Comrades in Arms Military Masculinities in East German Culture

Without question, the East German National People's Army was a profoundly masculine institution that emphasized traditional ideals of stoicism, sacrifice, and physical courage. Nonetheless, as this innovative study demonstrates, depictions of the military in the film and literature of the GDR were far more nuanced and ambivalent. Departing from past studies that have found in such portrayals an unchanging, idealized masculinity, Comrades in Arms shows how cultural works both before and after reunification place violence, physical vulnerability, and military theatricality, as well as conscripts' powerful emotions and desires, at the center of soldiers' lives and the military institution itself.

About the author

Tom Smith is a Lecturer in the School of Modern Languages at the University of St Andrews.

Product details

• Authors: Tom Smith Smith, Tom Smith, Smith Tom
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 09.12.2022
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general)
• EAN: 9781800736375
• ISBN: 978-1-80073-637-5
• Pages: 280
• Subjects: Film, Uniform, Performance, Literature, Archive, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture, Cultural Studies, Violence, Television, Queer Theory, Queer, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, HISTORY / Military / General, Desire, Ostalgie, military history, Berlin Wall, photographs, Life Writing, Representation, Vulnerability, Homosexuality, Performativity, Costume, Socialist Realism, Theatricality, Gender studies: men and boys, Shame, Suffering, conscription, victimhood, hegemonic masculinity, soundtracks, conscientious objector, military training, marginalized masculinities, National People’s Army, gender ideals, cultural violence, socialist soldier, participatory dictatorship