as masculinity and German and home term geradezurücken. The typical antagonism between good and evil, which is reflected in classic home movie in a city-country contrast, is expanded in new edition to Europe and Africa.
The figures constellations of films are interchangeable: in conflict-laden relationship triangles, a woman often stands between an evil and a good man, or a pair of lovers must defend mselves against a menacing adversary. Or genre-typical figures are homecoming, rich Savior, poacher and smuggler.
The role of moral authority in older genre of foresters and landowners take over in Africanized variant white respect persons in milieu like Doctor (Forever Africa), big landowner (my homeland Africa) or development helper (in bridal gown through Africa).
