The Blue Angel - Weimar Republic

Permit me to apologize for my tardiness; I was under the weather recently.  What was assumed to be a common cold turned out to a bacterial infection and I was unable to function properly.

              
               Anyway, allow me to discuss a bit about the movie.  The movie “The Blue Angel” is a classic!  It introduced Marlene Dietrich, one of the stars who played Lola-Lola, internationally.  For me, when the movie began, it was inspirational when I heard the movie open with the much familiar sounds of one of my favorite composers, Wolfgang A. Mozart.  "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen wünscht Papageno sich!" ("A girl or a little wife, wishes Papageno") by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from the opera The Magic Flute.  The movie took place in Weimar Germany wherein expressive artists were flourishing during the 1930’s.  We all basically should know the plot of the movie, so I won’t tell the story of the movie.  In any case, the following is the movie.

               In comparing the lecture, I feel that I can honestly argue that Rath, in marrying and enduring the relationship however miserable he was while Lola was cheating and deceiving him, can be said that the Id and the Ego had been acting its part within the psyche of Rath.  His Super Ego did not check or suppress his Id or Ego – moral values had been confronted and Rath was controlled by his Id.  Urges of his Id had been satisfied by marrying Lola even though it was clearly apparent that the two would end up in disaster.  Perhaps it just tells a story of the downfall of an esteemed man following his urges, then portraying the need for humility and the need to express kindness to others shown when Rath has to perform back at his hometown to endure the ridicules of his fellow colleagues and neighbors who at one point he himself had derided; what comes around goes around?  In my opinion, the movie definitely also introduced worldwide the new female stereotype of a vixen, strong and free-spirited, an uninhibited woman.



Cabaret Song #1:  "It's All a Swindle" (Alles Schwindel), by Mischa Spoliansky and Marcellus Schiffer (1931)
https://www.facinghistory.org/weimar-republic-fragility-democracy/culture/its-all-swindle-alles-schwindel-mischa-spoliansky-and-marcellus

              OMG!  What a dreadful song.  It has an upbeat of a typical cabaret two-step music and cheerful tempo, but the lyrics just portray dismay.  I chose the following parts of the song; I had to include the chorus section also.  I can almost sense the emptiness of the people struggling just to survive; everyone is out for themselves, there is no innocence of youth nor order, or discipline.   One’s life can end suddenly, there’s a sense of chaos, but life goes on.  It’s a catch-22; there is no ‘good’ deal or fair exchange of goods, it’s not if you can get away with it then do it, it’s more like do it and get away period -  there’s a saying, a good con can steal your underwear even while you’re looking.

Excepts from English translated lyrics:

Life's a swindle, yes, it's all a swindle
so get what you can
from your fellow man
Girls and boys today
would rather steal than play
and we don't care

We tell them get your share
Life is short and greed's in season
all mankind has lost its reason
life is good, knock on wood, knock, knock
Shops will swindle shoppers swindle
every purchase hides a tale
The price is inflated
or regulated
to ensure the store will fail
Wheel and deal and pull a fast one
knowing you won't be the last one
get the goods while they are going
grab the cash while it is flowing
Everyone swindles some
what the heck go bounce a check

Excerpts from German lyrics:

Alles Schwindel, alles schwindel,
überall wohin du guckst
und wohin du spuckst!
Alles ist heut ein Gesindel,
jedes Girl und jeder Boy,
’s wird einem schlecht dabei!
’s wird ein’m schwindlig von dem Schwindel,
alles, alles, alles Schwindel,
unberufen toi! toi! toi!

Kaufmann schwindelt
Käufer schwindelt,
mit dem höflichsten Gesicht!
Man schwebt in Ängsten,
nichts währt am Längsten,
also warum soll man nicht!
Jede freundliche Verbeugung,
jede feste Überzeugung,
Preisabbau, solide Preise



Cabaret Song #2:  "No Time" (Keine Zeit), music by Rudolf Nelson, lyrics by Herbert Nelson
https://www.facinghistory.org/weimar-republic-fragility-democracy/culture/no-time-keine-zeit-music-rudolf-nelson-lyrics-herbert-nelson

               The great depression era along with Germany paying retribution to other countries affecting the economy, the following excerpts from the song “No Time” seems to portray the perfect imagery of a typical worker, whether blue or white collar, struggling, rushing daily to make ends meet.  If you are told you have an 18-hour shift or they don’t need you, I suppose you abided – no sleep, no rest.  I love the irrational and sarcastic reference of the businesses and the economy through the imagery of falling in love one evening, to marriage the following morning, to a divorce that night.  Contrastingly to the first music I chose which had an upbeat music conversely to its dreadful lyrics, it seems “No Time”, although the lyrics sound hastened or the lyrics gave the impression the music will have a quicker tempo, it had a laid back Broadway “Gone with the Wind” type of tune – but it does incorporate a perkiness or even bounciness in its music.

Excepts from English translated lyrics:

No time, no time, no time.
Yes, we have no time.
Sorry, but we're always on the go,
with tongues hanging out as we run.
We have no spare time.
No time, no time, no time,
no hours nor even a second to spare.
We hardly sleep, we don’t rest.
No time, no time, no time.

Nowadays, a person doesn't have a second to spare.
Yet many even think the pace is too slow.
If you do business today, you go bankrupt before you have even started.
People don't want to waste time with the beginning,
they'd rather skip straight to the end.
In this day and age, you fall in love in the evening, are engaged at night,
and get married the next morning.
At noon you have a fight; by night you're divorced.
In negotiations between countries, before a treaty is evened signed,
it's already broken.
Because nowadays it is considered chic to be quick.

Excerpts from German lyrics:

Keine Zeit, keine Zeit, keine Zeit. Ja, wir haben keine Zeit. Es tut uns leid.
Wir sind immer auf dem Sprung, haengt uns raus schon die Zung und doch wir rennen, ja wir kennen keine Zeit.
Keine Zeit, keine Zeit, keine Zeit, keine Stunde und Sekunde haben wir Zeit. Ja, wir schlafen heute kaum noch, denn wir ruhen uns nicht aus. Keine Zeit, keine Zeit, keine Zeit.

Man laesst sich weit und breit heut nicht mehr Sekunde Zeit heut.
Es geht im Gegenteil uns noch zu langsam fast.
Machst du Geschaefte heute, bist du bereits schon pleite, bevor du ueberhaupt noch angefangen hast.
Man moecht am liebsten, ja das soll’s geben, das Ende noch vor Beginne leben.
Heut verliebt man sich abends, verlobt sich bei Nacht und vermaehlt in der Frueh sich zufriede und am Mittag da hat man bereits sich verkracht und am Abend ist man wieder geschieden.

Findet heut zwischen Laendern Verhandlungen statt und die Herren haben alles besprochen, ja dann wird noch bevor unterzeichnet man hat, der geschlossene Vertrag schon gebrochen,
denn das findt man heut chick, denn wir sind ja so quick.
Es ist gleich, ob wir heute reell sind, denn die Hauptsache ist, dass wir schnell sind.



Paragraph 175

               Talk about homophobic!  Of course with the Nazi’s coming to power it was perceivable that order would be enforced especially when flourishing expressionists had awhile been communicating to the public via music, plays, cinema as well as print media expressing their thoughts and opinions including their sexuality; it had to be put to a halt!  The Aryan supremacy mentality had been rising and homosexuality was one of the first to be targeted.  However, Lesbians and females in general have not been included in Paragraph 175 unless if an animal had been involved according to the amended Paragraph 175b.
               
               Correct me if I’m wrong, but the amended law seems to state even if an unwilling male who had been forced, or “allow himself to be abused”; “allowed” himself to be abused?  If forced, how is that allowing? If I couldn’t fight it off, I’m guilty according to Paragraph 175.  My feeling about this law in comparison to the lecture is mainly about freedom, our rights, and the interpretation of the idea of freedom.  Whether it centers on homosexuality, Paragraph 175 was to the Germans at the time, a physical obstacle, a barrier in the embodiment the freedom that Kant attempted to interpret.  Much like how Kant argued that freedom must be law-like, it’s apparent the law irrationally took away a certain freedom – Kant’s argument works both ways.  As is with any rules and regulations governing our society and following, abiding by or conforming to the ‘norm’, I have to agree with Kant in that our actions are based on or determined by external stimuli, then we do not really have free will.  However, free will can be said as the ability to choose – we do have free will in that sense since we are choosing either to conform or end up penalized.  It’s not precise, sort of vague even, but I do grasp Kant’s theory in his argument.