3.4 Germany’s Golden Age Flashcards
Why was the 1920s known as the Golden Age for Germany’s artists, writers, poets and performers
- before WW1, Kaiser kept tight control on entertainment
- these controls were removed in Weimar Germany
- many Germans felt a new sense of freedom
What was cinema like during the Golden Age
- became very poplar
- Metropolis by Fritz Lang was most technically advanced film of the decade
- German-born actress Marlene Dietrich became a worldwide star playing glamorous, strong-willed women
What was nightlife like during the Golden Age
- Germany became a centre for new plays, opera and theatre
- The Threepenny Opera was popular: musicians performed vulgar songs about politicians
- Berlin was famous for its nightclubs with live bands that played American jazz
- transvestite evenings: where men dressed as women and women dressed as men
Who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front and was it popular?
- Erich Remarque
- yes, half a million copies were sold in three months
Avant-garde def
new and experimental ideas and methods in art, music, or literature
Who were some avant-garde artists and what did they believe in
- eg Otto Dix and George Grosz
- believed that art should show the reality of everyday life, in particular differences in social classes
- often painted in a way that criticised current events
Bauhaus def
School of design originating in Weimar Germany, which focused on modern, simple and practical designs, rather than the more elaborate designs of older times
How did Germans react to cultural changes?
- some Germans embraced the changes, others hated them
- they wanted art, music, theatre, film and literature to celebrate the older, traditional values
- they thought nightclubs, shows and paintings were leading Germany into moral decline
- Berlin was viewed as corrupt and self-obsessed
- Nazis openly criticised art of the period
Subversion def
Trying to destroy or damage a system or government
Culture def
The values, morals, traditions and attitudes of a group or society; it relates to the music and films people watch and listen to, the art they create, the buildings they design and the behaviours they display
