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Ali Fear Eat The Soul Thesis

Decent Essays

The 1974 melodrama film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Angst essen Seele auf) produced and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder follows German charwoman Emmi Kurowski and her struggles against society concomitant with her relationship with Moroccan guest worker Ali. Situated in West Germany and filmed the year after the halt on the recruitment of guest workers, this movie can be interpreted as a response to the debates and issues surrounding the presence of foreign workers. Native germans frequently disputed and contended the treatment, contributions, and potential to integrate into the German society that historically rejected the identity as a country of immigration. The staircase clips from Ali: Fear Eats the Soul highlight the susceptibility …show more content…

Even in current debates, these reactions and emotions resonate globally. In the first clip, Emmi Kurowski sits on the staircase next to her co-workers who sit on a windowsill. When Emmi asks for a knife, the others deliberately shun her and speak about the mundane topics of subway fares and cancer screenings recommended for all women to emphasize their disdain for and exclusion of Emmi for what they perceive to be an inappropriate relationship with non-native-German and significantly younger Ali. The camera then pans to focus solely on Emmi, hiding the others behind a wall, then cuts to a shot of just the three co-workers without Emmi. From this point onwards in the clip, Emmi and her three co-workers are not shown in the same frame together. The subsequent long shots framing Emmi alone create an uncomfortable atmosphere that conveys the punishing intolerance of German society. Then, her three co-workers purposely widen the physical divide between themselves and Emmi by descending the staircase to eat near another windowsill. During this transition, the frame smoothly follows the three to their new position, then abruptly …show more content…

This reflection of the average German’s perception of guest workers is brought into focus by Ali: Fear Eats the Soul to critique the state of Germany’s failure to develop effective public policy that takes into account the reality of the ingrained cultural beliefs of German society. Der Spiegel’s 1973 article “The Turks are Coming! Save Yourself if You Can!” reflects both the disconnect between the German government and the public as well as the general sentiment stereotyping these guest workers as “foreigners… only welcome in the Federal Republic as exotic and cheap helpers… who will soon go back to where they came from” (GiT 110.) These disparities combined with blatant classism and racism permeated German society such that widespread rejection of Emmi and Ali’s relationship, from friends and family to the “professional” workplace, was within German standards of social conduct. Within this

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