I started watching this show since it showed up on Netflix, and German TV miniseries tend to have good quality. However, the show is wrongly advertised in my opinion.
First of, I am German, I study humanities and German post-war history is one of my favorite topics. We meet a mother of three daughters who is running a dancing school on the infamous Kuhfürstendamm. The setting is great, the costume and make-up department worked hard! I won't go into the detail when it comes to history, and instead focus more on the characters, which is important. Especially when it comes to Monika and something unaware viewers should be aware of.
The writers decided to make her a trope, which is all good as we have thousands of male tropes running around in TV-land. I liked her character and could associate with her for a while. Now, I felt sorry, because whomever wrote her character seems to have no idea. First, they had her be sexually assaulted by the man her mother wants her to marry. I am aware that this happens, sadly enough, but is it a woman's only character development and if so, why? I am personally tired of this as a plot point. The other absurd part of this storyline is that she connects with her rapist. They try to give him some sort of redeeming qualities and that is, considering how, in contrast to this, horrible they treat the only gay character in this series, a joke. Above mentioned gay character marries Helga, one of the three daughters. He is portrayed, as we often see it in such shows, as the reason for her sadness. Imagine being a privileged white woman married to gay man. How horrible must your life be. What a tragic story, it is even more tragic than Hamlet! Now, this aside, I wished they would have taken her character and developed it to a point where women can actually associate themselves with her. Because she lacks depth and interesting characteristics. To have her life solely based on the fact that he is gay is basic. I understand that being an unmarried woman back then was hard, but instead: what if she supported her husband? What, if they went for a more feminist plot for the two of them? They was such an amount of wasted potential, it hurt!
Eva has a crush on an older man, who electroshocks her sister's husband, is an overall horrible man, and she falls in love with a married football player from Eastern Germany. All good and well except: If you sell this series as a series that is supposed to attract a mostly female audience, with "empowering female characters", you actually have to know how to write women: as people. These women are tropes, and it pains me so much because there was so much potential. Eva is in her own way likable, with a typical crush, and the want to climb as high as her mother. I liked her character a lot, but again: wasted potential.
The men? I understand the intention to say "men are the evil here" and the majority of them are for good reasons. As the rapist, who they, as aforementioned, try to shove into our arms so that we feel some sort of empathy for him? No way, thank you. Freddy is likable and has many things in common with my father. I also enjoyed the actor and his portrayal. Wolfgang, the gay man, whom you feel for the most? Portrayed as an abusive pig. Now, being gay, I don't think the writers ever met a gay man in their lives or have no idea about what gay people endured in that period and still endure to this day. The father? Now, they do not seem to have any inclination to put some effort into the Eastern German area.
About her mother: the character is hard to watch because she is the embodiment of Western German women who were involved with the Nazis and the acting was well done. She gave me the good kind if headache.
My favorite character is Monika, and partly Freddy - her lover -, even though she has to go through so much crap by the writers that I feel like I want to write this character the book she deserves.
So, next time you try to write an "empowering show for women", perhaps you should consider making this better. Consider more research, and add more depth to characters who could have been worth it. This show was a great concept, but I have become so angry by watching it that I needed to smoke three cigarettes and that is bad for my health.
Ergo: Good watch if you are bored and/or want to learn some outdated German words for any project, have a glance into Western German history (not the Eastern, since they spent little to no effort in that part... seriously), go for it. But do not expect too much, and you will cringe many times as well at the scenes between Monika and her rapist.
I give it a six. Now, I need to get rid of my headache.
First of, I am German, I study humanities and German post-war history is one of my favorite topics. We meet a mother of three daughters who is running a dancing school on the infamous Kuhfürstendamm. The setting is great, the costume and make-up department worked hard! I won't go into the detail when it comes to history, and instead focus more on the characters, which is important. Especially when it comes to Monika and something unaware viewers should be aware of.
The writers decided to make her a trope, which is all good as we have thousands of male tropes running around in TV-land. I liked her character and could associate with her for a while. Now, I felt sorry, because whomever wrote her character seems to have no idea. First, they had her be sexually assaulted by the man her mother wants her to marry. I am aware that this happens, sadly enough, but is it a woman's only character development and if so, why? I am personally tired of this as a plot point. The other absurd part of this storyline is that she connects with her rapist. They try to give him some sort of redeeming qualities and that is, considering how, in contrast to this, horrible they treat the only gay character in this series, a joke. Above mentioned gay character marries Helga, one of the three daughters. He is portrayed, as we often see it in such shows, as the reason for her sadness. Imagine being a privileged white woman married to gay man. How horrible must your life be. What a tragic story, it is even more tragic than Hamlet! Now, this aside, I wished they would have taken her character and developed it to a point where women can actually associate themselves with her. Because she lacks depth and interesting characteristics. To have her life solely based on the fact that he is gay is basic. I understand that being an unmarried woman back then was hard, but instead: what if she supported her husband? What, if they went for a more feminist plot for the two of them? They was such an amount of wasted potential, it hurt!
Eva has a crush on an older man, who electroshocks her sister's husband, is an overall horrible man, and she falls in love with a married football player from Eastern Germany. All good and well except: If you sell this series as a series that is supposed to attract a mostly female audience, with "empowering female characters", you actually have to know how to write women: as people. These women are tropes, and it pains me so much because there was so much potential. Eva is in her own way likable, with a typical crush, and the want to climb as high as her mother. I liked her character a lot, but again: wasted potential.
The men? I understand the intention to say "men are the evil here" and the majority of them are for good reasons. As the rapist, who they, as aforementioned, try to shove into our arms so that we feel some sort of empathy for him? No way, thank you. Freddy is likable and has many things in common with my father. I also enjoyed the actor and his portrayal. Wolfgang, the gay man, whom you feel for the most? Portrayed as an abusive pig. Now, being gay, I don't think the writers ever met a gay man in their lives or have no idea about what gay people endured in that period and still endure to this day. The father? Now, they do not seem to have any inclination to put some effort into the Eastern German area.
About her mother: the character is hard to watch because she is the embodiment of Western German women who were involved with the Nazis and the acting was well done. She gave me the good kind if headache.
My favorite character is Monika, and partly Freddy - her lover -, even though she has to go through so much crap by the writers that I feel like I want to write this character the book she deserves.
So, next time you try to write an "empowering show for women", perhaps you should consider making this better. Consider more research, and add more depth to characters who could have been worth it. This show was a great concept, but I have become so angry by watching it that I needed to smoke three cigarettes and that is bad for my health.
Ergo: Good watch if you are bored and/or want to learn some outdated German words for any project, have a glance into Western German history (not the Eastern, since they spent little to no effort in that part... seriously), go for it. But do not expect too much, and you will cringe many times as well at the scenes between Monika and her rapist.
I give it a six. Now, I need to get rid of my headache.