The work of Bertolt Brecht for ideas and inspiration

Rainer Werner Fassbinder is one of the most prominent Brechtian filmmakers of the New German Cinema Period. His work closely resembled that of Brecht which could be due to that they had similar ideologies and backgrounds in the sense that they both saw problems with the people of their country becoming passive consumers and less becoming active producers. This was achieved by making the audience aware of what they are watching and allowing them to see the political aesthetics. According to Alan Lovell, “Brecht’s political aesthetics have spawned due to capitalism and the development of consumption after World War Two in countries such as the United States and Japan.” What Lovell mean here is that Brecht’s political aesthetics were created because he saw the faults in capitalism, this is why filmmakers such as Fassbinder turned to creating films which countered the conventional ways of cultural commodities, the conventional way West Germany’s cinema was operated wasn’t working anymore and change had to happen. This being the case, West Germany’s political and economic state took some effect in why Fassbinder and many other filmmakers turned to the work of Brecht and abandoned their old dominant cinema.
Filmmakers such as Fassbinder saw potential in turning to the work of Brecht because they wanted an audience that would be able to respond to intellectual cinema. Brecht’s characters detachment from emotion is vital, it allow the audience to gather rational thought and apply it the images they are being shown without being distracted by emotional attachment. Almost all Fassbinder’s characters in Katzelmacher have peculiar emotional responses to the events and interactions within the film. Another example would be in Kluge’s Yeste...

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...atre is the main reason why many filmmakers turned to his work, especially in West German Cinema, Brecht’s saw how capitalism was creating passive consumers rather than active producer which is why he wanted to make his audience aware of the social political state of the western world. This development of consumerism is the cause to the stagnation in West Germany and resulted in the filmmakers creating a new cinema and rejecting the old dominant cinema.

Works Cited

Silberman, M (1995). German Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. P181-182.
Lovell, A. (1982). Epic Theatre and the Principles of Counter Culture. Jump Cut. 27 (1), 64-68.
Willet, J (1964). Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic. 2nd ed. Methuen: the University of Michigan. p14.
Lovell, A. (1982). Epic Theatre and the Principles of Counter Culture. Jump Cut. 27 (1), 64-68.