The process of discovering the ideological foundations of power systems in the world is profoundly linked to how gaining such knowledge is a product of transformation in both individuals and groups. This is evident in Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and Becker’s tragicomic film Goodbye Lenin! (2003) where both protagonists and their environments undergo a process of political-self reflection. As Guevara encounters Latin American poverty he embraces communism and similarly, the protagonist in Becker’s film experiences political discovery as he preserves life in the GDR in order to keep the fall of the Berlin Wall as a secret to his ill mother. Although in differing contexts, both experiences allows us to understand how meaningful discoveries
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Becker invites the viewer to voyeuristically explore life in the GDR in order to promote a transformation of past assumptions. This reflects the contextual German cultural movement of ostalgie, a nostalgic impulse to rediscover aspects of the communist lifestyle, transforming readers’ perceptions about a foreign political model. The opening long establishing shot features unstylish East German furnishings, aesthetically representing the modest simplicity of late European socialism. The discoveries of the viewer and the protagonist converge when Alex struggles to recreate socialist Germany and it is through the accumulation of such visual representations that individuals and groups come to transform their beliefs. When Alex cannot find East German goods for his mother he is confronted with capitalism’s ruthless capacity to replace all traces of past inefficiency. Furthermore, the viewer discovers that the utopian communism he stages for his mother in fake news reports is illusory when the newsreader ironically proclaims: “A country [so great] has never existed”. The coinciding discoveries of Becker’s protagonist and audience emphasise how processes of discovery promote and encourage transformation within the individual and their appreciation of their
Becker invites the viewer to voyeuristically explore life in the GDR in order to promote a transformation of past assumptions. This reflects the contextual German cultural movement of ostalgie, a nostalgic impulse to rediscover aspects of the communist lifestyle, transforming readers’ perceptions about a foreign political model. The opening long establishing shot features unstylish East German furnishings, aesthetically representing the modest simplicity of late European socialism. The discoveries of the viewer and the protagonist converge when Alex struggles to recreate socialist Germany and it is through the accumulation of such visual representations that individuals and groups come to transform their beliefs. When Alex cannot find East German goods for his mother he is confronted with capitalism’s ruthless capacity to replace all traces of past inefficiency. Furthermore, the viewer discovers that the utopian communism he stages for his mother in fake news reports is illusory when the newsreader ironically proclaims: “A country [so great] has never existed”. The coinciding discoveries of Becker’s protagonist and audience emphasise how processes of discovery promote and encourage transformation within the individual and their appreciation of their