David O'Connell
Sin Cities - Berlin
May 5th 2006 22:09
Marlene Dietrich (from Wikipedia)
Last night, the featured city was Berlin, shown as a decadent, hedonistic playground, where nighttime brought the freaky denizens out of the woodwork to play around in a free, expressonist society.
At its height, Berlin had 160 wholly different gay and lesbian bars, and a vibrant homosexual culture, from the famed Berlin drag queens, to a veritable rainbow of lesbian styles.
What an exciting time to be alive! Intellectuals from all over Europe fled their prudish homelands to take up residence in the zesty centres of Berlin. English poets, Jewish physicists, and a multitude of writers, artists and psychologists turned Berlin into the place to be.
In 1930, Josef von Sternberg directed the Blue Angel, a passionate film about obession and depravity - which was the first film to feature the beautiful Marlene Dietrich.
Marlene Dietrich would become an icon for German cabaret and film in this period, and would become a role model for lesbians and bisexuals. As pointed out by Sisi and Bunbury, Dietrich was to become famous for her style of dressing like a man, but exuding obvious feminine charm... a style common among the Berlin lesbian community at the time.
Of course, the Nazis came along and knocked it all around, turning gay bars into political headquarters, and beating up and throwing around homosexuals.
Sin Cities is a thoroughly entertaining documentary... it's amazing to see how liberated people were in the 20s and 30s, and how conservatism came back into fashion. Two steps forward, three steps back.
Next week promises to be fascinating, with a look at sexuality in Shanghai in the 1920s. Set your recorders now!
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Comment by amy
Cibby I'm lost in the dark holding my VCR remote forlorn and directionless!
Comment by Cibbuano
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Interesting show - this Friday is supposedly about Shanghai!
Comment by Shani
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