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“Where is Home?” : Examining Borders in Yuksel Yavuz’s "Kleine Freiheit" and Kutlug Ataman’s "Lola und Bilidikid"

Hatch, Amanda G.

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2016, MA, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Germanic Languages and Literature.
“Where is home? How are transnational mobility and traumatic memory represented in cinema? Do immigrants live in a `parallel world’? [...] And where are German (and global) spectators positioned in relation to immigrant spaces and networks?” Deniz Gokturk, 2004 This thesis analyzes the depiction of the German nation-state in Kleine Freiheit (Dir. Yuksel Yavuz, 2004) and Lola und Bilidikid (Dir. Kutlug Ataman, 1999), two German-language diasporic films, by examining how borders are defined, portrayed, negotiated, and often transgressed in both the plot and cinematography of each film. I argue that the films, on the level of the plot, question the idea of the modern German nation by asking what this nation-state looks like and who belongs (or does not belong) in it. Through close readings of the films, I examine how they work on the cinematic level to depict, comment upon, or even deconstruct the notion of national, social, personal, and structural borders that actually or apparently exist in Germany in the early 21st century. Using sources from the social sciences, I examine the actual structures of migration in Germany and its connection to stereotyping, stigmatization, and gazes, and I use Sigmund Freund’s concept of the unheimlich to interpret the uncanny spaces in the film. Concluding with an interpretation that takes these approaches and interpretations from various academic disciplines into consideration, I argue that both films ultimately address, in plot and on the filmic levels, Deniz Gokturk’s question: “Where is home?”
Tanja Nusser, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
65 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Hatch, A. G. (2016). “Where is Home?” : Examining Borders in Yuksel Yavuz’s "Kleine Freiheit" and Kutlug Ataman’s "Lola und Bilidikid" [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1460652454

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Hatch, Amanda. “Where is Home?” : Examining Borders in Yuksel Yavuz’s "Kleine Freiheit" and Kutlug Ataman’s "Lola und Bilidikid". 2016. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1460652454.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Hatch, Amanda. "“Where is Home?” : Examining Borders in Yuksel Yavuz’s "Kleine Freiheit" and Kutlug Ataman’s "Lola und Bilidikid"." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1460652454

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)