Rubble, Ruins and Romanticism

Traditional criticism on German post-war cinema tends to define rubble films as simplistic texts of low artistic quality which serve to reaffirm the spectator's image of him or herself as "a good German" during "bad times". Yet this study asserts that some rubble films are actually informed by a type of visual and narrative Romantic discourse which aims at provoking a "critical discussion" on German national identity and its reconstruction in the aftermath of the Third Reich. Considering the lack of previous analyses with regard to the key aspects of Romantic visual style, narration and literary motifs in rubble films, this study points to a major gap in research.