No place like home: Patriotism and femininity in German reality television. (March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Graefer, Anne
• Is Part Of: Critical studies in television. Volume 13:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 24
• Page End: 41
• Publication Date: 2018-03
• Subjects: Germany -- reality television -- femininity -- Hausfrau -- patriotism -- recession; Television -- Periodicals; Television criticism -- Periodicals; 384.5505
• DOI: 10.1177/1749602017734129
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1749-6020

Abstract

In the current recession, German television has developed a particular proclivity for 'emigration shows'. In this article, I explore the most prominent of these, Goodbye Deutschland – Die Auswanderer ( Goodbye Germany – The Emigrants, since 2006). Through a figurative analysis, I investigate how Goodbye Germany produces its female protagonists as failed national subjects worthy of social derision and contempt. By highlighting how the programme equates the departure from Germany with a departure from coherent feminine respectability, I show how we can understand this programme as a cultural expression of 'commercial nationalism' that produces Germany as a 'safe haven' within an economically unstable Europe.