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Running head: WEST EUROPEAN STUDIES 1

West European Studies

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WEST EUROPEAN STUDIES 2

Introduction

The 2nd World War was quite a testing period for the German citizens and the world at

large. This is because different people who were either aligned with or against the German

regime were coerced into being involved in various vicious occurrences. When the war ended,

there was still a lot of social differences among different people across the world which resulted

from the war. As such, the purpose of this assignment is to analyze both films, Marriage of

Maria Braun and The Man Outside, to assess the Germans’ memory of WWII and its aftermath.

Discussion

The memories of Germans concerning the 2nd World War is quite vivid, and this is

shown in both films, Marriage of Maria Braun and The Man Outside. Over the years, different

cultures across the globe have adopted the use of literature, music, and film to express their

feelings in regards to specific events that happened to them. Therefore, it is important to mention

that there are other numerous media projects showcase the events of the 2nd World War and its

impact during and after its occurrence (Ponomareff, 2013).

At one point, Maria Braun who is the main character in the movie, Marriage of Maria

Braun, becomes a dancer who doubles as a prostitute after her husband Hermann Braun, gets

shipped out to war. More so, a false announcement is made explaining that Hermann Braun is

dead, but he later turns out to be alive (Krause, 2015). In the meanwhile, Maria Braun was in a

relationship with another man called George Bryn, but Hermann confronts him and the

confrontation leads to Hermann being sentenced to prison. The above scenario is a clear

illustration of the theme of victimhood given that Maria Braun had moved on after getting the

false news that her husband had died because of the war.

WEST EUROPEAN STUDIES 3

Maria Braun has some guilty feelings because she feels like she betrayed her husband

during the war and he also takes the blame for killing George Bryn yet it was her. As such, she

vows to fight the release of Hermann Braun. Additionally, the theme of victimhood is portrayed

in the movie, The Man Outside. The film educates the public about the horrors that German

soldiers had to go through while in service to their country (Niven and Niven, 2014). The main

character of the movie who goes by the name of Beckmann is a hopeless soldier who still dreams

of an environment that is pure and free from political turmoil which he was a victim of.

However, his experiences in WWII keep haunting him so much that he is on the brink of

committing suicide.

Other essential themes portrayed in both films include optimism and nihilism. In the

movie, The Marriage of Maria Braun, the main character gets into an affair with a prominent

businessman while being quite hopeful that she will have her husband released from prison.

Furthermore, the theme of optimism is depicted in how the life of Maria Braun later turns out to

be quite upright (Fassbinder, 2015). Also, Maria Braun is quite optimistic that she is going to

save the relationship between her and her husband even though a lot of external factors hinder

her from achieving that goal.

On the other hand, the film, The Man Outside, depicts a lot of scenarios that represent

nihilism. The main character, Beckmann, is entirely focused on his hopeless mission of

redeeming himself and the world. There are many instances in the film where an actor who plays

God can be seen lamenting about how the world has lost faith which increases the potential for

death functioning in the world (Sandford, 2013). The film portrays the joy that the character

Death is filled with when he gets to experience the loss of lives that is going during the 2nd

World War. The above scenarios are an accurate portrayal of nihilism that exists in the film.

WEST EUROPEAN STUDIES 4

Fundamentally, it is quite significant to mention that the film, The Marriage of Maria

Braun, has facilitated the universalization of both men and women in engaging in sharing their

experiences in the 2nd World War. For instance, the film above shows how women were also

severely affected the events of the war and that they should even be allowed to participate in the

healing process (Berna, 2015). In the film above, Maria Braun engages herself in specific actions

that are questionable, but the film gives some room for complacency. Quite the opposite, the

woman is entirely depicted as a heroine that overcame the traumas of WWII.

Moreover, the film, The Man Outside, gives the viewers a lot of knowledge concerning

the psychological trauma that the 2nd world war caused to the soldiers that participated in it. The

past and future thoughts that run in the mind of the main character in the film, Beckmann, seem

to delay his suicide. It is quite impressive to mention that the writer of the movie above who

went by the name, Wolfgang Borchert, was also affected by the war which led to him abusing

hard drugs (Greene, 2015).

Conclusion

In the paper above, a comprehensive analysis of both films, Marriage of Maria Braun

and The Man Outside, has assisted in assessing the Germans’ memory of WWII and its

aftermath. Through literary analysis that applies themes such as guilt versus victimhood,

universalizing men or women experiences, and optimism versus nihilism, one gets a better

perception as to the impact that the war had on the Germans. This assignment also shows how

films and other media outlets play a vital role in educating the masses about the effects of the

2nd World War.

WEST EUROPEAN STUDIES 5

References

Krause, E. H. (2015). Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun: Maria Braun’s Containment.

Fassbinder, R. W. (2015). Critical films were possible only on (or in collaboration with)

television. Comparative Cinema, (7).

Berna, M. B. (2015). The Cultural Factor and Women's Rights within the African Charter on

Human and People's Rights and Its Protocol. Law Annals Titu Maiorescu U., 11.

Harvey, J. (2017). Democratic ambivalence in post mortem. Journal of Latin American Cultural

Studies, 1-13.

Greene, G. (2015). The Third Man: Enhanced Edition with Film Clips, Script and Archive

Material from the Motion Picture. Random House.

Le Bar, A., & Winkle, S. (2014). 20th-Century Germany: Culture, Political Conflict, Gender, and

National Identity. Syllabus, 3(1).

Niven, B., & Niven, W. J. (2014). Representations of flight and expulsion in East German prose

works (Vol. 150). Boydell & Brewer.

Sandford, J. (2013). Encyclopedia of contemporary German culture. Routledge.

Ponomareff, C. V. (2013). The time before death: twentieth-century memoirs (Vol. 159). Rodopi.

Baele, K. E. K. (2013). Thinking outside of the cardboard box: The conditions, meanings and

myths of'Obdachlosigkeit'in German fiction and film. The University of Iowa.

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